Chaddad's hothouses are located in the Golan Heights. The deeper we go into them and the desolation gets greater, Eyal's and our hearts overflow with joy. I never believed that ruin could bring about such a great joy. We are accompanied by Mr. Reuven Mayer – an agricultural expert who works on behalf of Keren Hashvi'is that assists the farmers and advises them in proper Shmittah observance and by Mr. Ira Zimmerman, the northern area coordinator of the Keren. Reuven Mayer cannot contain himself and exclaims, "Look at this ultimate devotion."

"This is not so," says Eyal to diminish somewhat the magnitude of this sacrifice. "It is already the second Shmittah that I observe. I had no doubt that the Creator will repay me several fold, I have experience from the previous time."

Eyal Chaddad used to live in Gush Katif before the eviction. Several days after being evicted he returned together with his friends to the place where he used to live and in a number of days they took apart all the hothouses, to the last beam. Then Eyal started looking for an alternate location. For almost two years he did not do any farming, but was involved primarily in looking for land. In the end he was assigned land near the Aloney Habashan kibbutz. He re-assembled his greenhouse in the Golan Heights, sowed his leafy vegetables and waited for results. This was his opportunity to re-establish himself and to re-enter the leafy-vegetables market. "I had only half a year left to work, I knew what this involves because I knew that I am going to let my land fallow next year."

He knew, but not the Golan Heights farmers who rubbed their eyes in wonder. They were used to seeing cauliflower, but not such. "The entire hothouse looked like a huge grove, plants of this size were never seen here before," says Eyal.

The existence of these huge cauliflowers became known soon and they were sold at a premium. A part of the income was devoted to pay last year's debts, whereas the rest was placed in a savings account for sustenance during Shmittah. In a month he will finish all the work associated with letting the land fallow and then he will leave the Golan Heights and will join one of the yeshivos in Judea and Samaria, where he expects to spend the Shmittah year in Torah study. After all, if Shmittah was not intended for the study of Torah, so what is it needed for? He knows well that he will have to live very frugally unless the Keren Hashvi'is will have enough money also for him.

Already two months before the onset of Shmittah Eyal disconnected the irrigation and obviously, the start of a new season did not see him sowing anew. Then he had to destroy all the plants that remained from the previous year. It does not suffice to uproot them, because they re-grow on their own and "waste" that soil's power. Eyal had to move from one garden bed to another and to defoliate the soil in order to eliminate all growth. He had to turn the soil over and also perform a number of other activities to prevent pests from entering the soil. Only after doing all this was he able to abandon his soil and to turn to the true aspiration for which he left behind his fields – to study Torah. For this purpose he will leave the Golan Heights and move to Chevron where his study partner, still from the Gush Katif days, who has settled in Chevron, where he studies Torah, is waiting for him.

Eyal does not expect to receive any compensation from the Ministry of Agriculture. True, this Ministry does assist Shmittah observers, but only those who can prove that they engaged in farming for two contiguous years before Shmittah. Eyal, unfortunately, was evicted from Gush Katif and spent the past two years looking for land. "This is a real problem," says Reuven Mayer from Keren Hashvi'is, we are looking for a solution for him, but in the meantime we don’t have one. We regard it as our duty to assist such farmers and we are asking the general public to lend a helping hand."

Reuven Mayer walks through the dry and dead plants, steps on the desolate soil and is all enveloped in the joy of Mitzvah. "If we only had the funds," he says, "we could get more fields to observe the Shabbos of the land. We are flooded with requests from all over the country, but we do not always have sufficient funds to help everybody."

Reuven Mayer walks through the dry and dead plants, steps on the desolate soil and is all enveloped in the joy of Mitzvah. "If we only had the funds," he says, "we could get more fields to observe the Shabbos of the land. We are flooded with requests from all over the country, but we do not always have sufficient funds to help everybody."

Shmittah heroes. Rabbi Aaron Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisrael in Baltimore and member of the American Moetzes Gdoyley Hatorah visiting with Shmittah observing farmers. Rabbi Yisrael Yitzchok Mendelsohn is at his left

Reuven Mayer who, as above, is an agricultural expert, proceeds to advise Eyal on the procedures needed to return to full production on the eighth year. Eyal will not be able to farm for 20 months: 4 months before Shmittah, 13 months of this year (which is a leap year) and additional 3 months in the following year. Also the compensation from the Ministry of Agriculture, if it will be received at all, will come only next year. But Eyal simply disregards the problem and does not understand why anyone has to do anything for him, the One in Heaven already does it.

