Rabbi Avrohom Rubinstein Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler and Rabbi Yaakov Vruzhbinski

During the early evening hours of the last Wednesday, Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, who has to his credit thousands of people who returned to religious observance, came to the residence of the generation's Torah authority Rabbi Y.S. Elyashiv. It was not difficult to discern the signs of excitement on his face. As every year, the Ohr Hachaim Yeshiva that he heads has a celebration. This evening will see the re-enaction of the annual tradition: thousands of non-religious and traditional Jews will throng from the North and the South to the Yeshiva. They will come to say the first Slichot according to the Sephardic tradition, precisely in Ohr Hachaim.
They will also come to listen to 'Rabbi Elbaz'. An integral part of the event is Torah-observance strengthening discourse given by Rabbi Elbaz before the Slichot. Thousands of Jews, whose ties to religion start and end with Slichot and a number of additional religious symbols, listen to Rabbi Elbaz, who strengthens them in the observance of Torah and its Mitzvos and calls upon them to repent and leave their previous lives behind them.

Rabbi Elbaz asked Rabbi Elyashiv for his blessing for the success of the big evening and immediately asked," what should I talk to them about." "Strengthen their Torah and Mitzvos observance," was the reply. But, with the Creator's assistance, this is what I am doing all times," replied Rabbi Elbaz. What I am asking about is a specific subject, that it is important to pound into the hearts of the listeners, that is more important than all."

The room fell quiet. "The Shmittah year is approaching," said Rabbi Elyashiv, "if you can please strengthen the non-religious Jews concerning this Mitzvah. This is something that may bring about a revolution."

This story sheds some light on the personal ties, on the warm and caring heart of our Torah giants concerning Shmittah even when not approached by Shmittah activists.
Another thing, it is not a secret that the non-religious and even the traditional ones are not aware of the severity of non-observance of Shmittah. Still, this awareness increases year after year and at time awareness brings about faithful Shmittah observance.
Less than 24 hours after Rabbi Elbaz's meeting we are seated in the air-conditioned Bnei Brak office, facing the Shmittah heralds, a trio of the heads of the Keren Hashvi'is, Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler, Rabbi Avrohom Rubinstein and Rabbi Yaakov Vruzhbinski.
Rabbi Kugler agrees. He tells about the unanimous backing and continuous interest that they express and their doors that are always open to all that pertains to Shmittah, and of course, their pronouncements that are heard almost continuously. Starting with Maran S.Y. Elyashiv and Maran A.L. Steinman ("he keeps on telling us all the time that if Shmittah is not observed, the punishment for this is exile from the Holy Land, and we have already seen that Jews were evicted from their houses' – see insert). From Maran Chaim Kanevsky ("he keeps on asking us all the time, so many people are going to observe Shmittah, so what will be left for the non-religious to eat?") "And all of them recall all the time that the entire Shmittah observance here is in the merit of the Chazon Ish," says Rabbi Rubinstein.

These are three civic leaders with a rich background and long history, who do not need recommendations. Kugler is known as the principal of the "Chavas Daas" Boys School in Jerusalem as an activist in Degel Hatorah. Rubinstein is also famous as first-line Degel Hatorah activist, a member of the Bnei Brak City Council and secretary of the "Moetses Gdoyley Hatorah, a person who carries messages from one Torah leader to another. Rabbi Yaakov Vruzhbinski is a man of numbers, involved in all kinds of monetary dealings. Up to very recently he headed the Tax Advisors' Council in Israel. They have one thing in common: all live on the topic of Shmittah. This trio never ran to interviews concerning their ordinary activities, but Shmittah is something different. For Shmittah they would do everything.

As above, they are heading the Keren Hashvi'is. This is a civic-activity body that puts together the moneys that are then transmitted to the National Center of Shmittah Observing Farmers. The contributions that were made to the Keren Hashvi'is that was established 4 Shmittot back made it possible to stand by its obligations to the farmers. This made it possible for the farmers to return to their fields on the eighth year, renew their work and enjoy its fruits.

The main component of this major effort is the National Center. Its experts are in daily contact with the farmers, before, during and after Shmittah all over the country. Ask the farmers about it and they will bestow unlimited praise upon the agricultural experts that have saved them, with advice and wisdom, hundreds of thousands of shekels in potential losses.

The first time that Keren Hashvi'is appeared on the scene was four Shmittot ago, in 5740. It was conceived and established by Rabbi Benjamin Mendelsohn Z"L, the Rabbi of Kommemiyus. He took as his assistant the Secretary General of the Agudah at that time, Rabbi Shmuel Mordechai Mintz, who became known as the "Shmittah man." On the eve of the present Shmittah Rabbi Mintz handed over the reins to the trusty hands of Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler.

