Q&A: The Sabbatical Year
The Sabbatical Year
Question
If the State of Israel does not recognize the Sabbatical year and claims that anyone who takes produce without permission is stealing, does that have halakhic validity?
If not, is there any point in specifically taking it in order to show that unbeliever that the land does not belong to him during that year? Or so that it should not create the impression that the land does not really belong to the Holy One, blessed be He, since people listen to whoever demands that nothing be taken?
Answer
A. Even if the landowner does not permit taking, the medieval authorities (Rishonim) disagreed about this (whether there is a commandment to render it ownerless, or whether it is automatically ownerless). When the Sabbatical year is rabbinic, logic all the more suggests that there is an obligation to render it ownerless. B. The law of the kingdom can define taking ownerless property as theft. C. When they use the sale permit, there is no ownerlessness at all. D. There is no value in declarative acts of theft. That would mainly create a desecration of God’s name.