"All in all," says Eyal, "the order of Zeraim (that part of the Talmud that is concerned with laws of agriculture) is also called the order of faith, and I believe that it is not the soil that provides the livelihood, but the One in Heaven, and this is the sole purpose of the Shmittah year that every farmer should be aware of this."

The Keren Hashvi'is coordinators start traveling all over the country a year before Shmittah starts to collect information. This is needed in order to get an idea how many farmers intend to observe Shmittah in the proper manner. "I post announcements in shuls of the agricultural settlements that invite the farmers to meetings that I arrange," says Ira, the Northern area coordinator. At the same time I 'collect' intelligence on Shmittah observing farmers and discover many additional Jews who are interested in leaving their land fallow. I sit with each of them separately, listen to the problems they anticipate in Shmittah observance and transmit this information to the Center for Shmittah Observing Farmers. The Center's governing board then tries to provide all the assistance possible. I myself accompany the farmer from the minute he decided to observe Shmittah till the end of the Shmittah year.

Encouraging the farmers. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Mendelsohn, the Rabbi of Kommemiyus with Shmittah observing farmers

Ira, a former kibbutz member and presently a resident of Birya not far from Zefat, works days an night among the farmers and accompanies them at all times. He encourages, advises, provides tactical guidance and teaches them how to navigate through the red tape of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Baruch Oren from Rosh Pina cultivates 1800 dunam for a living. On his land, 800 dunam of which is located in the Galilee and 1000 in the Negev, he grows animal fodder and watermelons for kernels. The land is not his, he chartered it from the Israel Land Management Authority and he will continue paying for it even during Shmittah when he has no income whatever. The price is 60 Shekel per dunam in the Galilee and 150 shekel per dunam in the Negev. Simple arithmetic shows that he will have to pay out during the Shmittah year 220,000 shekel while not earning a penny.

He will also continue paying leasing charges and insurance on his farm implements. Even though all this machinery will not do any productive work, it has to be run at no-load from time to time. These huge machines consume 200 shekel's worth of fuel for every "dry" run.
Over a cup of coffee we hear his credo: "I am not farming only for the purpose of making a living," he tells us and indeed, in spite of the fact that fuel and insurance fees got more expensive, the price of hay remains unchanged for 10 years now, $100.00 per ton. "I think that my engagement in farming assists the Jewish nation in the struggle for our Land. It is either we or them," and when he says 'them,' he refers to the Bedouins. "They take over any empty land both in the Negev and in the Galilee."

"In order that we should be able to hold on the soil of the Holy Land, so that the Arabs would not take it over, we must at least sanctify it with utmost devotion, by observing Shmittah in the most proper way. Then the One in Heaven will also bestow upon us his blessing as He Himself says, 'I shall command My blessing on the sixth year.' Only faith in Him and in the holiness of the Land that comes from complete observance of all the Mitzvos encourage me to do all that I did."

His farming business went through two difficult years. A part of this land is located in the midst of the Hizbollah fire zone. His workers could not work during the last war and a large part of the crops was lost. He could cultivate only the areas close to his house, but also this not always, because the Katyushas fell also there.
His decision to observe Shmittah was not an easy one. He himself is newly religious, a "graduate" of an Arachim Seminar that was followed by learning in the Torah Ve'emuna Yeshiva. He is surrounded by a non-religious family that look upon him as a wacky.

"Everybody tells me 'to leave the land fallow, just like that!?' 'Do you want to bring disaster upon your entire family?' 'There are plenty of ways in which you could work your land and still be considered observant, such as heter mechirah.” But Baruch stuck to his guns, if to observe Shmittah, then all the way.

"When I came to him and told him that Keren Hashvi'is can help him," says Ira, "he did not understand what I want from him, why help, who needs help. He has decided to observe Shmittah and is not interested in any favors from anyone."

Here in the clear air of the porch of Baruch Oren's dwelling, Reuven Mayer pulls out one story after another from his briefcase and each such story could be the subject of another article. Stories of faith of farmers that abandoned their trade and depend on the One in Heaven without asking questions. These stories make one suspect one's own depth of faith.
Nevertheless, these stories represent brave individuals and, among them, those who gave a lot of thought to Shmittah observance much in advance of it. Most are not like that. They must be assisted and this is what Keren Hashvi'is is for. But, unfortunately, there are still others who could have observed Shmittah if there was enough money, something that makes Reuven Mayer sigh deeply with great sorrow.

