Shmita

Parashat Behar-Behukotai: Quality vs quantity

Shmita teaches that true blessing is found not in abundance, but in satisfaction, faith, and learning to focus on what truly matters.

|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
‘YOU ARE growing up in a generation with dozens of types of dairy desserts in the refrigerator.’
Servitude to God is not degradation; it is the path to freedom.

Parashat Behar: Who is the servant and who is the master?

The produce grown in shmita year is considered holy, and all agricultural activity – including plowing, planting, pruning, and harvesting – is forbidden. It is designated for consumption only. 

|ByRABBI SHMUEL RABINOWITZ
BUYING KOSHER produce in central Jerusalem during the shmita sabbatical year, 2000.

How can Judaism's shmita idea solve modern problems? - review

Let people draw on their social benefits cyclically – to retrain, to go back to school, or to relieve debt instead of waiting for retirement and only starting to collect social benefits then.

|ByMARTIN LOCKSHIN
JEWS PRAY at the Western Wall on Jerusalem Day. The Kotel is the most visited site in Israel, according to the Tourism Ministry.

The ancient Jewish practice of Hakhel gets a 21st-century revival

There will be a Hakhel event at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem on the second day of Sukkot, where three new Torah scrolls will be dedicated.

|ByJACKIE HAJDENBERG/JTA

We need to preserve the beauty of Shmita - opinion

The concept of shmita is introduced in the Torah, where we are told to let the land lie fallow every seventh year.

OCTOBER 25, 2021ByDAVID STAV
‘SHMITA’ INVITES us to pause, to take a deep breath, to rest, to reflect and to reconsider where we are going.

Jewish law: How to purchase produce during shmita

Many Talmudic sages believe that shmita restrictions today stem only from a rabbinic decree. A few even assert that our observance of these laws is a pious custom.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021BySHLOMO M. BRODY
Fresh vegetables are sold at the shuk (market)

Sukkot, Shmita and a stock market crash?

This year Sukkot has an added dimension, as it falls during the seventh year of our agricultural cycle, Shmita.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021ByAARON KATSMAN
Bnei Menashe sukkah in Kangpokpi, Manipur, India.

Climate change, Jerusalem and Shmita

A number of nonprofit Jerusalem associations strive to protect nature in this city and improve living conditions, presenting environmental needs as no less important than housing projects.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021ByPEGGY CIDOR
TREES GROW on the Sataf mountains in the Jerusalem Hills.

‘It’s time to come home’: 7 American rabbis share reflections amid challenging High Holiday season

American rabbis weigh in on the upcoming High Holiday season, a challenging season in the shadow of a global pandemic.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021ByJACOB GURVIS/JTA
A man blowing the shofar at the Western Wall days before Rosh Hashanah

Israel can keep the Shmita year in all new ways

“Shmita is a social and spiritual enterprise from which our society could learn much: In releasing the crops of our field to others, it curbs materialistic tendencies."

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021ByBENJY SINGER
Hothouse growing flowers, Cherev La'et Youth Village, under the halachic direction of Torah VeHa'aretz Institute

High Holy Days: Choose life this holiday season

As we wish each other a “happy New Year,” we know that we share a common destiny and what will be good for one will be good for all.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021ByDVORA WAYSMAN
Residents of Tel Aviv perform the Tashlich ceremony, whereby they symbolically cast away their sins

Saving shmita: What are the deeper meanings of this complicated mitzvah?

Shmita distills several important Jewish values. It qualifies our ownership of land while moderating our response to financial successes.

AUGUST 26, 2021ByMOSHE TARAGIN
Adherence to shmita secures our presence in Israel