[Avodah] heter mechira produce

[Dov Bloom]

>Rafi Goldmeier commented "while it keeps getting mentioned in the discussion that shmitta is only  d'rabanan anyway ... I have not heard any Rav use that as a reason to be meikil. I have heard many shiurim on shmitta issues leading up to shmitta ...yet that "svara" has never been mentioned by a Rav. "

I must say that over the last 30 years I have heard dozens of shiurim on shmitta over the last 5 shmittot, and it is rare that one does not begin with the question of what is the status of Shmitta bzman hazeh, D'oraita, D'Rabbanan or Midat Hasidut.

See for instance Sefer HaShmitta of R Yechiel Michel Tokuchinsky, author of the (original) Luach Eretz Yisrael which is now put out by his descendents. Part 2 of the sefer is about the heter hamechira through the different shmittot starting from 5642. Of great interest are the letters anouncing the heter hamechira in 5649 and the letter of R Yitzhak Elhonon Spector of Kovno in 5649, who was probably the pre-eminent posek at that time.  

On p. 71 he begins to analyze "ta'anot ha-rabbanim hametirim" and begins of course with "she-anan naktinan shvi'it bezman hazeh derabbanan" (Kesef Mishne Shmitta perek 4 25 and 9 9, Ramban Sfer haZachut, Rashi Gittin 36 and Sanhedrin 26, Yerushalmi Shviit Perek 9,  Tur YD 331, Bach CM 67 6, Kaftor VaFerach, Gra, and finally "mara d'arah Yisrael baal Peat Hashulchan").

To skip forward in time to a month ago, I heard a shiur by R Dov Lior, R of Kiryat Arba-Hevron - a well established posek le-maase (who is in charge of all the smicha testing of the Rabbanut Harashit). He of course also began his shiur by mentioning the d'rabbanan status which came into play many times during the shiur which was very le-maase. 

In my experience it is a given that anyone who deals seriously with the question of shmitta nowadays and grapples with situations of le-maase agricultural questions all years and not just shmitta, will relate to the question of D'oraita, D'Rabbanan or Midat Hasidut.

What one heard more 20-30 years ago was a stress on the opinion (usually as a snif la-heter) of Midat Hasidut. See for example Shut Yabia Omer  of OY, YD Sefer  Gimel Tshuva 19. After showing how the prominent Poskim Sfardim in EY held by the heter and even the Ashenazim relied on the Sfardim in EY (Yeshuot Malko YD 53), he says "Ukvar noda ba'shearim ha'metzuyanim ba'halacha shitat harbe min haRishonim sheEIN SHVIIT NOHEGET BIZMAN HAZEH AFILU ME'DRABBANAN...". He brings down Rashbam, Baal HaMaor, Rashbash, Behag, Baal HaItur and others. His conclusion "HaMachmir tavo alav beracha ve'hameikel lo hifsid". 

A far cry from how some rabbanim relate this year to produce from heter mechira.

As another "snif", some of the criticism of the heter mechira in the past was that it wasn't a real sale, ho-ra'aya, land taxes weren't paid etc. etc. A few shmittas ago a law was passed by the knesset recognizing heter mechira sales and exempting land sales by the RHR for the purpose of shmitta from land registry taxes. 

Another complaint that I even saw this year as a reason to posel the heter hamechira was there is no real "gemirut daat". In the past, kibbutzim or moshavim wishing to be part of the heter ha'mechiva had to sign the papers in such a way that it was legally binding, such as two of the authorized signatories of the organization plus the seal of the organization.  This year with new Rabbanim handling the heter hamechira, they insisted on a vote by the kibbutz/moshav membership at a general meeting. One more complaint down.

A chief criticism of the heter, dating back to the 5640's was the question of "lo techoname". Today anyone raising that problem and preferring to buy goods from the Arabs in EY, or to be "mehader" and buy from the Hamas-Arabs in the Gaza strip, seems to have a question on his own kasha!. This point was stressed by the above mentioned R Dov Lior. Paying high prices to Arabs to produce crops in EY acc'd to R Lior is "vadai lo techoname". A previous poster had said that "political issues " such as buying from enemies of Am Yisrael has no halachick ramifacations and cannot be used as a reason to rely on the heter. Just the opposite, if the alternative is buying from enemies of Am Yisrael who dwell in EY, it has GREAT halachik ramifacations, lo techoname is D'Oraita now and shmitta is acc'd to rov haposkin D'rabbanan! 

For those who don't see the "hiddur" in buying produce from the Gaza strip, which is not obvious, I will elaborate. Certain BaDaTZim felt that if they buy from West Bank or Israeli Arabs, they may be buying Jewish produce that the Arabs bought from the Jews and are selling now for a higher price, under the label of Arab produce. (This happened all the time in past shmitot and I have seen it with my own eyes.) However, if the BaDaTZ buys from Gaza, it would be vadai Arab produce. )

I hope Am Yisrael gets through this year with minimal kitrug. 

My family had the opportunity on Sukkot to eat vegetables "kdushat peirot shvi'it" with their attendent zkut of ingesting kedusha (ve-hayta shabbat ha-aretz lachem le-ochla) while being cafeful of the various issurim involved in disposing of leftovers etc.