Q&A

I received as a present a flowerpot with mint inside. I don't know if the mint was planted during shemitah or if any shemitah solutions were used. What am I supposed to do with the plant? Am I allowed to smell it or use it for havdalah? May I use it to make mint tea?

I have a loquat tree in my yard, which I generally cover in paper bags regular years to prevent birds from picking at them.

I picked up baby radishes at Super Hatzlacha (in Beit Shemesh) of BeFresh. A Russian-speaking friend told me it says "Product of Israel" on it. Are these baby radishes heter mechirah? There is no hechsher on the package.

I bought Chasalat shredded white cabbage with an orange stripe marked with Rabbi Efrati's Mehadrin kashrut symbol. Yevul Lotan is printed on the side. What does that mean?

I owe my friend NIS 42, and I was originally planning on paying her back before Rosh Hashanah (5783). The problem is I don't have the money now to pay her back now (end of Elul 5782). Do I have to pay her now or can I pay her later on?

My elderly father is cared for in our home by a live-in foreign, gentile caregiver. Can we offer him our kedushat shevi'it fruits and vegetables, or is this like using kedushat shevi'it produce as wages?

I have a cherry tree growing on my porch. Am I allowed to cover it with a net?

Am I allowed to collect seeds during shemitah and plant them next year?

I have a cherry tree growing on my porch and it can be accessed only through the house. The tree is now in its fifth year and is producing fruit now for the first time. How am I supposed to render it ownerless?

In the yard of my apartment building there is a mulberry tree, next to the parking lot. Most of the residents aren't interested in picking the fruit and in regular years we do. Am I allowed to harvest the berries and prepare jam, just as I do during regular years and like I used to do in the United States, in my childhood?