Q&A

There are avocados in the supermarket (I live in New York) stamped "Israel." Should I be concerned about orlah? I know it's de'oraita in Israel, and safek de'oraita lechumrah.

My question is about sefichin in my vegetable garden. B"H, I have a thriving vegetable patch in my yard. This upcoming shemitah I'm not planning on growing anything; I will let it lie fallow. My question is about the crops that are now flowering and growing. I have crops that I planted at three different times:

1. An eggplant bush planted a year and a half ago, which has been producing beautiful eggplants for several months already.
2. A kale bush, planted more than 10 months ago, now big and beautiful.
3. Various vegetables planted six months ago: tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, butternut squash, and eggplant. Some of the vegetables are already past the point of the pinnacle of their growth, but the pumpkin patch, for instance, is now at the height of its growth.

From what I understood, it is possible that these crops would be considered sefichin and will be forbidden to eat during the shemitah year (unless I uproot them before shemitah begins). I thought, though, that maybe because the plants are veteran—planted between six to eighteen months ago—they might not be included in the prohibition.

I would like to receive your answer on the matter. Do I need to uproot all of my vegetables before shemitah due to the sefichin prohibition?

Is it a problem to grate the rind of a lemon with kedushat shevi'it in order to add it to a cake (instead of discarding it in the pach shevi'it)?

My son wants us to save our apricot pits for him to play gogo'im at recess. We buy otzar beit din apricots. Now I know that barely any fruit gets stuck to the pit, but technically if you open up the pit, the inside is edible.

Is it permissible to play with the pits or is this considered degrading or hefsed? And, in general, are we supposed to keep these pits in the shemitah bin or can we throw them away regularly?

I initially planted mint in my garden 50 cm away from my tomato plant. Later on, the mint spread towards the tomatoes. Is it necessary to cordon off the mint and uproot some of it?

Are the fruit trees in public parks hefker and does it matter how much you take and what you plan on doing with it? For instance, large-scale olive harvest.

Do we need to separate terumot and ma'aserot from produce found in closed military zones during the War of Iron Sword?

I have a strange question… we were at a public park that had tons of pomegranate trees in RBS. They were big so there is no doubt in my mind that they are old enough… is it halachically allowed to take pomegranates from a public park if they’ve already fallen to the ground? 

Am I allowed to take cuttings from overgrown wild sage or rosemary at the side of the road in public areas? A few people I know have said that you’re allowed because they grow back and it’s actually good for the trees to take cuttings… but is there an issue of stealing? What about terumot and ma'aserot?