too spirit torah portion Upscale Consignment & Auction House ICONIC 20 th CENTURY FURNITURE, FINE-ART, HOME DECOR & LIGHTING Survival Of The Land T NOW BUYING AND ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS Tues-Sat 12-6, Sun 12-4 3325 Orchard Lake Rd, Keego Harbor, MI 248-481-8884 WWW.LESHOPPETOO.COM CHANGING HANDS ESTATE SALES We specialize in mid-century modern estate sales Let our experienced team handle all of your estate needs: ǵLjǵHands free-hassle free estate sales Call Leslie Weisberg today for a free consultation 248-709-9648 changinghandsestates.com JOIN US ON WEDNESDAYS FOR APPRAISALS WITH TERRI STEARN! DFAA: 248-672-3207 DetroitFAA.com DetroitFineArtAppraisals@gmail.com 36 May 10 • 2018 jn he Jewish people are com- manded to observe a day of rest every seven days. While many know about Shabbat, fewer are aware that the land is supposed to have a Shabbat as well. What exactly is a Shabbat for the fields? In Israel, every seven years is known as a shemita year, or sabbatical year, when the land of Israel must lay fal- low with no Jews allowed Rabbinate allows every Israeli to work the fields. In Behar, farm to register for a sale per- we learn about the shemita mit and the Rabbinate “sells” laws. Our ancestors were all the land to a non-Jew. At the forbidden from cultivating end of the sabbatical year, the their fields or vineyards. Rabbinate buys back the land The land was allowed to on the farmers’ behalf for a rest, but the people in Israel similar amount. were able to gather and eat The laws of the sabbatical Rabbi Jason whatever the land produced year may seem like ancient Miller on its own. agricultural rules from the My first visit to Israel was Torah, but they continue to be in 1994, which was a shemita a very real part of the religious, agri- year. Unlike many of my friends who cultural and economic reality in 21st- planted their own trees in the Jewish century Israel. Almost 24 years after homeland, my group of teens were my first trip to Israel, I still think back told that we would be unable to plant to the agricultural lesson I learned trees because of the sabbatical year. on that teen tour. The sabbatical year While we were disappointed that we forces me to consider the importance couldn’t physically plant a tree, we of the land to our survival. The words were fascinated by this ancient law of the Birkat Hamazon (Grace After that was still followed religiously in Meals) are not about food, but rather the modern period. We were told how about the source of our food. We it is forbidden to perform any agricul- praise God for the land because we tural activity, including plowing, plant- understand that without a fertile land, ing, pruning or harvesting; and this the farmers have no crops and then was a biblical law that had become we have no sustenance. a political law in modern Israel. The We joke that the overarching theme sabbatical year law we teens found of all the Jewish holidays is food. most intriguing was that whatever While it’s true that our people spend grew on the land during shemita was a lot of time focused on the culinary free for anyone, but especially the aspects of our faith tradition, plac- poor who could use that free food. ing importance on the land is one of There are some interesting nuances Judaism’s central ethics. The next time to the laws of shemita, most nota- you sit down to a big, delicious meal, bly that Jews can eat produce that take a few moments to consider the is grown on land in Israel owned role of the land, the farmer and, of by non-Jewish farmers. This means course, God. • that Arab farmers can harvest their crops and sell their fresh produce to Rabbi Jason Miller is a local educator and Jews in Israel. Jews are also allowed entrepreneur. Ten years ago, he founded Kosher Michigan (koshermichigan.com), an to eat produce that was grown in greenhouses, which has led to a rise in international kosher certification agency. For more information, see rabbijason.com. the building of greenhouses to grow vegetables during the sabbatical year. Additionally, produce that was culti- vated on land outside of Israel can be CONVERSATIONS consumed during the sabbatical year. Have you ever sourced your own food The sabbatical year also causes Jews from a farm? Why do you think the in Israel to perform some legal acro- farm-to-table movement has become batics sort of like what we’re familiar so popular? What are ways you can with before Passover when we arrange help your children or grandchildren for our chametz ( forbidden leavened understand the importance of mod- products) to be sold to a non-Jew. ern-day farming to our survival? Prior to the shemita year, Israel’s Chief Parshat Behar- Bechukotei: Leviticus 25:1-27:34; Jeremiah 16:19-17:14.