13
votes
If shemittah passed, is it still honorable to repay a debt?
Mishnah Shevi'it 10:9:
הַמַּחֲזִיר חוֹב בַּשְּׁבִיעִית, רוּחַ חֲכָמִים נוֹחָה מִמֶּנּוּ.
One who repays his debts after the seventh year, the sages are pleased with him.
- 41.7k
10
votes
Accepted
What happens to the debts after Shmitat Ksafim?
Summary
The answers to both of your questions (1. Does shemitat kesafim annul the loan, or merely forbid the lender from claiming? and 2. Does shemitat kesafim happen automatically?) would appear to ...
- 41.7k
6
votes
What are we supposed to do during the shemita year?
As has already been mentioned in the comments - with their now free time, it affords the farmers the opportunity to learn and daven more.
Rav Tzadok in the first Pri Tzadik of Behar writes:
מפני ...
- 30.2k
5
votes
The underlying reason for Shemitat Ksafim?
The Sefer Hachinuch in Mitzvah 477 says that the main reasons for this Mitzvah are in order to instill a sense of compassion in the person foregoing the loan, as well as to help train him to have more ...
- 6,753
5
votes
Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?
Based on Be'er Yosef to Leviticus 25:1-3
There’s a Midrash which analyzes 1 a verse in Psalms 2. The verse describes גיבורי כוח, the mighty ones of strength, who follow Hashem’s word. Who ...
- 19.6k
4
votes
Vilna Gaon, Gog and Magog war and Hoshana Rabba
The writing from the Vilna Gaon are most likely referring to the sealed letter which the Gaon wanted opened 100 years after his passing. It can be found in the Rav Menachem Kasher edition of Sefer Kol ...
- 14.2k
4
votes
Accepted
Does a Gemach that lends money need a Prozbul?
In Choshen Mishpat 67:28 it is written that minor orphans do not require prozbul, because their guardians are batei din, and the source for this ruling is on Bava Kamma 36b–37a (see also Gittin 37a). ...
- 7,434
3
votes
Is Shmitat Ksafim practiced after a Yovel?
Rambam Hilchot Shemitah v’Yovel 10:16 writes that shemitat kesafim only applies in a shemitah year, not in yovel.
- 41.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Does the shemita year cancel a loan of a sefer?
As DoubleAA commented, when you lend someone an object, the object remains yours, they are expected to treat it with care, and return it intact. This is 'she'eila', borrowing. It is also not subject ...
- 131k
3
votes
Accepted
Questions regarding counting for Shemitta and Yovel
This Mitzva applies to Beit Din (Sifra to your verse; cf. Menachot 65b), and the year would begin on 1 Tishrei (RH 1:1). The Sifra clarifies that they would count both the total years of Yovel and the ...
- 97.3k
3
votes
Accepted
What is the Kashrut status of Sefichim harvested during Shmita?
R Yehuda Spitz answers your question regarding vegetables grown in a forbidden way (sefichin) (here, next to last paragraph, see footnote 14 for sources)
many Acharonim understand that Sefichin must ...
- 47.8k
2
votes
Hydroponics – Allowed on Seventh Year?
Yes they are allowed.
Due to the special status of Eretz Yisroel, generally, vegetables grown there must have ma’asros, tithes, separated. However, if the AeroGarden kit is used to grow vegetables ...
- 10.5k
2
votes
Do convert slaves and Jewish slaves get released at the same time?
A convert cannot be bought (Rambam, Avadim 1:2), so this question is invalid.
A convert may not sell himself as a servant. This is derived from
Leviticus 25:41: "And he shall return to his ...
- 34.1k
2
votes
Is the Samaritan Sabbath Year Concurrent with the Shmita?
The Jewish Encyclopedia explains that the difference in the calculations is based on an argument as to when the first year of the first cycle began when the Bnai Yisrael entered the land under ...
