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Seventh
Year, Shmitta, Holy Land, Irrigation
by
Rabbi Michael Unger
The first mishneh
in Moed Katan says that
it is permitted to water a very dry field during hol
hamoed and the shmitta
year. (Hol homoed are
the middle days of the 7 day Passover holiday, and the middle days of the 8
day Sukkos holiday.) The reason that watering is
so important to be permitted is written in the Rambam (H. Shmitta VeYovel ch. 1 h. 10) that if this field is not watered the land
will become salty and all the trees in it will perish. Since this
prohibition is NOT a Torah law rather a Rabbinical one, the Rabbis did not
want extensive damage to result from their edicts.
The fact that hol
hamoed and shmitta year
are mentioned together requires explanation. The reason we do not work
during hol hamoed
is because our Rabbis wanted to limit the amount of work to the minimum.
The permitted types of work are those that do not require great physical
effort and would result in personal loss if not executed on time.
The reason we do not work during the shmitta year is because the
Torah and our Rabbis made forbidden any kind of agricultural in the land of Israel. The permitted types of works are those
which are not mentioned in the Torah and which would result in losing the fruits
if not executed on time. So we can see that the common denominator here is
the necessity to prevent loss. Harav A.Y. Greineman told me that hol hamoed and shmitta have
something else in common: that nobody else can do the work instead of the owner,as opposed to a person in the week of mourning
that he may sometimes have others do work in his place.
Let us talk about Shmitta.
The list of forbidden types of work during shmitta
is quite long - we will learn them in the coming pages of gemorrah. The question is why is watering permitted? Is
this a specific leniency only for watering or perhaps other types of work
are permitted because they are similar in some way to irrigation? This
question comes to be extremely important for farmers in Israel who wish to keep the laws of shmitta.
The answer to the question is quite
complex. I am guided in my explanations by a book written by Harav Zeev Whiteman seven
years ago. *
So let us start with the discussion on
our page:
"But during the seventh year
whether irrigation is similar to sowing or similar to plowing, neither of
them are permitted during the seventh year! Abaye answers that the mishneh
that permits irrigation is the opinion of Rebbi
that holds that during the diaspora the
commandment of shmitta is only a Rabbinical
decree. Rava answers that even the Rabbis who
disagree with Rebbi and hold that shmitta is a Torah law during the diaspora,
agree that irrigation which is not specifically mentioned in the written
law is not forbidden."
Now be careful! Both opinions hold that
watering this field is not forbidden by the Torah. Abaye
because there is no Torah-Shmitta
anymore and Rava because of a
"loophole" in Torah Law whereby some types of work are permitted
because they lack being mentioned specifically in the written law.
Both opinions hold that irrigation is
forbidden by the Rabbis. Abaye because all types
of work in shmitta were forbidden by the Rabbis
and Rava because anything that was in the
"loophole" was "plugged" and forbidden by the Rabbis.
Both opinions hold that irrigation of
the very-dry land mentioned in the mishneh is
permitted during shmitta. Abaye
and Rava agree that the Rabbis did not intend
that their decrees would cause such extensive damage. On the other hand, Abaye holds that this is a generality and Rava holds that only irrigation along with other types
of work in the same "loophole" are permitted. There is a
commentary (N'muke Yosef) that irrigation is
the only type of work permitted by the Rabbis.
There is a very deep disagreement
between Abaye and Rava:
Abaye holds that in our days there is no shmitta from the Torah. Rava
holds that every seven years the Torah tells us to observe shmitta in the land of Israel.
If we hold by Abaye,
any time the Rabbis have a doubt about certain aspects of shmitta we can be lenient because even the things the
Torah mentioned should not be done are presently only Rabbinical decrees.
If we hold by Rava,
any time the Rabbis have a doubt about certain aspects of shmitta we must be stringent because the Torah warned
us not to work the land during shmitta.
The question of whether shmitta exists today as a Torah law is extremely
difficult to answer. We find several important Rabbis of the previous
generation whom after lengthy discussions refused to "take
sides". Because of this, many of our Rabbis choose to discuss each
type of work by itself to decide whether it deserves the same status as
irrigation or not - when there will be damage to the crop if withheld.
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