[Avodah] Heter mechirah vs. otzar beth din

[Michael Elzufon]

RnSBoublil writes
 
<Rav Aviner wrote a summary of the questions regarding Heter Mechira and
Otzar Beit Din...

R. Teitz responded

     WADR to Rav Aviner, what he has written is a polemic, not a
summary... 

     He does, however, raise serious objections to the otzar beis din
hetter.  

[[MJE]] It seems to me that they are not so serious.  The Rambam by
holding that biur must destroy the produce once the time has past does
rule out otzar beth din and there are rishonim who come to the same
result, though not necessarily by the same path (e.g., the Ra'avad).
However, there also rishonim--e.g., the Rash on the Tosefta, the Ramban,
Tosfoth (Peshim 52b "Mitba'arin")--who disagree with him on this point.
Certainly, the Rash and the Kessef Mishneh do hold of otzar beth din.
The poskim today who hold of it do have quite a lot to rely on.

Criticism of paying people for the actual work necessary to collect and
distribute the produce and for hiring as these workers people those who
in other years would be working the fields ought to be more than
claiming that they are big hidushim.  Is there anything wrong with doing
either?

His querying how the prices being charged are set is a serious criticism
that applies to Otzar Ha'aretz and to otzroth beth din used by certain
wineries.  However, most of the otzar beth din produce that I have
encountered is at prices that can only be explained as being calculated
to cover labor costs.  (I was once told that if the money that they are
taking is not a fraction of what would be charged in normal commerce,
then it is not really an otzar beth din.  That may not be technically
accurate, but it makes the point.)

Years ago, a farmer on a yishuv that is shomer shmitta without recourse
to the heter mechirah told a group that I was part of that, due to the
limitations that the halacha places on what work may be done in the
fields during shmitta, they worked far harder during shmitta than any
other year.  He also said that it generally took them a couple of years
to make back what shmitta cost them.  I see no ground for denigrating
those who rely on the heter mechirah, but the mesiruth nefesh of those
who choose the other path should command respect.