Shmita observance in the modern land of Israel

As believers familiar with the Scriptures, were very aware of the God-given institution of the Sabbath day
of rest (shabbat in Hebrew) and even for Gentile Christians living in a highly secularized society, there still
remains a sense of the importance of observing a day of rest each week. Also enshrined in the Scriptures
- notably in Leviticus 25, theres the equally significant God-given institution of the land of Israel receiving
a sabbatical year of rest every seven years (known in Hebrew as shmita). What do we know about that?
Well a straw poll would surely demonstrate that most Christians don't know much about this at all and
would be highly surprised to discover that this ancient practice has been revived in modern Israel. Indeed
the current Jewish year of 5768 (the year running from Rosh Hashana in 2007 to Rosh Hashana, 2008) is in
fact a shmita year and its being observed by farmers throughout modern Israel. Hence this article about
shmita is very timely.

In mid-2004, my wife Caroline and I traveled to Israel for a five-month research trip to study the shmita
farming movement. This was made possible by me receiving a grant from the National Australia Bank
Yachad Scholarship Fund. What follows represents the fruit of that research and we begin with some
historical background.
With Jewish people immigrating to Palestine in the late nineteenth century (making aliyah),1 settlement of
the land was regarded as a religious duty and an important dimension of this duty was shmita
observance.2 Yet, for these first fledgling agricultural colonies of the new aliyot, shmita observance
seemed totally impractical. How could they possibly leave land fallow when their whole
agricultural/economic status was already extraordinarily fragile?3
4

Shmita observance became a much-debated issue in the sabbatical year of 1889/1890. The Yishuv (the
Jewish community in Palestine) sought rulings from the then most influential Rabbis based in Europe and
ultimately, the spiritual head of Russian Jewry, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, developed the concept of
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shmita observance known as the heter mechira. This heter represented a special dispensation which, for
the duration of the shmita year, allowed the fictional sale of the Jewish-controlled agricultural land of
1

Aliyah (pl. aliyot) - literally means ascent. It is used in the context of immigration and refers to the
return to Eretz Israel of either an individual Jew or an organised group of Jews.
2
Yosef Heinemann. Contemporary Observance of the Sabbatical Year. In The Religious Kibbutz
Movement. The Revival of the Jewish Religious Community, ed. Aryei Fishman. (Jerusalem: The Religious
Section of the Youth and Hehalutz Department of the Zionist Organization, 1957). 130
3
ibid. 131
4
M. Z. Neriya. The History of the Heter for Shemittah. In The Shemittah Year. Collection of Sources and
Articles, compiled by Aviezer Ravitsky. (New York: The World Zionist Organization, 1972). 104
5
Bak. The Sabbatical Year in Modern Israel. 196

Palestine to a non-Jew. Because the land was owned by a non-Jew, it was no longer considered
sanctified.6 Thus shmita observance was maintained in theory under Rabbinic decree, but the land
continued to be worked by Jewish farmers.7 While meant to be a temporary measure only,8 the heter has
proven to be a highly significant precedent9 because believe it or not, it continues to represent the major
form of shmita observance in Israel today.10

Accompanying the heter mechira are two other forms of observance. One is through the concept of an
Otzar Beit Din (a Rabbinical Court warehouse or clearing house), with the Otzar Beit Din representing the
modern-day answer to the Biblical idea of shmita produce being ownerless and public property.11 Here
the Otzar Beit Din is a representative of the public. It pays the wages of farmers and others in getting
produce to consumers12 (but there is no payment for the produce itself), with the aim of the public having
access to shmita-grown produce at discounted prices.13

And at a third level of observance, some farmers just choose to leave farming land fallow in the shmita
year.14 Both of these latter methods represent greater levels of religious piety, sacrifice and acts of faith
than with the heter mechira, with the last method of leaving land fallow obviously representing the
greatest sacrifice.

In the shmita year of 1972-1973 the then Rabbi of Moshav Komemiyut in the Negev, the late Rabbi
Binyamin Mendelsohn, led shmita observance across all the farms of the Komemiyut settlement. A
feature of this observance at Komemiyut was complete rest of the land and the event proved so
6

Dr. Benny Brown. Personal Interview. 18 July 2004.

