Last update - 00:00 03/09/2007
Agriculture Min.: No fruit, vegetable imports if Haredis reject 'heiter mechira'
By Amiram Cohen, Haaretz Correspondent
Agriculture Minster Shalom Simhon on Monday told the Chief Rabbinate that if it did not pressure local rabbinates to allow the sale of produce from land sold to non-Jews during shmita, the agricultural sabbatical year, he would refuse all fruit and vegetable imports.
The Knesset Finance Committee called an urgent meeting for Tuesday to discuss the coming sabbatical year, which begins with Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah on September 13. Simhon said Israel's agricultural industry stands to lose NIS 2 billion if local rabbinates carry out their recent threat to nullify the kosher certification of farmers who sold their land to non-Jews under the traditional system of heiter mechira, or 'permission to sell'.
According to Jewish religious law, land must lie fallow every seven years to allow it to rest. Jews worldwide may eat fruit and vegetables from Israel during the sabbatical year only if they were grown on land owned by non-Jews.
For decades, the Chief Rabbinate and the rabbinates of most major cities have accepted the heiter mechira system, allowing Jewish farmers to symbolically sell their land to a non-Jew for the fallow year on the eve of Rosh Hashanah , then buy it back at the year's end. The temporary change of ownership means produce farmed during the year is considered kosher and can be sold to Jews.
Ultra-Orthodox rabbinates have never recognized heiter mechira as a valid system, but have traditionally turned a blind eye to the practice allowing Jewish farmers to continue making a living during the sabbatical year.
In recent years, however, ultra-Orthodox rabbinates have increasingly objected to the system. This year, the rabbinates of several regions threatened to nullify the kosher certification of farmers who practiced it. The Agriculture Ministry has called on the Chief Rabbinate to empower local rabbinates who agree to accept heiter mechira to authorize produce for sale and thus bypass rabbinates which refuse.
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