[Avodah] [Areivim] Shemitta in the UK

[Moshe Feldman]

On 10/8/07, Dov Kay <dov_kay at hotmail.co.uk> wrote on Areivim:
> Over Sukkos, I attended a shiur given by Dayan O Westheim, formerly of the
> Manchester Beth Din and a kashrus bigwig (and I'm not referring to his
> streiml).  The bottom line was that, in the UK, one must avoid all Israeli
> vegetable products, but may rely on rov in cases of doubt, which is
> generally the case (unless the product is labelled as coming from Israel).
> He also concluded that all cherry tomatoes in the UK are forbidden because
> most originate in Israel, even those labelled as originating from other
> countries (especially Holland).
<snip>
> The whole thing leaves me feeling uncomfortable, as I am aware that what is
> being advocated is, essentially, a boycott of Israeli products which will
> only weaken the Israeli economy and give our enemies a stronger hold on the
> land.  The Dayan referred in passing to the heter mechira as if it were no
> more applicable than the Get of Cleves.  Of course, that is entirely his
> pregorative as a posek and as a leading posek in this town, I feel
> constrained to follow his rulings, but it does leave me agreeing with R. A.
> Lichtenstein that shemitta is a "halachic tragedy", as it is a halacha which
> simply cannot be implemented and practised the way it was originally
> intended, no matter which method one uses.

If you have a posek that you rely on, are you required to be machmir
just because the leading posek in your town is machmir?  Does the
Dayan have the title "mara d'asra," and even if he does, is that
mechayev you in the era of globalization?

Kol tuv,
Moshe