The fictional sale represented by this heter is somewhat akin to the ongoing practice of the Rabbis
allowing Jews to sell chametz each Passover. Jewish law prohibits the use or possession of any chametz
(leaven of any kind) on Passover. In order to be certain that all chametz has been removed from a Jews
possession, Jewish tradition requires Jews to sell their remaining chametz to a non-Jew. This chametz,
then, becomes the property of the non-Jew for the duration of Passover. See Gail Lichtman. Fallow
Fields, Rich Tradition. The Jerusalem Post (Magazine), 6 April, 2001. p. 10
8
Isidor Grunfeld. The Jewish Dietary Laws, Vol. 2. (London: The Soncino Press, 1972). 126
9
Bak. The Sabbatical Year in Modern Israel. 197
10
In the lead-up to each shmita year, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel organises the sale of Israeli farming land
to a non-Jew, in fact a trustworthy Arab. In this process, the Chief Rabbinate asks both Jewish farmers and
other Jewish owners of agricultural land to sign a document of authorization (a Harshaah) to allow their
land to be included in the overall transaction. See Grunfeld. The Jewish Dietary Laws, Vol. 2. p.129
11
Shmittah in the Kitchen and in the Home, ed. Yosef Y. Efrati, trans. by Yoel Moore. (The Institute for
Agricultural Research According to the Torah and The Chaim Kahn Institue for the Study of Mitzvot of the
Beit Midrash Gavoah for Halachah in Agricultural Settlements). 5
12
Lichtman. Fallow Fields. p. 10
13
Shmittah in the Kitchen and in the Home. 5
14
During the time of my scholarship in Israel, I attempted to ascertain the precise percentage breakdown
between the three methods of shmita observance. However I was unsuccessful. It seems no single authority
has this kind of data, although there seems little dispute about the notion that the second and third methods
described above are very much in the minority.

influential within the Israeli farming community that, in subsequent shmita years, this pious, sacrificial
observance of shmita evolved into a growing movement.15 It was farmers of this conviction who Caroline
and I sought for testimonies and the stories we gathered generally reflected two particular motifs. These
are the motifs of the Lords economic provision and blessing on the one hand, to stories of rest and
renewal, on the other. A striking feature of the stories about the Lords provision is the manner in which
he provided for people in all kinds of creative ways.

I now want to quote from a selection of stories which reflects these two motifs. I am quoting from my
National Australia Bank Yachad Fund report and the first selection considers the Lords provision and
blessing through the personal experiences of three farmers.

On a private farm near Ofakim in the south-western Negev, Baruch Adiri raises sheep for meat and milk
and has 1200 dunams16 under barley and wheat. In the shmita year he leaves his cropping land
completely fallow. Baruch is one of many farmers in Israel who tend mixed farms which include livestock.
Shmita, of course, only applies to things growing in the soil, and so Baruchs story is particularly
interesting because it shows the creativity of the Lords provision through Baruchs livestock:

We have been living here for about thirty yearsI began to keep shmita before I began to keep
Shabbat, maybe because of the connection to the land and because Im a farmer and I really like
being a farmer. My father was a farmer here in Israel and my grandfather before him, so maybe
its in the blood.

In the shmita year when I dont plant my barley and wheat, I lose a lot of income. Yet - lets say
that each 100 ewes normally give me 125 to 130 lambs, in the shmita year they actually give
birth to about 180 lambs. This compensates for the income I lose when I dont plant my barley
and wheat.

In the year before the last shmita all my sheep were eating out in the fields. In late summer the
first rain damaged the grass so I had to move all the sheep inside to feed them via a feed lot for
about 100 days. In the shmita year, all the rain was in Beer Sheva, a long way from us. The water
from Beer Sheva ran down here in the river and because it was hot the grass within the river bed
grew very, very quickly and that year the sheep were able to feed all year outside. Thus I didnt
have to give them anything extra, I didnt have to buy any additional food for them.
15

Rabbi Binyamin Mendelsohn. And May the Land Have a G-dly Rest, (translated by Dov Lederman),
personal paper, circa 1999.
16
In Israel land size is measured in dunams. One dunam equates to 0.247105381 acres, or 0.1 hectares

Further south and closer to the Sinai, lies the farming settlement of Moshav Amioz. Here one of the
moshavs farmers, Moshe Danino, produces tomatoes and peppers in hothouses:

In the shmita years 1993-1994, I followed the heter mechira which means that we sell the land
to a Gentile, a non-Jew. And we continue to cultivate. In the years 2000-2001, which was the
next shmita year, I decided to observe the shmita, to completely stop all cultivation and close the
whole farm. I must say that for that shmita year I had great apprehension. To decide to not work
is very hard because of the need for income and commitments.

