Q&A

You mentioned that at this point in the year (Tevet 5783), the vast majority of Israeli vegetables no longer have possible sefichin status (again, for those who do not rely on heter mechirah), and you referred to the shemitah calendars on your website.

How long is the shipping time? Is it possible that produce in Israel is already eighth-year but produce abroad was shipped before such produce was available? Are your shemitah calendars relevant to those who live abroad

Regarding olive oil, I have antique card catalog from a library.  I was told to only use extra Virgin olive oil to polish.  It's worth about $1,500.  Is that still considered a degraded use? I haven't polished it since I made Aliyah last year.

I have a pomelo tree in my yard. At this point of the year, I pick the fruit, put it in a crate outside and write that it's free for the taking. I was wondering if I could set aside fruit for my neighbors, adult children, and grandchildren, or is that acting like I'm the owner of the fruit?

 Is it permissible to make a wine marinade for a nice steak? On the one hand, it enhances the steak's quality and flavor, but on the other hand, the marinade is discarded after use.

I recently bought some shemitah Moscato and it's delicious. It's not fine wine, though. If I have two wines, one with kedushat shevi'it and one regular wine, does shemitah wine trump non-shemitah wine by the virtue of its holy status? Or does it have to be a better quality than the other wine to qualify for hatov vehameitiv?

I'm slotted to take the glucose challenge test (ha'amasat sukar). The test measures the body's response to sugar, performed during pregnancy to screen for gestational diabetes. The test involves dissolving 50g of glucose (for the first test) in a cup of water, drinking it, and waiting for an hour, after which a blood test is taken.

In the past, I've always squeezed a lemon into the cup of water so I wouldn't get lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous after drinking the extremely sweet cup of water. We have a lemon tree with holy lemons in our yard. Would I be allowed to use one of those, or is that considered using shemitah produce for medical purposes?

 Is it a problem to use holy wine or lemon juice (or any other holy ingredient, for that matter) when preparing meat and chicken since some of the fat and bone will be discarded also? I have resisted cooking/baking/roasting with holy lemon juice because of throwing out any remaining food or waste.

I bought lots of otzar beit din wine. Am I allowed to include a bottle in mishlo'ach manot?

At the Purim se'udah, wine is often spilled by drunkards, who overturn cups or bottles, and even worse, vomit the wine. Is it permissible to use shemitah wine for the Purim se'udah? Or is this considered hefsed, causing shemitah produce to be spoiled?

I have a lemon tree with lots of fruit on it. I want to avoid a situation in which there are fruits from different years growing on the tree, so I harvested all the ripe ones. Can I perform the mitzvah of hefker by including holy lemons in my mishloach manot?