The man of vision and founder, Rabbi Benjamin Mendelsohn Z"L The carrier of the tradition, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Mendelsohn

Rubinstein, "a good question and I shall state it more bluntly. One may ask, is it not enough that you are observant, but on top of it Keren Hashvi'is should pay you for it? This is unheard of! The answer is that there are people who simply lose their sustenance when they observe Shmittah. As in any other economic endeavor, a present-day farmer is not similar to the farmer of old. In old times the farmer had 15 dunams. He would make a living a little from eggs, a little from chickens, a little from milk a little from vegetables and this carried him for the year. Now there is no such thing. The families handle huge land areas. This costs hundreds of thousands. We heard many times from our agricultural experts that tell us as follow: you see this farmer? He is a Shmittah observer and his commits financial suicide …

Kugler, "I shall tell you about a farmer that rents 3500 dunams of farmland. Just to give you an idea, 3500 dunam is about 1/2 half the area of Bnei Brak. He observed the previous Shmittot, and his house became fully Torah observant. Some of his children are already learning in yeshivos in Bnei Brak. You enter the house, it is full of religious literature, but financially he is a very bad shape. Listen well, he has to pay out four hundred and fifty thousand shekel just for land rental during Shmittah, and this is before all the other expenses. He says, 'I am positive that I myself will not till my fields during Shmittah. I can return the land to the owners for the duration of Shmittah, but then they will work them themselves. Such people must be assisted."

Rubinstein: "An we were told by a farmer who tills his land for many years what happens when he goes to the authorities to find out what can be done. The answer is, we don’t know, we heard that there is a heter mechirah, so you can continue working. So I told them that for me this is just like desecrating the Sabbath, but they simply disregard me."

Kugler: "I know someone that almost his entire family stopped talking to him, because he does not work on Shmittah."

To quote the farmers whom we meet during our visits with them: the bank does not stop its activity on Shmittah. Land taxes continue to be collected as is the rent. "This is as telling someone, "stop working now and come back next year." There are farmers who supply, for example, flowers to giant companies in the USA. These companies could not care less, if you don’t work with them for a year; they find someone else and leave you forever. To come to such a person and tell him, "'listen, stop everything, Shmittah is coming, have faith in the Creator and everything will work out properly' is not an easy task."
Does that mean that you are involved in kiruv? Meaning that you speak to farmers and persuade them to observe Shmittah?

"Please, do not understand us incorrectly. We do not go out to persuade a farmer to observe Shmittah. Keren Hashvi'is is not a missionary group. What we do is to hang a sign in the shul in every settlement with the phone number of the regional coordinator. He comes to speak with whomever called him up. It is not only that we are not engaged in missionary work. A non-observant farmer is not accepted by the Keren even if he wants. We will help him with the Ministry of Agriculture, but he will not receive any money contributed to Keren Hashvi'is.

I shall tell you about a farmer that rents 3500 dunams of farmland. Just to give you an idea, 3500 dunam is about 1/2 half the area of Bnei Brak. He observed the previous Shmittot, and his house became fully Torah observant. Some of his children are already learning in Yeshivos in Bnei Brak. You enter the house, it is full of religious literature, but financially he is a very bad shape. Listen well, four hundred and fifty thousand shekel he has to pay out just for land rental during Shmittah, and this is before all the other expenses. He says, 'I am positive that I myself will not till my fields during Shmittah. I can return the land to the owners for the duration of Shmittah, but then they will work them themselves. Such people must be assisted.

Do you have any forecasts concerning the observance of this Shmittah as compared with the previous ones?
Vruzhbinski: "Well, there are in Israel close to eight thousand farmers in 700 locations. The past Shmittah was observed on 220,000 dunam. This time we are approaching about 400,000 dunam. As to the number of farmers, it is lower, as Rabbi Rubinstein said, since from one Shmittah to another farming is being taken over by a group of families. Whereas there were 2500 Shmittah observing farmers during the past Shmittah, we expect this year that the number will be about 1500."

Our budget estimate for the coming Shmittah year is 23 million dollars."
What happened to assistance by the Ministry of Agriculture?

Kugler, "indeed the Chareidi members of parliament, including Yehadut Hatorah and Shas, induced the government to appropriate moneys for Shmittah observing farmers, but the government does not finance the operations of the Keren that consist in preparation, guidance, instruction and supervision."

"Moreover, it should be emphasized that the assistance to farmers is transmitted by the Ministry under a long list of criteria. During the past Shmittah, because of these criteria, only 25% of the farmers received government assistance and even they were in need for interim financing until the money was received, which happened at the end of Shmittah. In addition, what was received did not suffice and Keren Hashvi'is had to supply to rest.