Three months before the beginning of the shmita year, I was in a relatively difficult position.
From the moment I decided I would keep the shmita year, things changed. I had two big
hothouses of tomatoes and the harvest proved to be an excellent one. There were large
quantities of tomatoes, and the prices were also good. In fact I earned three times what I
normally get and this money provided for living during the whole shmita year. Also the following
year was very successful, and since then - thank God - my economical situation is fine.

And in the same region, Yehuda Penyer is a Rabbi-farmer at Moshav Talmei Eliyahu. Here Yehudas farm
produces tomatoes and peppers in hothouses, and onions in open fields:

For several months in advance of the shmita year, we prepare for the year aheadWhat is this
preparation? We put away all our materials and toolsWe do some cultivation of the ground in
order to keep it clean from grass and weeds for the following yearAll the fields are left standing
empty...

Heres a story from the first shmita I observedIt was in the beginning of May, about four
months before the shmita. At that time I was growing gladiolus, in large quantities, and the
following day I had to start the harvest. When I arrived with my workers to harvest, I noticed that
all the flowers were affected with white spotsSo I called an agricultural expert and he
suggested that in spraying the grass with chemicals against the grass, the flowers had become
burned.

I told him that I didn't spray anything. Now, I had a neighbor who had the same thing happen to
him. This friend told me: "I am taking care of it, I think I found out what the problem is!" To make
a long story short, this friend found out that a plane sprayed chemicals in the neighboring kibbutz
of Nir Yitzhak. When the plane had finished spraying, the pilot decided to release left-over

chemicals on what he thought was no-mans land. On releasing these chemicals, a strong side
wind blew them onto our gladiolus.

With my friend establishing the truth of this account the plane spraying company gave us
compensation. Naturally the company had insurance, so the compensation fee was very large.
The company also had an interest in keeping the story quiet, so the amount they gave us was
very big, around 84,000 shekels...This sustained us for the whole of the shmita year, and for the
following year as well....

After two shmitot, another wonderful thing happened. I started the shmita with debts, as
agriculture was struggling at that time. I remained in debt during the whole shmita. At the end of
shmita I decided to sow one dunam of tomatoes in furrows. This was not like the hothouse of
today - this was the first time we had tried growing tomatoes in this Dutch furrow method. So I
did only one dunam, without workers, just my wife and me.

I planted the tomatoes relatively late, after Sukkot. There were very few farmers who planted at
that time of the year. So when everybody had cleared their tomato fields, my wife and I just
started to harvest ours. The prices then were ten times more expensive than today. The harvest
was so great that my storage barn fell down. That was a blessing that was sufficient to sustain in
the years ahead, and that only from one single dunam.

These are just two accounts. I could tell many more.

Our next selection of personal accounts about shmita observance reflects the second motif found within
these stories, and this is the motif of rest and renewal.

In the south-western Negev at Moshav Maslul is the farm of Shadi Avrahami. Shadis farm features both
hothouses and open fields, through which he produces herbs and citrons:

In the shmita year I stop working the farm. This is from Rosh Hashana until the next Rosh
Hashana, for a whole year. During this time I don't grow anything, the whole farm lies fallow. Im
not connected with the Otzar Beit DinThis gives me rest for a whole year. If we work six years
continually, on the seventh year it's like Shabbat. We rest, we gather new strength, and we can
study. It provides an opportunity to do things that I couldn't do for the other six years. On the
seventh year there is the possibility of doing them. For example, I spend more time with my kids.

I can dedicate more time for themI wait six years for the shmita year so I can finally have some
rest.

There is no pressure of work during the shmita year. When we work with 20 to 30 workers we
must organize everything to be in place for them to work, for the job to be done properly. From
the moment there isn't any workers during the year of shmita, there is no pressure, everything is
suddenly relaxed.

Again, Yehuda Penyer:

In spite of all the religious authorities who know all the issues involving shmita, and give all sorts
of alternatives, a farmer has still a wonderful opportunity to completely rest his fields. And by
doing this, theres a wonderful sense of happiness...

When one observes many of the shmita-observant farmers, one can see something very
interesting. In the non-shmita year these people are working continuously from morning to
evening with no time for their family. Then in the shmita year they can make time for their wife
and children. All of a sudden they have time to talk to them and get to know them. For six years
they have been running like blind people, after things that may be important for their physical
living. However, as it says in the Bible, A person shouldnt live on bread alone17

Its also important to set aside time for spirituality. The big problem in agriculture is that there is
no time for anything. One thing drags into another one, suddenly a disease appears in the field,
or the market prices fall and we have to become really busyIn all kinds of situations, our base
nature easily separates us from important things such as spirituality and family. And then in the
shmita year, following Rosh Hashana, a person suddenly realizes that he has plenty of time at his
disposal. He has plenty of time for his family and he is able to study. And then he gets a kind of
inner peace.