"You know," he says, ”one day I was invited by Tal Galili, the grandson of Israel Galili, who was a major figure in the Israel Labor Party and a number of the country's governments. He knows nothing about Yiddishkeit, he does not want to do teshuvah, but he wants to observe Shmittah for another reason: these days kibbutz members have no values to live by and hence a year of rest for these farmers is a value that is worth an effort. Yes, he wants to institute Shmittah observance in is kibbutz, Ayelet Hashachar, but the Keren Hashvi'is does not have enough money for that."

The Keren Hashvi'is staff conducted advanced negotiations with the Ramat Yochanan kibbutz concerning Shmittah observance. This kibbutz has a manager, who name is Idan Arzi. In spite of the fact that Arzi became religious, the kibbutz was very happy with his management skills and did not let him go.

When Shmittah came Arzi told the kibbutz governing board that he cannot manage the kibbutz unless it conforms strictly to all laws of Shmittah. The board wanted him so much that they were willing to assent to Arzi's demands so that he would not leave. The arrangement worked out with him was that this will be done without the kibbutz members' knowing what is going on. Unfortunately, the details of the deal leaked out, the membership at large got very angry at their kibbutz becoming too religious and, of course, all that Arzi could do it to pick himself up and leave; which he did.

Yosef Chaim, a Chareidi Jew for may years now, is welcoming us under one of this pecan trees. He not going to work his 42 dunam on which he usually grows pecan nuts in addition to 2.5 dunam of avocado.

The Chaim family has deep roots in farming. The huge tractor that I saw that looks like a monster is driven by his oldest son. His younger brother sits next to him and together they go out to work the fields. These are the last days of bein hazmanim and his boys will shortly return to their respective Yeshivos and he will remain alone. He inherited these fields from his father in law, also a religious Jew, but the latter depended on the cheter mechireh. "Those years," he tells me," we used to leave the house in order to avoid strained relationships between us and my in-laws."

This is the second Shmittah that he observes fully. The fruit that he picks now are not yet regarded as a Shmittah crop, this will happen to next year's fruit. "It is only today that I specified the price that I want for this year's pecans, I quoted a price that is three-fold higher than usual, but the Machne Yehudah merchants did not too disturbed, they bought. All this is to save up for the next year, when I will not be able to sell," he tells us.

During the previous Shmittah that he observed fully, he did not find anything lacking. Not only this, the cash flow was better than in previous years. "Last Shmittah my father in law passed away. I did not know that I inherited land not far from Yisud Hama'ala. My father in law divided his property between all the sons and daughters. One of my brothers in law came to me and told me that one of the parcels of land that I inherited is located close to his land parcels and that he is interested to purchase it. He paid a price much higher than the prevalent and this without me knowing that I have property there.

"We came to Zefat on the Shmittah year like "lords," driving a new car, bringing over new furniture that was placed in a spacious house with a well-stocked refrigerator. Nobody believed that I am just a farmer and they believed even less that I "made" all this by chance. I have no doubt that all this happened because we observed Shmittah that year."
Under normal circumstances he earns 35 shekel on a kilogram of pecan nuts. The annual yield of his fields is 9 tons of nuts. Keren Hashvi'is cannot compensate him for these losses. "But the One Above can do it," he says under the pecan tree in his yard with abundant faith and simplicity.

He almost did not learn in yeshivos. He is a ba'al. teshuvah who has wandered over a large number of countries. He earned his faith from experience. "We are not yet at the spiritual level that we can merit a blessing in the soil itself," he says, "but no matter what, every Shmittah or toward every Shmittah we somehow encounter an income that allows us to support ourselves during Shmittah, the kind of income that we have no idea from where it suddenly arrives, but we have no doubt that this is in the merit of Shmittah observance, " he adds.

He saved up money for Shmittah. Eyal Chaddad on the background of his hothouses that will not be tilled this year

The National Center for Shmittah Observing Farmers and the Keren Hashvi'is that were initially established by Rabbi Benjamin Mendelsohn, the Rabbi of Kommemiyus, who received his tradition from his great teacher, the Chazon Ish, whose yahrzeit is on this Sunday, exist for seven Shmittos now.