"Last Shmittah's criteria stated that assistance will be given only to farmers who till 40 to 80 dunam in the south or 60 to 120 dunam in the north. Nowadays, as was stated above, most farmers work very large areas and hence assistance under these criteria is highly irrelevant to them.

"A great deal of effort is invested to change these criteria. But even if we shall succeed, it is obvious that a large number of farmers will not be able to satisfy even the new criteria for all kinds of reasons. As it is, presently we have not yet received this Shmittah's criteria.

What is meant by "Otsar Bet Din?"

Kugler "let us sit down and think. The farmer harvests his crop and he is still able to plant another crop before Rosh Hashanah. This crop is harvested only after Rosh Hashanah and it can no longer be distributed commercially. This is done by the Otsar Bet Din under specific conditions that cannot be enumerated in a newspaper article.

The Otsar Bet Din crop is of poorer quality?
Rubinstein, "Shmittah fruit are good and tasty and not inferior to any other. Except that people who eat these fruit become partners in the observance of Shmittah and lucky are those who assist all the thousands of heroic farmers who observe Shmittah as given from Heaven."

And the prices of the Otsar Bet Din?
Vruzhbinski, "the prices of the Otsar Bet Din are static, in or out of season. This is because they are based on expenses, which is not the case during non-Shmittah years. Also, the expenses under ordinary circumstances are lower since everything is done on a wholesale basis. During Shmittah all work is done individually by each of the farmers. There is no reason to suspect that this is a commercial activity in disguise.

Maran A.L. Steinman at a meeting of Kollel students in Bnei Brak
on behalf Keren Hashvi'is

In the course of a visit last week with Rabbi Aaron Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel in Baltimore, we asked one of the farmers whom we met: why all of a sudden you decided to observe Shmittah? His answer was, "a Rabbi was here, and he spoke about Shmittah. He explained to us that just as we do not work on Shabbat, because that is what we read in the Torah, we should also follow what the Torah says about Shmittah. That very minute I decided to observe Shmittah."

"In fact, " says Rabbi Kugler, "for an average farmer Shmittah lasts about two years, more precisely a year and eight months. First, he has to make preparations before Shmittah, and then after it is over, it takes a number of months to return the situation to what it was before, which takes about 8 months." The heads of Keren Hashvi'is "asses the damage," sign up the last farmers and are waiting for contribution that will enable them to assist these valiant men.

Two years ago they were evicted from their homes and a part of them succeeded to re-establish themselves as farmers just recently. ■ Now they have to abandon everything else anew. This is the Shmittah year.

The southern industrial area of Ashkelon. Quasams fall also here, but Eliyahu Sabban no longer has where to go. Two years ago he was evicted together with his family from Gush Katif. The cries and yells of desperation still echo in his ears. He left behind a nice house, but primarily a highly cultivated farm in which he toiled and worked for many years. Large areas were devoted to organic vegetables, a field in which he specialized during all his years in the Gush.

He was evicted to Nitsan, close to Ashkelon. For an entire year he agonized as to whether to resume farming. The decision was not easy, he is no longer young, and after the trauma of eviction it was far from simple for him to start everything anew. Finally he decided and was allocated dozens of dunams of the kind of land that immediately allowed him resuming growing organic vegetable.

He took loans in the millions of shekels for re-building his hothouses. It is difficult to recognize the place that was deserted and neglected and now everything blooms there. He operates 35 dunam of hothouses where he grows peppers and gamba that he exports to a number of European countries. His work brought in a bounty, the smile returned to his face, but the Shmittah year is approaching rapidly and he started agonizing again.

He already observed the previous Shmittah in the proper manner without any leniencies. However, this time it is much more difficult. He made of huge investment; millions of shekels and the crops that are needed for repayment are just coming in. And, suddenly, he has to leave everything fallow, not for a year, but for close to a year and half until he will be able to market his first pepper to England. He is not talking about loss of markets that he acquired with work and toil during the past year, all he is thinking about is the first pepper that he could ship again.

"Every Shmittah requires new strengthening of the spirit, but this time it was harder because I am in the middle of re-establishing myself. "Many of my friends suggested that I depend on the heter mechirah," says Sabban, but I went to ask my Rabbi and he told me, " Eliyahu, you are Going to Observe the Mitzvah of Shmittah as Ordered by the Creator! Without any leniencies!" And when he tells this over, one could not avoid sensing the excitement that came upon him. "I am going to observe Shmittah without any leniencies. I have already seen how the statement in the Torah, 'I shall command My blessing' materialized. The Creator who feeds all of us will feed also me and my family."