[Avodah] shemitta

[Eli Turkel]

Mainly for the Israelis in the crowd. Just went to a shiur from the head of
kashrut in Raanana - a major talmid chacham (learned in
Ponovezh and is close to RSYE) and knowledgable in the facts

1. Many vegetables such as cucumbers come almost exclusively from the Arabs
and as such places that claim to only buy Jewish produce (all year round)
are
misleading.

2. Gaza is completely closed and so no produce will come from there in the
near future. Raanana will not accept most produce from the Arab west bank
simply because adequate hasgacha is impossible.

3. Raanana will have otzer bet din from Otzar Haaretz and also from the
rabbanut of several nearby towns including Petach Tikvah

4. All restaurants will have Arab/imported produce only to avoid problems
with
kedushat sheviit which is not practical for a place serving the general
public.

5. It is not clear what will happen with heter mechira this year. The chief
rabbi of
Raanana claims they are actively working on it. The local masgiach felt that
decisions are not made by the chief rabbis of Israel but rather by RSYE and
ROY
who have very different attitudes towards heter mechira. Therefore he doubts
whether
anything official about heter mechira will happen

================================================

A question I asked for which he had no answer (so far)

what to do with fruit growing in ones backyard. One does not want strangers
wandering about the yard. He first suggested making the fruit (only NOT the
yard)
hefker and leaving it on the street. I objected that most people passing by
will not treat it with kedushat sheviit (ouside of Bnei Brak and similar
places).
I suggested bringing it to shul. He agree to my objection but didn't think
one could bring hefker to ones friends in shul with left us with no viable
solution.

kol tuv

-- 
Eli Turkel
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