Shmitta: Yevul Nochri

Yevul Nochri. Non-Jewish (grown) produce. This really means Arab produce, as that is the only non-Jewish produce sold in Israel (though there is a very minute amount of imported produce from Europe and Asia).

Because Jews have to make their fields hefker for the shmitta year, and Jews are not allowed to work the fields and do business with produce grown in shmitta, the kashrus organizations have found a workaround. This is the workaround that is the most prevalent in the Haredi communities, and is also found in other areas though not as prevalent. The workaround is to buy produce grown by Arabs.

This works because Arabs do not have a mitzva of keeping shmitta. they can work the land this year as they do any other year, and they can do business with the produce they grow.

If you do not keep Hetter Mechira, this is the only other solution to attaining vegetables during the shmitta year (other than OBD which I am not including here because the time period of OBD is short (finishing over the next couple of weeks) and the availability is severely limited not rendering it feasible for the masses) is to use Yevul Nochri/Arab Produce.

There is some debate as to whether Arab produce grown in (halchik) Israel has kedusha or not. The ramification of this debate is whether you can eat veggies like in any other year, throwing out the peels, letting your kid mash his tomato all over his hair, smear mashed potatoes all over the floor, etc. or whether such produce needs to be treated with holiness, similar to the way OBD produce is treated.

The debate is based on a larger question of whether an Arab (or any non-Jew) has the ability to remove the kedusha of the land simply by purchasing a tract.

The common custom is known as Minhag Yerushalayim, considers Arab produce to not retain any holiness. So according to that you can let your kids go to the annual tomato fight in Tel Aviv (I think) using Arab grown tomatoes.

The opposing opinion is known as Minhag Bnei Brak. The Chazon Ish decided that Arab produce does retain its holiness and must be treated respectfully. Most people in Bnei Brak follow this custom.

As true of many chumros, the stricter custom of Bnei Brak has begun to spread among the Haredi public of other areas. Even though other places always kept the custom of Jerusalem on this issue, we are finding this shmitta year that many are accepting upon themselves the custom of Bnei Brak.

In my community, the various Rabbis have all told their congregations that they do not need to treat such produce with holiness, as per the custom of Jerusalem. There is one Rabbi of a large congregation however who told his congregation to be machmir and treat it with kedusha. Along with that there are individuals who decided to be machmir.

Many are against using Arab produce for various reasons. Probably the most common reason is the nationalist aspect. People do not want to buy Arab produce because doing so "supports the terrorists". If you buy Arab grown cucumbers (for example), your money is going into the pockets of an Arab. Often that money will end up in part by the PA (taxes) and inadvertently, if not directly, will end up being used (in all likelihood) by terrorists to by guns and ammo which will likely be used against fellow Jews. So the thinking goes, if you buy Arab produce you are supporting terrorists.

Another reason people are against Arab produce is a more halachik based reason. You never really know where the produce is coming from. Arab produce is, for unknown reasons, very expensive. Basic items that normally sell for 2-3 NIS per kilo are selling for anywhere between 7 and 10 NIS per kilo.

That means that a farmer selling his produce elsewhere for 3 NIS per kilo goes into a Haredi supermarket and see the same veggies selling for 10 NIS a kilo. he then has to figure out how he can charge so much.

Often, and it does happen often, the farmers will go to the Arabs and sneak it into the Jewish consumers via the Arab (sometimes they are caught and more often they are not). He will sell it to the Arab who will then pass it off as his own. Now the Jewish farmer is selling in Jerusalem for 10 NIS per kilo the same cucumbers he was charging 3 NIS for in Tel Aviv. Much more profit.

In addition, the farmer often has his market limited. Maybe he sells Hetter Mechira produce and the Haredim will not buy from him. Maybe he has no kashrut at all because he does not follow the shmitta laws, and demand for his produce is even more limited. Selling it off through an Arab as if it is Arab produce allows him to pass off his produce when he would otherwise have a very difficult time finding buyers. (And he gets a lot of profit because of the high prices).

These two problems are very serious because when it happens, the buyer is inadvertently eating produce that is for all intents and purposes, not kosher.

So some people avoid it for these reasons - if you buy Arab produce there is a reasonable chance it is not kosher at all.

Another reason not to buy Arab produce is the issue of ownership. It is extremely difficult to determine who is the rightful owner of a piece of property in Israel. Land has to be registered in Taboo and often that land is not registered correctly, making it difficult to determine who really is the owner. Sometimes the Jewish owner will take on or already have an Arab partner and they will just say the land is owned by the Arab, even if it really is not. Sometimes there are pieces of land that were owned by Jews over the years and due to the restrictions on the Jews Arabs squatted on the lands (pre-State) taking ownership. Then they might technically own the land in question but halachically that might still be considered as owned by a Jew.

In any of these examples, and there are more, if the land is secretly (or without even being known) owned by a Jew, all that produce is considered not-kosher.

Others simply say it is Arab produce and the kashrut organization certifying it has to deal with those issues. If they say it is fine, that is fine by me. This is an attitude people (including myself) use regarding any kashrut issue - it has a hechsher and the mashgiach has to deal with those issues, not me..

There is another issue - health. Some people say that eating yevul nochri is dangerous. They say the Arabs use lower quality materials - manure, sprays, water, sewage, whatever. I do not believe this to be true, even if it is a bit lesser quality than jewish produce (I do not know if it is or is not, but even if it is that does not mean they use sewage instead of water and it does nott mean it is dangerous to consume).

I suspect that such accusations are baseless and are more similar to the blood libels we Jews were always accused of, such as poisoning the wells, causing the Plague, spreading AIDS among the Palestinians..etc.

I know some people claim that last shmitta they know people who got Hepatitis or other diseases from eating Arab produce that had been grown with sewage. I do not know how they can be so sure of what the source for the illness was.

I know plenty of people who eat Arab produce exclusively and they are as healthy (or unhealthy) as always. So, personally, I would discount this accusation.