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The next subject is the idea of HEFKER (ownerless)
that one must not guard the fruits that grow during Shmitta. A
Jew with fruits growing on his land must open the gates and
allow others to enter and pick fruit as they wish. The
Gemorrah is found in tractate Yevomos page 122a: The fruits
have been guarded. Rashi: It was the seventh year. Our
Gemorrah brings a Braisah that teaches us about a non-Jew
selling produce. The words he uses each have two possible
meanings and our Rabbis hold that we should be lenient
considering that normal salesmen only speak about the high
quality of their produce and would never dream of saying that
their produce had problems of Kashrus. When the salesman said
the fruits were guarded he means that they were well taken
care of and nothing left for chance. The other meaning would
have been that they were guarded during the seventh (Shmitta)
year and that the Torah had been violated. Please refer to
VaYikra chapter 25 verse 5 and commentaries where the Torah
commands us not to keep 7th year produce for ourselves, but
rather to open the gate and allow people to take for free
(HEFKER). Rashi's opinion all over Shas is that closing the
gate on 7th year produce does not cause any prohibition or
Kashrut problem with the produce. One should note that our
Gemorrah is difficult to explain using Rashi's opinion since
there is no prohibition on eating this produce, unlike Orla
(3rd year produce) and Netta Revai (4th year produce) which
are mentioned in the same sentence and are certainly
prohibited. Rashi just commented his regular opinion on this
subject, asked the question how this can be true, and gave no
further explanation. This is rare indeed! Those interested can
find what the Ramban suggested as answers to Rashi's question
in the Ramban's commentary to the Chumash VaYikra chapter 25
verse 5 (look for it in the second half of the long discussion
there.) The opinion of Tosefos in many places is that as soon
as the Jewish farmer closes the gate on 7th year produce, it
becomes forbidden exactly like Orla and Netta Revai. This
prohibition is called SHAMUR (guarded). A similar case to
SHAMUR is NE'EVAD which is a field that was tended during the
Shmitta year. The example is a vineyard pruned during Shmitta,
resulting in the production of grapes. Those grapes are called
NE'EVAD. Both SHAMUR and NE'EVAD are reasons NOT to eat fruits
and vegetables grown by Jews during Shmitta in the land of
Israel. There are some Rabbinical authorities who are lenient
like Rashi in rare cases where there are no alternative fruits
and a person is ill and should eat something.
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