Hamechadesh is reporting that Chief Rabbi Rav Yitzchak Yosef has paskened in a recent shiur that one can decorate the shul for Shvuos with branches and leaves even during the shmitta year.

As far as I know, marijuana, as a natural plant, does not actually need kashrut certification. Some might say it does, as plants are genetically modified, additives might be included in the final product, whatever. The policy of the OU, Orthodox Union, in the USA, as far as I know, is to not certify marijuana as kosher, even medical marijuana, because of the halachic opinion of Rav Moshe Feinstein prohibiting its use.

I stopped to drink some water from a public water fountain in the streets of RBS and noticed something written on the frame of the fountain just beside the dispenser, the perfect spot for a person to see it when he bends over to drink:

Hamechadesh is reporting on an interesting psak of Rav Yitzchak Zilbershtein, rav of Ramat Elchonon neighborhood of Bnei Braq, regarding waiters during the shmitta year.

According to Reuters, the Finance Ministry has now published its plan to lower the prices of fresh produce by opening up the system for more imports - cutting import duties and opening it up for competition.

MK Tessler has an interesting proposal for farmers during the upcoming shmitta year..

Every shmitta year brings back the debate and argument of what the right and moral thing is to do about eating vegetables. One of the main solutions for sourcing vegetables during the shmitta year is importing them from the farmers in the Palestinian Authority territories.

And that brings the arguments of not buying Palestinian produce so as not to support terrorism (in addition to claims of tainted vegetables).

The argument in return is that these people only care about not buying vegetables for the Palestinians during the shmitta year, but during the other 6 years they indiscriminately buy vegetables in the supermarkets and shuks without even knowing where the vegetables come from, and unknowingly they are buying those same Palestinian vegetables.

Those days might be over.

According to INN, the Palestinian Authority implemented a ban on Israeli agricultural imports, specifically banning cattle and livestock from Israel, last September.

The defense establishment has tried for months to persuade the Palestinians to revoke the boycott, yet to date they have refused to do so. This has caused a disparity in trade, with the Israelis continuing to import from the Palestinians but the Palestinians refusing to import from Israel. Israeli farmers and breeders have bee suffering because of it.

This is a basic trade issue that countries all around the world deal with on a regular basis.

Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett has now decided to reciprocate with a boycott of Palestinian produce.

So, if the boycott holds, and if the Palestinians do not revoke their boycott (which would lead to Israel revoking theirs), this coming shmitta will require other solutions, and will also see the end of this oft-repeated argument...

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel was pushign a law proposal that was being called "The Shmitta Law".

the Shmitta Law would have created a governmental fund that would pay out stipends during the shmitta year to farmers who observe shmitta and don't work their fields. The idea would have the farmers paying into the fund during the six years of working, and collecting from the fund in the 7th year, seemingly with additional money from the government.

the law was expected to encourage more farmers to observe the rules of shmitta, as they would now have somewhat of a guaranteed income during the shmitta year.

The proposal has been shelved, after Rav Chaim Kanievsky directed the Degel Hatorah representatives to oppose it.

Why would he oppose such a law that seems to strengthen the level of shmitta observance?
It turns out there are a number of reasons for his opposition to the law:
1. chadash assur min hatorah. anything new is forbidden.
2. there is nobody appointed to make sure that the farmer adheres to all the rules and requirements of shmitta.
3. Every shmitta year has many new farmers joining the program to observe shmitta, many of them being convinced to do so at the last minute - right before the shmitta year begins. These farmers would have a problem for not having deposited money into the fund over the previous 6 years, so the program is not really helpful in encouraging new farmers to join.
4. farmers don't have stable parnassa. one month they can earn a very high income, while the next month they can take serious losses and have to live off savings. We cannot demand they put away money every month for shmitta when they have unstable parnassa.
5. from a spiritual perspective, as soon as it is the government responsible for managing the farmers fund, we cannot know what criteria the government will choose to set into place at any given time. For example, a farmer that stops working in one field but has other fields in which he continues to work on shmitta - would he be included? what about farmers who use hetter mechira? what about Arab farmers who decide to take the year off?
6. what rabbinic group will be responsible for oversight and determining if a farmer is shmitta observant or not? If the Rabbanut is responsible, the criteria they set might be in opposition to the criteria important to the Haredi rabbonim
source: Behadrei and Behadrei

while most of these issues look like issues that could be worked out by setting the rules in advance, it does look it will be an unwieldy situation. Something like this should probably be managed privately, with each organization that sets up such funds setting its own criteria by which it wants to operate.

One interesting observation I would make is that according to Rav Kanievsky's opposition, observing shmitta via hetter mechira is not "better than nothing". Meaning, I might say that it is a shame farmer x is not observing shmitta in its entirety, but at least he is doing hetter mechira and not violating shmitta - even if it is not the best way, at least it is something. According to Rav Kanievsky's opposition, that is not the case - he does not consider it better than nothing.

What would you rule about the sweet potatoes below? Are they kedushat shviis or not? are they allowed to be eaten or not? are they hetter mechira or not?

photo posted by Kosharot

The sign says they were planted during the shmitta year but harvested during the eigth year.

So:
 - for vegetables we go after the harvesting. That makes these sweet potatoes 8th year  produce. No problem
 - during the 7th year you are not allowed to plant vegetables. That might make these assur to eat, as they might be sfichin and might also have kedusha.
 - maybe the farmer relied on the hetter mechira to plant them, meaning, if you rely on the hetter mechira, it was ok to plant them, and they are 8th year produce, but only if you rely on the hetter mechira.
  - Osher Ad did not sell hetter mechira produce during the shmitta year. I have no idea why they are carrying this, nor do I know which branch this was photographed in

Crazy situation, strange conundrum.

I'm not a big fan of the way some people state definitively what causes things to happen. Unless a person is a prophet or claims to have God talking to him (or her), people who say such things are only taking guesses, often influenced by their prejudices. I am more open to the idea of introspection (even on a communal level) rather than assigning blame.

Many (some?) rabbonim have pronounced the reason for the uptick in terror and violence as being due to the Jews who go up to Har Habayit. Maybe, maybe not. I don't buy it, and I don't buy that the appropriate response is to stay away, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I did enjoy hearing the reason as given by Rav Mazuz. He, too, cannot really know what is the cause, but I like the way he shows that what some take as a given isn't necessarily so, and other possibilities make sense as well.

Rav Mazuz said that there is no prohibition against going up to Har Habayit nowadays. Rather, Rav Mazuz said, the attacks are more directly connected to shmitta. Rav Mazuz points out that the intifadas all came at the conclusion of a shmitta year. While he says he does not know what the connection is between shmitta and intifadas, he does suggest that it might be because for a year we bought "yevul nochri" - we bought all our produce from the Palestinians, they got rich off us and they went a little crazy.

Rav Mazuz defended those who go up to Har Habayit sayign they are careful to go where it is ok, where there is no kareis, and they prepare properly with proper tvilla. The only problems are:
1. maybe allowing people to go will leave an opening for some people to go without preparing properly and to the wrong places
2. the Arabs might see a Jew with a siddur and claim he is inciting them. We live in a crazy generation.
source: Srugim

Blaming it on the purchase of yevul nochri is turning it all around. At least he says he does nto know and only that he sees a more regular connection between intifadas and shmitta, but not that this is definitely the cause.