Both these parts of a single whole provide different services to the Shmittah observing farmers. The Center is concerned primarily with instructing and guiding the farmers in the practical aspects of Shmittah observance. The Keren Hashvi'is is the financial arm that finances this activity, but primarily is concerned with supplying the farmers with financial means to endure a year (actually a year and a half) of complete stop of any farming income that must cover not only the farmer's livelihood, but also his equipment financing expenses.

The Center's coordinators are not waiting for the farmers to come to them for assistance. Rather they visit all potential Shmittah observers, offer them guidance and try to help them financially. Any halachic questions that arise during these and similar visits that cannot be resolved by the coordinators are referred to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Mendelsohn, who is the halachic authority of the Center.

340,000 dunam of land will lay fallow during the present Shmittah year. This appears from data that has been received in the offices of Keren Hashvi'is that operates from a small two-room office in the center of Jerusalem.

In order to give the reader an idea what this means, the city of Bnei Brak occupies only 7000 dunam. "This year we are witnessing an extraordinary arousal," state Rabbi Ben Zion Kugler and Rabbi Reuven Mayer. We have received inquiries from unexpected places.

Thus, for example, inquiries were received from agricultural schools and among them the "Mikveh Israel" school who are willing to stop all activities on the soil during the Shmittah year. We were contacted also by the "Negev Settlements" organization who stated that they are willing to stop all activities. This organization is made up of 200 families and the executive director of the organization cannot suddenly declare the stoppage of all activities without financial backing. "We had to leave them empty handed," says the Keren Hashvi'is chairman, "we simply don’t have this kind of money."

The office is also flooded by requests of gardeners who became ba'aley teshuvah and they have no idea how to get organized for the Shmittah year. These were joined by other ba'aley teshuvah who do agricultural work in non-religious kibbutzim who are interested in observing Shmittah. People like this work in at least ten kibbutzim. "If we had the money," say the Keren Hashvi'is people we could get the entire Holy Land to observe Shmittah. But all this depends on those in position to contribute.

The office staff was particularly excited by a letter from the wife of a ba'al teshuva farmer from the northern part of the country, who stopped tilling his land this Shmittah. The couple has five children, all of whom study in Torah Schools for Israel, and they have no idea where they livelihood is going to come from. Currently the Keren is attempting to find a suitable job for the husband as Shmittah supervisor in one of the organizations.

"This is a case of utmost and unusual devotion by the farmer," say the Keren staff. "Such a farmer lets his land lie fallow, including his agricultural implements with leasing charges on them running unabated. In addition, he has to defoliate his soil in order to prevent parasitic crops from ruining it. Farmers who work rented land must keep on paying the rent since, if they fail to do so, their rental agreement will be cancelled and they may not be able to renew it next year. On top of this, these very fields may be rented out to others who may till them on Shmittah."

It turns out that the farmers face many major challenges. A part of their problems is being discussed with the Ministry of Agriculture with the hope that a solution can be found in this manner. Up to now solutions were found only for 6% of the farmers. The rest will have to depend on Keren Hashvi'is. Some of the problems are still under current negotiations with the Ministry.

"We wish to note the cooperation between us and the Chareidi politicians concerning this," state the people running the Keren Hashvi'is. Thus for example, many farmers must somehow deal with current mortgages on their property that run regardless of Shmittah.
Another problem under discussion with the Ministry is that of foreign workers. The Ministry declared that foreign worker permits of Shmittah observing farmers will be revoked immediately after Rosh Hashonoh. However, the farmers need them for a much longer period: the land has to be prepared for leaving it fallow, many farms operate on different halachically -dictated Shmittah schedules. In addition, each farmer invested a great deal of time and money to train the foreign worker in farming and he wants to have him back after Shmittah is over – otherwise he would have to spend additional time and money to train him on the eighth year. The negotiations are not over yet and it already appears that some important gains have been made.

Another problem stems from the fact that a farm owner is currently defined as one who works his field, whereas under the new farming conditions many farmers rent land and hire others to work it and this removes them from the "owner" classification thus disqualifying them from any assistance by the Ministry.

Some vegetables having an extended growing period, they are sowed much before Shmittah but can be harvested much, much later, deeply into the seventh year. This has created a difficult halachic situation that is being dealt with successfully, but will leave the farmer with less money than he spent on growing.

Another problem is that of export. Produce that was harvested on Shmittah cannot be exported outside the Holy Land. The loss here is double, first, no outlet for the produce and second loss of customer abroad who would switch to someone else.