- 42.9k
2
votes
Bikkurim during Shemita
If your question was, are you obligated to bring Bikurim from the fruits that grow on Shmita. Then there seems to be a serious question about that.
Rashi in Shemos 23/19 says that even the seventh ...
- 6,123
2
votes
Why is Hakhel done specifically after the shemittah year is completed?
The following is based on R' Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on these verses.
Let's work backward from the ultimate purpose of this special reading, which the Torah is kind enough to tell us (v. 6):...
- 47.8k
2
votes
Why is Hakhel done specifically after the shemittah year is completed?
The Meshech Chachmah explains that Hakel increases(exemplifies) the test of shmittah. It is now the end of shmittah and everyone is itching to go back to their fields and vineyards which hasn't been ...
- 41k
2
votes
Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?
Ramban here answers that Shemittah was used as an example since it was stated briefly/generally at the time of Matan Torah (in Mishpatim), and the details were said later. This example shows us that ...
- 20.9k
2
votes
If shemittah passed, is it still honorable to repay a debt?
It's perfectly OK, as Joel K already answered, and actually the lender may even peer pressure him to do so.
However, the money needs to be given as a gift, and not as repayment of the loan, otherwise, ...
- 42.8k
2
votes
The underlying reason for Shemitat Ksafim?
In general, there seems to be a theme of Israel and its land never being enslaved in perpetuity, specifically not for more than six units (days/years depending on the context), corresponding to the ...
- 17.7k
2
votes
Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?
Aleinu LeShabeiach, based on the teachings of Rav Zilberstein, quotes two answers to this question (p. 394-395):
The Chasam Sofer explains that the reason shemittah and Mount Sinai are juxtaposed ...
- 34.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Does a car constitute land ownership for pruzbul?
The gemara in Gittin 37a answers your question (translation R Steinsaltz) that one needs a very small amount of land and it can even be lent to the debtor.
We learned in a mishna there (Shevi’it 10:6)...
- 47.8k
2
votes
Keeping Shemittah "When you enter the land"?
I couldn't find any meforshim who were bothered by this. The Gra writes in Aderes Eliyahu db"h כי תבאו that "כי תבאו אל הארץ" comes to exclude a hava amina that shemitta applies to Ever ...
- 220
1
vote
Is Shemittah a mitzvah bein odom laMokom or bein odom lechaveiro?
Not 100% excluding the possibility that shemittas karka, letting one's land be ownerless, is considered an interpersonal mitzvah (you show the Kesav Sofer seems to think so), I'd like to share that ...
- 19.6k
1
vote
Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?
Ralbag, seen here, suggests that it is not the particular Mitzvah itself that warrants this statement, rather it's placement in the order of the Torah.
He writes:
Since the narrative was ...
- 33.4k
1
vote
Does one need to worry about shmitah on Arab produce in Israel?
I assume you checked with the seller that the fruits being sold do belong to a non-Jew (i.e., they are not just reselling Jewish produce) - see towards the end as this is not obvious. And of course ...
- 47.8k
1
vote
Can a non-Jewish slave convert and exit slavery this way?
They might be able to fully convert at the original time. Once they have entered into slavery, however, all the laws of עבד כנעני apply. They cannot escape that status voluntarily.
In any case, no ...
- 999
1
vote
Do convert slaves and Jewish slaves get released at the same time?
(Edited) A non-Jew who converts normally (not a גרות לשם עבדות, a conversion for the sake of slavery) cannot be sold as an עבד עברי, as pointed out in this answer. He can neither be sold for theft, ...
- 999
1
vote
Accepted
Shmittah in Space
Shmita is a law of the land of Israel, not of the airspace above it.
A proof is that plants grown through hydroponics, i.e., with their roots outside of the soil, are not subject to the restrictions ...
- 47.8k
1
vote
Israeli esrogim after shemittah
It is permitted, as the prohibition of wasting shmitta produce only applies to the parts of the fruit normally eaten by people.
See in the following link shiur number 11 for detailed sources on the ...
- 1,668
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