Shmitta—The Seventh Year Rest

This Jewish New Year provides a special opportunity to practice and teach the ecological concepts with which the biblical tradition is replete: this Rosh Hashanah, 5768, marks the beginning of a shmitta year — the sabbath of the land. As people rest every seventh day, the land is allowed to lie fallow every seventh year, according to the biblical commandments.

Human beings were not granted ownership of the earth, but rather given the land in trust and charged with using it wisely. Neot Kedumim welcomes the sabbath of the land as an opportunity to practice and teach these ecological concepts.

"Starting with the book of Genesis and continuing through the Mishna and Talmud, we can perceive a consistent thread that can be encapsulated in the words, ‘The earth is Mine’ (Leviticus 25:23)," says Neot Kedumim’s founder, Nogah Hareuveni. "The entire cosmos was created by a single Creator and constitutes a unified complex.

That is the view of the biblical tradition." The laws of shmitta, the sabbatical of the land (Leviticus 25:2-6 et al.), radically limit human use of the earth and its produce. The NK staff are working hard to finish all plowing, seeding, and planting, forbidden during shmitta, before Rosh Hashanah. New plantings include some 30 etrog (citron) trees in the Ascent of the Four Species; oak, arbutus trees, terebinth, and white and pink rockrose seedlings on the Hill of Jeremiah; grapevines in the winepress area and elsewhere, plus a number of others.

Wheat and barley seeds, usually planted after the first winter rains (mid- to late October), will be sown earlier this year after being specially treated to keep animals from eating them before they start growing.

Next spring the grain will be gathered in a special way, to distinguish the shmitta harvest from or dinary harvests. The sheaves of grain will be picked by hand, instead of cut with sickles as usual.

In the greenhouse, workers will place all plant containers on a double layer of plastic to separate them from the earth, and will stop gathering seeds after Rosh Hashana. Also, a special greenhouse will be prepared for growing vegetables off the ground during the shmitta.

Instead of the usual wheat and barley planting, schoolchildren will engage in activities that are permitted during shmitta, such as repairing stone terraces to keep precious soil from washing away — thereby learning stewardship of the land and its biblical roots in a down-to-earth, hands-on way.

During the shmitta, plowing for the eighth year is permitted after Pesach. Therefore, Neot Kedumim will have visiting groups participate in this activity at that time.

The Mishna lists a number of agricultural implements that are forbidden to buy or sell during the shmitta (plow, yoke, winnowing fork). We will prepare an exhibit of these agricultural implements. There is also an interesting regulation (Mishna Shvi’it 5,9) allowing a woman to lend her neighbor equipment, even if that neighbor is suspect in regard to observing the shmitta. The equipment includes a sifter, a sieve, a flour mill, and an oven. However, the woman is not permited to sift or grind with the neighbor. These tools will also be in the exhibit.