And in the Seventh Year, Every Farmer Stopped

For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.” – Leviticus, chapter 25:3.

For many American Jews, the concept of a shemittah (or Sabbatical) year may sound like a mystical event in a land far away.

But it is quite real to a majority of Israeli farmers. For them, the current shemittah year began last Sept. 7 and ends next Sept. 25, erev Rosh Hashanah.

“I am excited about shemittah because it is so challenging,” Rabbi Yosef Zvi Ramon told the Journal while visiting the United States with an American-born farming couple to educate audiences about the seldom-invoked subject. 

He estimates 85% of Israeli farmers adhere to the demanding rules of shemittah, and around 60 rabbis are involved in shemittah work.

During shemittah, it is biblically prohibited for a Jew to sow, plant or prune the produce of the land. Ramon estimates 85% of Israeli farmers adhere to the demanding rules of shemittah.

During shemittah, it is biblically prohibited for a Jew to sow, plant or prune the produce of the land. While the rabbis forbade any working of the land, it is permissible to perform activities to save a plant or tree from dying. 

When Jews began resettling the land in the 19th century and starvation emerged during shemittah, leading rabbis endorsed heter mechira, permitting the sale of Jewish-owned land to non-Jews for the year.   

“Letting the land be idle isn’t just about letting the soil rest,” said Ramon, the author of 20 books, including several on shemittah. 

He underscored the sacredness of the land of Israel.

“There is no such mitzvah in New York, or France or Egypt,” he said. “But in Israel, there is a special connection between humanity and the soil, between the people and its land. This connection requires us to let go for a year to give our holy land its rightful place.”

Recently, Dr. Ronald Nagel, who specializes in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology, hosted a talk with Ramon, as well as Tzvi and Sue Muslow, farmers who made aliyah from Shreveport, La., in 1998. Their land is at Moshav Beit Gamliel, between Rehovot and Yavne, and this is their third shemittah year.

Declaring that he loves farmers, Nagel sponsored the trio’s trip, where they visited eight schools and four synagogues to teach about shemittah.

Despite Ramon’s affection for and knowledge of shemittah, he is quick to explain he is not a farmer. When would he have time? 

He is head of Mizrachi’s Educational Advisory Board and Rabbinic Council, rabbi of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the rosh yeshiva of the Jerusalem College of Technology. He also is the founder/chairman of Sulamot, a music education program for children in remote Israeli communities with scarce resources.

“What Shabbat does to the individual is what shemittah does to the land.” 
– Rabbi Yosef Zvi Ramon     

“What Shabbat does to the individual is what shemittah does to the land,” Ramon said.  “Stop everything and try to understand how your life is significant.

Central to the modern shemittah year is selling the land to a non-Jew, affording a measure of flexibility to farmers.

“When you sell the land to a non-Jew, there are things you may do for yourself, and there are things that you cannot do yourself, as it is written in the Torah,” Ramon said. “For example, some duties only may be done by a non-Jew.”

Ramon said that in the past, shemittah was “very complicated,” as Jews did all the work. 

“Unfortunately, lots of farmers now use foreign workers all year long,” he said. “So hater mechirah is very easy for them. After hater mechirah, you can do almost anything. On the other hand, there are farmers who try for better solutions – which means the Torah tells us you must not seed, plant or prune during the shemittah year. If you do hater mechirah, you take a non-Jew and then you can plant. Then you can prune.”

Nagel spoke about another important shemittah law: 

“All loans are forgiven,” he said. “That is what secular and non-Orthodox Jews love about shemittah.”

One intriguing aspect of the Muslow’s story in Israel is that both have their own professions, apart from or in addition to the work on their moshav. Tzvi is an internist and Sue is a technical writer.

“I was looking forward to shemittah this year because I thought we would be able to do things we had not had time for,” Sue said. “We have a hot house in bad shape, and I thought we would be able to fix it up. There are certain things you can grow in pots, according to Jewish law. We didn’t get there, though.”

Before the shemittah year started, Tzvi also thought he’d have more free time, but that hasn’t been the case. 

“There’s a tremendous amount of manual labor involved,” he said. “There’s the upkeep of animals and things like, if a machine is broken, we have to take it apart and fix it. ”With almost four months left in the shemittah year, “we are up every morning at 4:30,” Tzvi said. 

From the feminine perspective, Sue looks at shemittah as a concept. “It’s not easy to farm,” she said. “We had a really tough winter, flooding and many problems. But I look at shemittah as I have the privilege of living in Eretz Israel. I get to keep a mitzvah that only can be kept in Eretz Israel. If I were not in Israel, I could not keep that mitzvah.”