You notice that for farmers whove kept shmita for the first time a big change occurs affecting
their old patterns of life, the meaning of life for them. When the shmita year ends, they don't
return to being slaves. I have known these kinds of people - they are not the same after keeping
the shmita once. They all know how to make time for their family and for study

17

The Biblical reference here is Deuteronomy 8:3. It was also quoted by Jesus in The New Testament, in
Luke 4:4. Generally its meaning suggests that there are more important things in life than mere materialism.

Before the Gush Katif Disengagement of August 2005, Haim Schneid was a Gush Katif farmer at Moshav
Netzer Hazani, growing lettuces and scallions in hothouses:

the Sabbatical year takes you out of the yearly routine or the six yearly routine and you sit and
you think, venture into new ideas, build yourself differently. The truth is that I do a lot of learning
now, but to be able to take off an entire yearand not to have to worry about, hopefully, all of
the regular cares of life is a dreamhopefully itll be done with not only myself but I hope that all
of Israel will be able to take off a Sabbatical year and build itself spiritually

The Sabbatical year is very much like the Sabbath is to the week. Its a day of taking oneself out
of the normal frame of reference to being able to see what one has done, what one hasnt done,
to see whether there are changes that are necessary, to sit down and analyze - analyze oneself.
Its done together with the family, you sit with your family on Friday night and on Sabbath
afternoon to see your frame of reference with everything thats gone on and thats done on a
weekly basis.

Perhaps in work or in agriculture a week isnt enough in order to form enough of an opinionThe
seventh year, the Sabbatical year is a culmination or an opportunity of a person to take himself
out, devote himself also to the communityyoure in a totally different frame of reference and
its the time when youre able to take yourself out, look back, see what youve done, what you
havent done and prepare for the future for another six years of a certain type of rotation

And this is the message of the Sabbatical year. It starts off with day one Sunday morning. Day
two (leads) to the first Saturday - Shabbat, eventually getting to the end of the year, the festivals
and building up into the seventh year, Sabbatical year

So, in summing up, what are we to make of all of this? Well I think there are very significant things
occurring here, at a range of levels.

I think across all levels, this is a story about the Lord and his faithfulness. I think the deepest level of
meaning here is about the Lord's faithfulness in bringing the Jewish people back to the ancient homeland
after millennia of unbelievable struggles, and then in the context of reading the Scriptures and being
absolutely practical about living in the land of the Bible, the Lord has drawn Israeli farmers into Torah
obedience and met their faithfulness with his faithfulness. I have problems with the two-covenant
theory which sees a different way of salvation for the Jews as for the Gentiles. I think its very clear from
reading say Paul, for example, that salvation to Jewish people can only come through Jesus the Messiah.

Thus these stories about God's faithfulness with Israeli farmers who may not yet be saved through
Jesus, does not entirely fit into a neat, closed evangelical box. However what is evident is that the Lord is
still active and faithful with his firstborn chosen ones.

At other levels, there is the example for all of us to take God at his Word as one of the most beautiful
ways of living in relationship with him. There is the level of his faithfulness in dealing with Caroline and
me. It was through his extraordinary grace I was able to embark on a scholarship to study shmita and he
led us to find the right people as part of our research. And finally, in these days when theres no rest in
the West, the examples of these farmers challenges us to consider rest and renewal seriously, and this
applies at both individual and societal levels. I thought it was particularly interesting that Haim Schneid
expressed a heartfelt yearning that all Israel ultimately come to observe the sabbatical year and to build
itself spiritually.

Dr. Don Stanley

Dean of Education Technology
Hebraic Heritage Christian Center

Note to readers:
Feedback about this article is welcome. My email address is <d_stanley@fastmail.fm>

1.

Caroline Stanley (author's wife) and Dr Joshua Klein in one of his R & D labs. Dr Klein is a
horticulturist with the Volcani Center at the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, Bet Dagan. Dr
Klein is one of Israels foremost experts on shmita and was of great assistance to them in
their research.

2.

Dr Don Stanley with Moshe Simchovitz, a farmer on Moshav Tekuma, situated in the
western Negev between Netivot and the coastal city of Gaza. The main activities of his
farm are tomatoes and peppers in hothouses, and eggplants and squash in open fields.
Moshe is fully observant in the practice of shmita.

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3.

Dr Don Stanley on location at an Israeli kibbutz

11