Is Shmita Once Again Becoming a Biblical Commandment?

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In Parshat Mishpatim, Shmot
23:10-11, we learn about the mitzvah of Shmita (the sabbatical year): “You may
sow your land for six years and gather its crops. But on the seventh year you
must let it rest and abandon it and let the needy among your people eat it.
What they leave over, the beasts of the field can eat. Do the same with your
vineyard and your olive trees.”

 

We just finished observing
the Shmita year this past September and many of the fruits that are available
are still considered to be from the Shmita year, yet we are already planning
for the next one.

 

Since the destruction of the
Beit HaMikdash, we have been observing Shmita as well as the other Mitzvot
Hatluyot Baaretz (agricultural mitzvot that are only observed in the Land of
Israel) as Mitzvot DeRabanan, Rabbinical mitzvot, as most of world Jewry was
not living in the Land of Israel.

 

We learn this concept from
the Rambam, Hilchot Trumot, Chapter 1:

Trumot and Maasrot
(contributions and tithes) are only observed Biblically in the Land of Israel
when all of Israel
is there as it says “ki tavohoo”, when you shall all come.

 

While Shmita was considered a
Rabbinical mitzvah, leniencies were set up such as Heter Mechira (where the
land was sold to a non-Jew and therefore it could still be worked and the fruit
could still be sold during the Shmita year).

 

According to studies that
deal with demography, as of now there are more Jews living in Israel than in
any single country in the world. Within ten years, most of the world’s Jews
will be living in Israel.
If that is in fact the case, then either the next Shmita year (in less than
seven years) or the following Shmita year (in less than 14 years) will be
considered a Biblical mitzvah.

 

This will depend on a lot of
factors such as if aliya continues to rise, if native Israelis and olim
I(immigrants) remain in the land, if those who are living in Israel who have
not officially converted take the plunge and convert according to Halacha and
if Jews around the world continue to assimilate.

 

It will be interesting to see
what will happen over the next few years. If world Jewry will come on aliya en
masse then we will be able to observe the mizvot Biblically the way that they
were meant to be observed.

 

In the event that Shmita does
in fact become Biblical, the State of Israel will need to set up a fund for the
farmers now to make sure that they will be able to survive during the Shmita
year if all of the fields become Otzar Bet Din where the produce can not be
exported but rather distributed throughout Israel by the courts and not sold
for a profit.

 

May we reach the day when all
of the Jews in the world can live peacefully in the Land of Israel and fully observe the Torah in the way that God commanded.

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