THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Sabbatical Year Has
Special Significance
MRS. BEN BENESON and FAMILY
wish all their friends and
relatives a year of good
health and peace
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By DVORA WAYSMAN
Awoormullow
World Zionist
Press Service
Best Wishes For A Happy,
Peaceful New Year
To All Our Friends and Relatives
MR. AND MRS. LITMAN GOULD
Southfield
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197985740
Happy New Year
The Adelstein Family
Ronnie, Fern and David
mimminiiiimi 1979°5740
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to all our family and friends
From the
Cottlers', Cohens' and Kotlyars'
This Rosh Hashana,
marking the beginning of
the Jewish year 5740, will
have a special significance.
It will be a "Shmitta" (Sab-
batical) year — a year of
reat for the soil.
"Shmitta" literally
means renunciation. We
renounce the right to work
the land, and let it lie fal-
low: The seventh year shall
be .a Sabbath of solemn rest
for the land" (Lev. 25:4), and
we renounce our right to col-
lect debts: "At the end of
every seven years thou
shalt make a release. And
this is the manner of the re-
lease; every creditor shall
release that which he lent
unto his neighbor" (Deut.
15:1-2).
Although the laws of the
sabbatical remittance of
debts apply to Jews
everywhere, the obligation
to let the land lie fallow is
limited to the boundaries of
Israel, as these laws begin
only ". . . when ye come into
the land which I give you"
(Lev. 25:2).
After wandering for 40
years through the barren
desert, Moses gathered
together the Israelites at
the foot of Mt. Sinai, and
gave them a detailed law
about the soil. For as
soon as they entered
Eretz Yisrael, they were
. . may the New Year be
one of joy, happiness and
prosperity for all mankind
The Jewish News Staff
And Their Families
Extends heartiest greetings to the entire
Jewish Community of Michigan, with
gratitude for the splendid cooperation
that has enabled us to work to-
gether for good community spirit.
Mr. and Mrs. Philip Slomovitz
and -son, Gabriel
Mr. and Mrs. Carmi M. Slomovitz
and son, Randy
Alan Hitsky
Heidi Press
Marlene Miller
Marjorie Newberger
Tedd Schneider
Phyllis Tyner
Janice Stein
Sandra Main
Ralph Orme
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MIIINIM MI I I I I MINIM MU
Dharlene Norris
Drew Lieberwitz
Ben Gorney
Danny Raskin
Seymour Schwartz
Curtis DeLoye
Donald Cheshure
Catharine Ciccone
A
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IN AIM
THERE IS STILL TIME TO PLACE YOUR NEW YEAR GREETING
IN NEXT FRIDAY'S ISSUE OF THE JEWISH NEWS
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Zip Code
The Jewish News, 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
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to become people of the
land, with their whole
lives bound up in agricul-
ture.
For many generations
(until the system of crop ro-
tation was devised, at the
beginning of the 20th Cen-
tury) both Jews and gentiles
saw the logic of letting the
land periodically rest and
even unwittingly followed
the law of the Torah in ag-
riculture. For centuries, as
the Jews in the Diaspora be-
came a largely non-
agricultural people, the ac-
tual law of "Shmitta" re-
garding the land was just a
theoretical problem to be
discussed by talmudic
scholars. With the estab-
lishment of the state of Is-
rael, however, it again be-
came a practical problem for
the settlers.
There are many reasons
for the Shmitta year.
Firstly, to teach mankind
that the earth does not be-
long to them, but only to
God. It also teaches man to
have confidence in God, for
even though he rests from
his work for a year, the Lord
will invoke a blessing foi.
him. Another reason is that
one year in seven, man is
- freed just to study Torah, for
he is not preoccupied with
working the land.
During the Second Tem-
ple period, the Jews rigidly
adhered to Shmitta in Eretz
Yisrael. During the Has-
monean War, the fall of
Beth Zur was attributed to a
famine in the city since it
was a Sabbatical year.
Julius Caesar exempted the
Jews from taxation in a
Shmitta year sine; "they
neither take fruit from the
trees nor do they sow." After
the abortive Bar Kokhba
Revolt, however, the Jews
were again compelled to pay
taxes, causing grave hard-
ships which in turn con-
vinced the rabbis to relax
many prohibitions.
In modern times, the
problem of Shmitta in Is-
rael, with its unbearably
heavy economic load, be-
came too much for the
young state to bear.
Learned rabbis agreed to
the use of a "heter" (spe-
cial dispensation) to sell
the land to non-Jews dur-
ing the sabbatical year,
to permit the land to be
worked.
In recent years, there
have also been perfected
other methods of using a
"heter"— such as early sow-
ing of vegetables before the
New Year and the growing
of crops by hydroponics or
soil-less systems. Israeli
botanist Meir Schwartz was
the founder of the first
fully-automatic hydroponic
farm at the Agudat Israel
kibutz "Hafetz Chaim."
There are now other hyd-
roponic farms at Ein Gedi
and Eilat which use water
culture, and the prevailing
medium used is gravel.
He that spares his rod
hates his son; but he that
I loves him chastens him be-
an . times.
Friday, September 21, 1979 79
11211211
rutt75
a happy and healthy New Year
to all our children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. friends
and relatives
MR. AND MRS. HYMAN GREENBAUM
Miami Beach
HELEN & MORRIS GREENBERG
17285 Lee, Southfield
U ish all their relatives and friench -
a happy and healthy Neu. Year
Allan and Linda Gurvitz .
Eric and Michelle
wish all their family and friends
a happy and healthy New Year
IRVING and BRENDA ALTUS
Tavistock Trail, Southfield
extend best wishes to all their
family and friends for a happy,
healthy and prosperous New Year
DR. and MRS. DAVIS A. BENSON
extend heartfelt best wishes
for a year filled with health,
happiness and peace for all
our friends and family
THE BIDLOFSKY'S
Murry & Yetta
Herb & Sharon
Slysa & Randy
Gerald & Jacklyn
wish all their relatives and friends
a happy, healthy holiday
MARY and HARRY EHRLICH
AND FAMILY
Lauderhill, Fla.
wish all their family and friends
a year filled with good health,
happiness and peace.
ri
;in ril;try .,
May the New Year bring good
health, happiness and peace
to all our family and friends
and all Israel
MR. and MRS. MORRIS H. FISHMAN
May The New Year Bring
Health, Happiness and
Peace To All Our Friends
Relatives and the World
MR.. & MRS. DAVID IWREY
Southfield
Anna and Nathan Pritz
20533 Braille, Detroit
wish their family and friends a
year of good health, peace and
prosperity
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