Q&A: Working in Harvesting During the Sabbatical Year
Working in Harvesting During the Sabbatical Year
Question
With God's help,
Hello Rabbi, is it permissible for me to work in harvesting during the Sabbatical year in a field that was sold under the sale permit (heter mekhira)? I understood that there is a dispute regarding performing four labors prohibited by the Torah, and that they need to be done by a non-Jew. Is there room to be lenient?
Thank you very much
Answer
Fundamentally, there is no difference between the law regarding the produce and the permission to work in the field. If you rely on the permit, then it is also permissible to work in the field. There are halakhic decisors who wanted to make some visible distinction for the Sabbatical year. Others argued that since there is a way out regarding the labors, namely to have them done by a non-Jew, in their view one should not rely on the permit leniently, because with respect to the labors this is not a pressing situation. So if you yourself are uncertain about the permit, there may perhaps be room to be stringent regarding the labors. If in your opinion the permit is halakhically valid, one may be lenient regarding the labors as well.
For an overview, you can see here:
https://ph.yhb.org.il/category/%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%99%D7%95%D7%91%D7%9C/07-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%94/
Discussion on Answer
How can one work for Otzar Beit Din?
Carefully.
Thank you very much
Have a good week (: