Q&A: Trading in Sabbatical-Year Produce with Secular Jews
Trading in Sabbatical-Year Produce with Secular Jews
Question
Is there a prohibition of assisting transgressors when it comes to secular Jews (who, ostensibly, are not transgressing)? Is it permitted to buy Sabbatical-year produce from a secular merchant?
Answer
In my opinion there is no prohibition if we are speaking about atheists (more precisely, people who do not accept halakhic obligation from Sinai). Not every secular person is an atheist. There are also people who are just careless about these things.
Buying Sabbatical-year produce is problematic, since you are taking an active part in the commerce and not merely causing him to stumble. It is somewhat like directly feeding something forbidden by hand, which is prohibited even in the case of a minor (Yevamot 113-114).