[Avodah] Heter mechira

[Michael Makovi]

> 1. Selling land in EY to a goy is assur.  Perhaps the issur isn't
> very strong, but it is an issur, unlike selling chametz or pregnant
> animals.  That means you're starting out with a negative; it's not
> pareve.
> R' Zev Sero

I believe, but I'm not sure, that there's a view that selling it to a
ger toshav is permitted. Though we don't have gerei toshav today,
there's an opinion (again, AFAIK) that any ben Noach is a ger toshav.

I have not seen this inside; it is all AFAIK and guesswork by me. On
Hirhurim, regarding saving a gentile on Shabbat, the Ramban to Sefer
haMitzvot is brought that one can violate Shabbat to save a ger
toshav. Someone asked "is it davka ger toshav or even any ben Noach",
and R' Gil replied that it is davka ger toshav, but he said that there
is an opinion that any ben Noach is a ger toshav, and R' Gil added
that this opinion is relied on by those who hold by heter mechira.
>From these statements of R' Gil, I derived my first paragraph;
apparently, heter mechira-ists hold that selling to a ger toshav is
permitted, and that any ben Noach is a ger toshav (even without
kabbalah before a beit din and even without yovel).

> 2. It's not clear that you are allowed to do melacha on a goy's land
> in EY.  Nor does everyone agree with the Shulchan Aruch that the
> produce of a goy's land is exempt from shmita.  OTOH with chametz and
> behema the solution is lechol hadeot.
> R' Zev Sero

With what I say above about ger toshav and ben Noach, etc., not
everyone holds by. Neither does everyone hold by what you say here. So
you are correct that we are relying on controversial, even minority,
opinions.

But we are trying to accomplish two things:
1) Do whatever it takes to permit farming, so that farmers aren't
financially ruined
2) Save the nonobservant from inadvertent sin

These are grounds to use even minority opinions, especially when we
consider that heter mechira is d'rabanan today.

> 3. What if the goy doesn't want to sell it back?  Are you prepared to
> part with it permanently?
> R' Zev Sero

So do what we do with chametz - sell it to him for $5 down payment
now, and tell him that after Pesach, he has to pay another
$1,000,000,000 to keep it. So too with the land - sell it for a
pittance now and a fortune when shemitta ends. I don't know if we do
this, but we could if we needed to.

> 4. But shmitah is a positive mitzvah, "veshavta ha'aretz", which if it
> can be kept should be.
> R' Zev Sero

But farmers will be (or used to be) ruined by it, and even today, the
nonobservant cannot keep it due to their ignorance. So some sort of
halachic loophole is still vital, if only for the nonobservant.

Mikha'el Makovi