QA Shemitah 4

Answer

Rabbi Yehuda HaLevy Amichay

I commend you for your efforts to properly observe shemitah. I believe that the only solution is to bring a religious gardener who observes shemitah laws (there are many out there). He can receive guidance for any questions he has at Torah VeHa'aretz Institute and will observe halachah properly. The garden will look nice again, the gardener will earn his daily bread, and everything will be fine.

Question

How is it permissible to treat weeds in a (six-year-old) olive grove, assuming that the weeds can cause damage:

(1) They exploit the water in the ground, meant for the trees; (2) They increase the risk of flash fires in the summer due to the dry weeds; (3) It will be difficult to harvest the olives, since harvesters will need to beware of snakes who can take cover in the weeds.

Answer

Spray the weeds. If it is impossible to spray them, you can cut the weeds down with a motorized scythe above ground and then clear them out of the grove.

Question

May I pick fruit from a tree growing on public property? What is the deal this year with terumot and ma'aserot?

Answer

Most trees in public areas are considered ownerless, so they have kedushat shevi'it (for fruits that begin to develop after Rosh Hashanah 5782). They are exempt from terumot and ma'aserot. You may only pick a small amount of fruit at one time, enough for your family for a week, just as is the case with privately owned trees during the shemitah year.

Question

Following the winter, my yard (of my privately owned home) is now full of tall weeds. May I cut them down to prevent snakes and other pests from taking refuge (and to prevent flash fires, etc.), and for aesthetic purposes?

Answer

Both reasons you mentioned make it possible to be lenient and cut down the weeds, as long as you do not penetrate the soil. You may mow them down above ground. A halachically preferable option is spraying the weeds.

Question

I have goats and our lawn has already been taken over by weeds. Am I allowed to uproot or pick weeds from my lawn in order to feed my goats? I generally do this anyway in other areas of my yard. Can I do this from where my lawn to clean it up in the process? Is it better to mow down the weeds instead?

Answer

The answer to your question revolves around whether or not these weeds are considered sefichin. It seems that these weeds are not generally planted for human food or animal fodder, but sprout on their own. This being the case, the sefichin prohibition does not apply to them. For this reason it seems that it will be possible to feed these weeds to your goats. However, if there are weeds there that are specifically used for animal fodder, they are considered sefichin and you may not give them to your goats.

It is best to mow the weeds or cut them from above ground; do not uproot them.

Question

Can I make grass heads with children as an educational activity?

Answer

If there is a great need you may prepare grass heads indoors and send them home with the children in bags. Explain to the parents that they need to keep the grass head inside.

Question

I would like to know how modern day posekim and Chazal related to the fragrance of fruit/flowers vis-à-vis kedushat shevi'it. Is a rose bush considered a fruit tree, or a non-fruit tree?

Answer

Roses are discussed on Rambam (Hilchot Shemitah ve-Yovel 7:19). See Shabbat Ha'aretz 1 for all of the sources of this discussion, the definition of a rose and its parts. Today roses are not eaten, so they are not considered fruit, rather a flower grown mainly for its appearance and not for its fragrance (and thus do not have kedushat shevi'it). Of course, a fruit that was once eaten and is not eaten today at all is not a fruit. The opposite is also true. If once corn was animal fodder only and today it is eaten by people, it is considered human food. See also Katif Shevi'it chapter 5 n. 4.

Question

During the shemitah year everyone's land is ownerless, everyone is able to use each other's fruits, which is from the "special mutual responsibility of the shemitah year," which attests to unity among the nation. If so, how can shemitah produce be sold in grocery stores? If the money is only for the toil of bringing the groceries to the store, the price of groceries should be very low. Is there any difference between otzar beit din and yivul nochri or heter mechirah?

Is the blessing of Hashem of a triple yield during the sixth year? Is there really a triple yield so there is enough for the sixth, seventh, and eighth year?

Answer

So that there will be enough vegetables for everyone during the shemitah year, they need to be tended to with permitted melachot (irrigation, spraying, [and fertilization only in certain cases, under rabbinic guidance]). Farmers have many ongoing expenses, and they do, indeed, receive less for their produce than any other year. There are also additional expenses that they do not have other years, such as supervision, kashrut, and certain melachot. When crops reach the store they are actually more expensive for them.

The blessing for the double and triple yield only applies when shemitah is a biblical injunction. Today, though, while it is a rabbinic injunction, this blessing is not present. Of course there are times when certain crops are more successful, and they we talk about Heavenly assistance, but this is not the blessing the Torah talks about "vetziviti et birchati lachem." [Rabbi Moshe Bloom adds:] Perhaps also the latest technological developments for long-term storage of sixth-year produce is the beginning of this G-dly promise: we will be able to grow twice as much in the sixth year and eat it during shemitah.

Question

There are dishes that I generally add vegetables to only for fragrance or taste, not to eat them. For instance, I add sweet potato, pepper, or herbs to soup. Can I use vegetables with kedushat shevi'it for this purpose when I know they won't be eaten? Is this considered regular use, or wasting food, which is forbidden?

Answer

Since cooking sweet potatoes and pepper for soup is considered a conventional use of these vegetables, it is permitted. However, these foods have kedushat shevi'it and should be handled as such (and not discarded regularly, rather place it in the pach shevi'it).

Question

To the best of my knowledge, the halachah for peels with kedushat shevi'it is that they need to be double bagged and only then can they be discarded. However, one of the objectives of shemitah is for the land to rest and to preserve the earth. From a green perspective, and as an integral part of Jewish philosophy, we should not ruin the world; for if we ruin it, no one will be there to fix it up after us.

I see these two elements I mentioned above – double bagging in plastic and preserving nature as part of shemitah—as a paradox. The bags harms the environment, especially if double bagging. If the peels did not have kedushat shevi'it, they would be thrown as is into the garbage. While the pach shevi'it solution does seem reasonable, it is hard for me to accept the double bagging solution—isn't this an internal conflict?

Answer

Preserving nature is definitely a Jewish value. It is not an obligation to double bag—it is a hiddur. However, the bag does not have to be plastic (as you know, plastic has only been around for a little over a century). You can wrap the kedushat shevi'it food in a paper bag, napkin, or newspaper.