Shemittah Questions
Question
I have two questions:
1) What is the most comprehensive source for the rules regarding the Shmita, and also the Sabbath and Kashrus?
2) I understand that during the Shmita, assuming one lives in Israel, one is not to consume produce planted during that year. Therefore one needs to buy produce from a rabbinically supervised source. So my question is: Are there such sources only in Israel? Or are there supervised sources of produce in America?
Answers
There are several books that have been published in English explaining the laws of Shemittah, for example “Guidelines” by Rabbi Barclay and Rabbi Yeager. The laws are complex and which fruits and vegetables can be eaten depends very much on the time of year that they were planted.
The simplest way to live with Shemittah in Israel is by only buying produce from stores that have recognized supervision. There are many such stores all over Israel. Due to Shemittah, very often the produce tends to be a of slightly lesser quality than the produce that is sold during the regular years, but that is a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to eat fruits and vegetables that are imbued with an additional dimension of holiness!
I hope that there is no Israeli produce to be found in America, as one of the prohibitions of Shemittah is exporting any Shemittah products from Israel.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team