In Parshat Behar, we learn about the Shmita (Sabbatical)
year. We are told that when the Jewish people arrive in the
seventh.
In Vayikra 25:6 it says “The Sabbath produce of the Land
shall be yours to eat, for you, your slave and for your maidservant; and for
your laborer and for your resident who dwell with you.”
In Ramban’s (Nachmanides) addendum to Rambam’s (Maimonides)
list of the 613 Mitzvot, Ramban counts eating the fruit of the Shmita year as a
mitzvat aseh (positive commandment) even though Ramban does not. Ramban says
that it is a mitzvah to eat these fruits and one who sells them transgresses.
Living in
we see firsthand how difficult the laws of Shmita are to keep and how careful
we need to be when shopping for our fruits and vegetables. However, when we
finally have the chance to sit down and eat a fruit grown during the Shmita
year there is a feeling of holiness that one can only achieve while living in
the
vegetables fresh, they are also holy. They are so holy that we can’t waste any
part of them and the peels and seeds need to be thrown out in a different
manner. The whole Shmita year we are enveloped in the awareness of the holiness
of the
What a great honor it is to live in the Land where we can
simply fulfill a mitzvah by simply eating a piece of fruit!
