2:00 - 3:30 PM EST

Session Block Two ✦ Shmita Intensive

Shmitah, meaning 'remission,' is an ancient Jewish agricultural and economic statute found in the Torah. After six years, the Torah commands that during the seventh year the land of Israel experiences a Shabbat, a rest, similar to how the Jewish people are commanded to experience Shabbat every seventh day. In the Shmitah year, most primary agricultural activities are prohibited. In addition to agricultural remission, there is also an economic remission where debt is released. As Shmitah is a central piece of the tapestry of Jewish agricultural thought, and the next Shmitah year begins this coming Rosh Hashanah (5782) we feel that it’s important to devote one session block on each conference day to Shmitah learning. Enjoy!

Reflections on Shmita from Israel Today

Barn (zoom room one)

I made aliya onto a religious farm "erev shmita" 2000. That experience captured a lot of my heart and soul in the Jewish/Zionist project- and shmita's been a theme in those questions of society, land, sovereignty and humility over the last twenty years for me. We'll thread between shmita in modern Israel, the tantalizing vision it represents for us as a people and in the context of the conflict, and hopefully also about modern shmita initiatives in Israel, like "Shmita Yisraelit" of Teva Ivri.

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Shaul Judelman

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If Shemittah is the answer, what is the question?

Greenhouse (zoom room two)

Every law, every mitzvah, is an answer to a question. Our challenge is to figure out what that question is, and to explore how (and if) the question resonates for us today. Shemittah is a complex answer, which leads us to wonder, what question(s) motivated its creation. We will explore: Why is there such a practice as shemittah? What is it coming to teach us? How can we translate its particulars that are relevant to an agricultural culture into particulars for today?

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Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin

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Shmita: The Origins and Continuing Relevance of the “Sabbath for the Land”

Orchard (zoom room three)

This session will explore the biblical origins of Shmita, the practice of letting land lie fallow every seventh year. We will consider rabbinic perspectives on Shmita’s importance and how it is to be observed, while also asking ourselves what the relevance of this ancient practice might be for modern farmers. The session will include both havruta (one on one) and group study, and all sources will be provided in translation as well as in the original.

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Michael Fraade