Q&A

What does shemitah lechumrah mean? If I eat heter mechirah, could I eat shemitah lechumrah?

What are the difficulties that the institution of otzar beit din address?

Do fruits and vegetables that grow outside the Land of Israel during the shemitah year have kedushat shevi'it?

1. How should I handle heter mechirah fruits and vegetables—do they have kedushat shevi'it (What does this mean? Can I throw away a rotten vegetable to the regular garbage can?)
2. Is it mandatory to separate terumot and ma'aserot from fruits and vegetables that grew in Israel under heter mechirah?

What is heter mechirah? What are the problems that can arise from this sale and what are its advantages?

Dear Rabbi,
I have a private garden and I want to know how to tend to it in the upcoming shemitah year.

1. Is it permissible to water the garden?
2. There are fruits hanging on some of the trees. Can I eat them?
3. Is it permissible to plant trees?
4. When is the shemitah year over—15 Shevat or at the end of the year?

I saw that when ma'aser was taken from fruit such as avocado and citruses, it was taken without a blessing. Why is this so? Is it because according to both Ashkenazim and Sephardim the fruit began to form during the shemitah year, exempting them from ma'aser?

We have large ficus trees in our yard and we want to prune them since they make a huge mess. Can we prune them during the shemitah year?

We need to prune the trees at our school in Jerusalem. The school has a solar energy system, and there are branches that obstruct the light from reaching the panels, which garbles the system.

Furthermore, branches might fall during the winter and destroy the system. Can we prune these branches?

I have semi-sweet wine from otzar beit din from 2001, which soured. Am I allowed to pour it down the drain?