[Avodah] A shemitta miracle story

[Dov Bloom]

At 16:20 06/12/2007, SBA wrote:

>From: Dov Bloom < >
>R YH Zonnenfeld and RS Salant opposed the heter 100% and gave various and
>many halachic arguments against it. But an assured bracha? ..
>
>None of these gedolim who opposed RYE Spector's heter suggested (as the
>fellow from Beit Horon and some posters did ), let alone promised the kiyum
>of the bracha nowadays before the shmitta year. 
>>> 
>SBA: Of course these days we are not zoche to see everything as the Torah promises/warns us. That would remove any bechireh.

DB: And before "these days" there was no bechira?

>SBA; IMHO, if the people of Beit Horon are happy with their brocho, we should be happy with them - rather than try and prove 'statistically' that nothing really happened.
>
>SBA

DB: It is disingenuous to just say people are just being happy for fellow Jews. My moshav had a wheat yield of 1200 kg/dunam in a field last year, and didn't go writing articles in newspapers, massiyot books and internet sites because they had a good crop year. Mevo Horon made a decision to totally reject the heter mechira that the vast majority of farmers in EY base their shemitta hanhagos on and to reject the hanhagos of Otzar Beit Din promulgated by Rav Yisraeli, the CI et al. They decided on a total cessasion of field crops, claim that they are the only ones who acted like this and are proud of their unique decision. They (or HE, it is one guy apparently) is using this story to prove that "min hashamayim" they are correct and everyone else is wrong. Read their article. We can be happy as long as people don't try to prove that this is the example/proof of the Torah promised bracha being active in our day. It isn't.

1 - because there is no Shemitta deOraita now as the large majority of poskim hold Shemitta is d'rabbanan or less than d'rabbanan
2 - the vast majority or the entirety of poskim who dealt with the question is there a promised fulfillment of the Torah's bracha nowadays , deny that this is the case
3 - It is important to base our halachik practices on halacha and not "happy feelings" that we get from hearing stories of questionable validity. 

LaYehudim hayta Ora veSimcha