[Avodah] shemitta

[Moshe Feldman]

I wrote:
>Rav Matanya Ben-Shachar (rav of Neve Daniel) pointed out that as shemitta
>nowadays is drabbanan, such a view avoids a drabbanan but . . .
>undermines the mitzva of yishuv haaretz (deoraisa according to Ramban), as
>Jewish farmers flounder financially and may abandon farming (and there is
>less and less farming in Israel today).

"Samuel Svarc" <ssvarc at yeshivanet.com> wrote:
<<Furthermore, Yishuv EY today is not a mitzvah according to the Rambam and
many others, so there is no problem in not facilitating someone else's
Yishuv.>>

Actually, DL and some Litvish charedim I've spoken to here seem to
believe that the halacha is like the Ramban.  And it is not clear that
the Rambam holds that there is no mitzvah: he did not count it in the
Sefer Hamitzvos, but there are a number of klalim which explain why a
mitzvah may not make into the count of 613 mitzvos.  Certainly in Yad
HaChazkah he does consider there to be an inyan of yishuv EY nowadays.
 And Rav Moshe Feinstein holds that according to the Rambam it's a
mitzvah kiyumis.

I wrote:
>Rav Shlomo Levy (rosh kollel of Yeshivat Har Etzion) noted that according
>to the Ramban (as understood by Rav Kook, which Rav Levy believes to be the
>simple understanding of the Ramban), there is a mitzvah de'oraisa (when
>shmitta is de'oraisa) to eat peiros shevi'is (the pasuk says "l'ochla"),
>though the CI believes that according to the Ramban the mitzvah is just
>not to destroy the fruit (l'ochla v'lo l'hefseid).
>
> Interestingly many charedim in Bnei Brak have given up on the "kulah"
>of the Chazon Ish and gone over to the Edah Hacharedit. One reason is not
> to have to"bother" with the rules of shemitta produce.
>
>According to what I wrote above, this should not be viewed as a "bother"
>but a zchus to fulfill a mitzvah.  We don't normally try to put ourselves in a
>position to be patur from fulfilling mitzvos.

"Samuel Svarc" <ssvarc at yeshivanet.com> wrote:
<<I'm surprised that you'd insist on charedim applying R' Kook's understanding
of the Ramban instead of the interpretation of their manhig, the CI.
>>

First, I noted that Rav Kook's understanding is the pashut pshat in
the Ramban.  Second, the CI himself strongly pushed Otzar Bais Din
over buying produce from Arabs.  So charedim should follow their
manhig completely, not just for one prat.

Shabbat Shalom.
Moshe