This year is Shmita in Israel. Shmita occurs once every 7 years and this is the 3rd time we've have the privilege to keep Shmita as farmers here in Israel. Shmita started on Rosh Hashanah this year and will end at Rosh Hashanah next year.
The laws of Shmita come from the Torah. Shmita is a time when among other things, we are reminded that the land does not really belong to us, it belongs to G-d. The produce also does not belong to us - it is there for all the Jewish people and it helps us remember and see that we are all equal.
So as a farmer in Israel what does this mean for us? During Shmita, the land rests - no planting, no plowing and no pruning. But we have to eat and we can't just let our trees die. Fortunately there are solutions that let us work with the reality and keep the mitzvah.
I'll just write a little about what we are doing and why. We've decided to keep the mitzvah of Shmita by signing a contract with the local Beit Dein (Rabbinical Court). This is called Otzar Beit Dein. This contract says that, they are responsible for distributing all of our produce.
Where does this come from? Remember that all produce is available to all the Jewish people. That means that anyone can go to any tree/plant and take the produce but only what they need for 3 days.
Imagine how that would work. I live in the city and I get up each day and drive out to a farm where I pick enough vegetables and fruits just for the next few days. I might have to go to several farms and walk through several fields just to do this. And then, I'd have to the same thing over and over again for the year.
Now think about how much harder that was in the time of the Mishna when the idea of Otzar Beit Dein was implemented.
So it was decided that farmers could harvest their produce and give it all to the Beit Dein to distribute. The Beit Dein would make sure that it was distributed according to Halacha (Jewish Law). The farmer was required to promise to keep the laws of Shmita.
This solved part of the problem, but what about the farmers' expenses like water to keep the trees alive and workers to pick the produce? So, the Beit Dein allowed the farmers to be the managers of their farms and determine their costs. The Beit Dien then paid the farmers to cover their expenses - not for the produce.
Let's go to how this works today. I said, we signed a contract with the local Beit Dein that they would distribute our produce. In the contract, we promised to keep the laws of Shmita; no planting, no plowing and no pruning. The Beit Dein in turn has made us the managers of our farm. It has given us authority to distribute the produce. We can ask for payment that will cover our expenses. We are not asking for payment for the produce - just to cover our costs.
This means that although our farm is running we are able to keep the mitzvot of Shmita. We aren't planting anything, We aren't plowing and preparing the ground in any way and we are not pruning any trees to enhance their growth. But we have plenty of beautiful citrus and bananas now and hopefully we'll have much more as the year goes on.
Here's a simple video, I put together for some young students.
