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Festival Information

      All three pilgrimage festivals, in addition to their historical symbolism, are directly linked to the agricultural year. PASSOVER is "the festival of the spring" (Ex.13:4) and on its second night an OMER - a specific measure - of barley is harvested and brought to the Temple. Several weeks later, Shavu'ot is the Harvest Festival (Ex. 23:16) which marks the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. It is also the Festival of the First Fruits (Num.28:26) when the first crops are brought to Jerusalem. Sukkot is the Festival of Ingathering, (Ex.23:16) when the grain is brought from the fields into the barns. The New Year, Rosh ha-Shanah, also has an agricultural significance (R.H. 1:1).

     Where the Bible prescribes that the crops of trees of a certain age may or may not be eaten, all trees planted in sufficient time to germinate by the New Year are considered to be one year old on that day. Similarly, the Torah commands giving every tenth calf to the priests: all the calves born between one New Year and the next were put together, counted and each tenth one was marked to be given to the priests.

      The agricultural laws of the Pentateuch are in the category of "commandments (mitsvot) dependent on the land," which are obligatory only within the borders of the Biblical Land of Israel. A certain few laws were also imposed by the rabbis on Jews living elsewhere, but generally, the laws outlined below apply only to the Land of Israel. Certain obligations are imposed on the farmer. When he harvests his crop, he must set an amount aside for the priests as terumah ("heave- offering", see SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS) - (Num.18:11). While the absolute minimum is one stalk per barn, by rabbinic law the terumah must be no less than 1/60th of the crop, with the average person giving 1/50th and the magnanimous, 1/40th (Terumot 4: 3).

      In addition, the farmer must give 1/10th of the crop to the Levites as the "first tithe" (ma'aser rishon) (Num.18: 24). In the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the seven- year shemittah (SABBATICAL YEAR) cycle (see below), the farmer must also set aside a tenth of the remaining crop as the "second tithe" (ma'aser sheni) (Lev.27:30-31). The second tithe may be eaten only in Jerusalem or, alternatively, may be sold, provided that the proceeds received be brought to Jerusalem, where they may be used only to buy food that will be consumed there. In the third and sixth years of the shemittah cycle, the second tithe is known as "the poor man's tithe" (ma'aser ani) (Deut.14:28- 29) and must be distributed among the poor.

      When harvesting his field, the farmer must also make provision for the poor by leaving the leket - grain which dropped during the harvesting (Lev.19:9); shikhehah - the grain forgotten in the field when the harvest is brought in (Deut.24:19); and pe'ah - a corner of the field which must be left unharvested (Lev.19:9). In the case of trees, the crops of the first three years are known as orlah (literally, "uncircumcised"), and may not be eaten. The crop of the fourth year, neta reva'i ("the planting of the fourth" year), must be taken to Jerusalem and eaten there, or else the produce may be sold, and the money taken to Jerusalem, where it must be used to purchase other food to be eaten there. From the fifth year onwards, the crop is subject to no further limitations (Lev.19: 23-25). A person kneading more than a specified minimum of dough must separate part of it for the priests (HALLAH). Just as the mixing of wool and linen in garments is forbidden, so is the sowing of diverse seeds in the same area.

      Such a crop is known as kilayim (MIXED SPECIES), (Lev. 19:19). The mishnaic tractate Kilayim lays down rules for the different species involved and the required distance between species in order to avoid a violation of the law. Included in the prohibition is the grafting of the branch of one species onto the tree of another. Also forbidden is the cross-pollination of different species of fruits, although cross pollination of two strains of the same species is permitted. Every seventh year is known as shemittah ("release"), during which all land must be fallowed (Lev.25:1-5). All fields must be left with access available to all - humans and animals. The Bible promises that those who keep the shemittah will be blessed so that the crop of the sixth year will suffice for three years: the sixth year, the shemittah year, and the following year, until the new crop is harvested. The JUBILEE year is proclaimed at the conclusion of seven shemittah cycles (Lev.25:8- 12). (The Talmud records a dispute on the dating of the jubilee year: was it counted as the first year of the next cycle (yielding cycles of 49 years) or was it a separate year falling after the 49th year of one cycle and before the first year of the next (yielding fifty year cycles)? During the jubilee year, everything is given the chance to begin afresh. All land sold since the last jubilee is returned to the possession of each ancestral family. Hebrew slaves are also freed (see SLAVERY). Thus, in a society where the ownership of land was of paramount importance, each ancestral family, no matter how poor it might have become, was to have its land restored to it in the jubilee year, and was able to make a new start.

      Under the terms of this law, no land is sold permanently. All that is actually sold is the number of crops until the next jubilee year, after which the land is restored to its original owners. Unlike agricultural land, houses in cities may be sold permanently, and do not revert to their original owners in the jubilee year. The original owner of such a house nevertheless has the right, within the first year after the sale, to buy back his home (Lev.25:29-30). Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the agricultural laws have been regarded by most rabbis as binding by rabbinic decree rather than by Torah law. This has resulted in modifications in certain of the rules. As an example, while produce grown in the Land of Israel must still be tithed (see above), the tithe actually taken is only a little over one percent of the total. A special formula, devised by Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu KARELITZ (known as Hazon Ish) is recited, whereby the sanctity of the tithes is transferred to a coin.

       The 1% of the produce put aside, rather than being given to priests and Levites, must be disposed of in a dignified manner. Nowadays, the laws of leaving produce for the poor are not in effect, nor must produce be brought to Jerusalem. Fruit of the first four years, however, may not be eaten since this law applies both inside Israel and outside. The fact that the Sabbatical year is binding only by rabbinic law was the basis for a far-reaching decision of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak KOOK, the first chief rabbi of Palestine in his monumental Shabbat ha-Aretz. As leaving the land fallow each Sabbatical year endangered the existence of the newly-founded Zionist settlements, Kook devised a formula whereby the land was sold to a non-Jew. The land under non-Jewish ownership could then be worked during the Sabbatical year.

       This ruling aroused a storm of protest throughout the rabbinic world, primarily among non-Zionist elements. The more Zionist rabbis, however, generally endorsed this decision. As Rabbi Kook's decision clearly stated that it was to be considered ad hoc, rather than a permanent waiver of the law, the Israel chief rabbinate meets before each Sabbatical year to review the situation, before arranging for the sale of the land.