Should We Support the Heter Mechira?
Adpated from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5774
By: Rabbi Braun
Since 1889 the religious community has been grappling with how to observe shemittah in Israel without destroying the farmers livelihood and laying the land fallow for one year.
The laws of shemittah are detailed in our parsha: you can’t plant or otherwise work the land. You can’t harvest or sell the produce. What is a Jewish farmer to do? What is the consumer supposed to purchase and eat?
In 1889 during the first Aliyah in recent times, the Jewish farmers in Israel could not figure out how they were going to live and survive. Would they have to leave? Abandon the dream?
They put forth the question to Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, the great Rav of Kovno. He came up with the solution we call the heter mechira – the sale of the farm land to non-Jews which would allow for the working of the land. Rav Kook allowed this as well. Each was cautious and argued that it had to be re-evaluated each shemittah year, but each allowed it. Many other gedolim support its use as well.
On the other hand, and the Chazon Ish chief amongst them, did not allow for the use of such a halachik arrangement.
The major halachik issues relate to the status of Shemittah today, Torah or rabbinic law, and the scope and details of the prohibition of selling land in Israel to a non-Jew.
They have been well hashed out and are too long for an ocean ave or any shul’s sermon slot.Today I want to highlight what you might call external factors which we might consider as we evaluate the question.Rav Shlomo Aviner, one the leading voices in the Religious Zionist community was asked this very question. Here is a snippet of his answer:Answer: First of all, you have to realize that heter mechira is not something forbidden or barely permissible. Rather, it is clearly permissible, with a strong basis in halachah. This is not the place to go into a halachic discussion since it was already decided 119 years ago, and the greatest sages supported it, including Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan;…We have to examine well if our not availing ourselves of the heter mechira is not a stringency that will lead to a leniency, which would be a reason to distance ourselves from that practice. Indeed, numerous leniencies and many sins are involved in refusal to make use of the heter mechira:
Doing so harms the ability of Jews to earn a living. After all, it says, “Help your brother survive” (Leviticus 25:36). We have to take pains that our fellow Jews do not become poor.
Now listen to a quote from a piece by Jonathan Rosenblum, (not a religious zionsit).
The challenges faced by thousands of shomer shemittah farmers are beyond the comprehension of any city-dweller. ..without income for an entire year. .. carrying huge bank loans on which payments still have to be made. .. long-term supply contracts endanger their relationship with their largest purchasers. .. Thai agricultural workers risk losing them
He understands the problem: listen to the solution:
Almost all of these farmers can relate stories of how they personally witnessed the Torah’s promise of a double bounty in the sixth year. In a famous story, preserved on film, a horde of locusts stopped at the boundaries of Komemiyut during the first shmita after the creation of the state, after having laid the surrounding farmland waste. The Torah specifically links our dwelling securely in the Land to the observance of shmita (Leviticus 25:18). Who knows if the brave farmers upholding shmita – as well as those who strive to develop new agronomic techniques fully consistent with shemittah’s restrictions – are not the best protection of our security
He basically says- look to God and God will take care of it. Have faith. And Faith will protect us.
The differing approaches to this question are extremely typical of the Religious Zionist versus chareidi approach to most things in Israel.
Do you think about the welfare of all Jews in Israel? Do you think about the well-being of economy in the State of Israel? Are those important values that could be used in answering a halachik question?
For Rav Aviner the answer is clearly yes. We care about all Jews, the State of Israel and its economy.
For Jonathan Rosenblum the thing that matters most is your relationship with God. It is as if it exists in exclusion to all else and it is the supreme value.
This is clearly an oversimplification but there is a real kernel of truth there.
Take the following question: if the only two options are heter mechirah produce and arab produce grown in Gaza, which should you prefer.
Rav Aviner is asked that specific question and believes that you must buy from a Jew rather than strengthen the hands of potential terrorists. Yes, Arab produce from Gaza is not a shemittah problem but it is a state of Israel problem.
Jonathan Rosenblum would tell you to buy the Arab produce because the only issue is me and God and shemmitah. State, economy, national concerns do not enter the halachik debate.
I would support the heter mechira because I believe it has sufficient halachik backing and is best for the people and State of Israel. And I most definitely believe that those are concerns that must enter our halachik thinking and serve as factors in deciding questions related to the land of Israel.
