Q&A

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?

I saw on the website that it's forbidden to use holy lemons to alleviate nausea. What about drinking honey-lemon tea for a sore throat? Is that also considered medicinal?

I was planning on preparing lemon meringue pies using holy shemitah lemons for mishloach manot. The lemon juice is just part of the pie. There are other ingredients, though (I know the whole pie is holy). Does this make a difference?

It says in the Consumer's Guide for Shemitah that you need three people, who can be related to one another, to declare the wine hefker on erev Pesach.

In your WhatsApp group posts. you also mentioned that they can't be dependent members who are part of your household.

We are having a family over for seder night: a couple and their teen daughter. Can they be my hefker witnesses? Or do they have to be men? Is it a problem that they will be our guests (dependents at our table for the night)?

Does otzar beit din wine from last shemitah require bi'ur a second time?

I have many cartons of shemitah wine and I'm not allowed to lift heavy boxes. It will be very difficult and time consuming to bring them out to the public domain to declare them hefker on erev Pesach. What should I do?