Saturday, August 02, 2008

Sign of The Time

We're in the Shemitta year of the Jewish Calendar. In the cycle of time, it's the seventh year, the Sabbatical of agriculture in the Holy Land.

I'm not going to get into the intricate details of its observance, but one aspect is that we, whether commercial farmer or just lazy gardener, shouldn't profit from the fruits of the Land. Therefore, it's common to have signs up proclaiming that the fruit is "hefker," ownerless. You can pick what you need at the moment.


2 comments:

A Living Nadneyda said...

We also have one on our garden gate! And so do others of our neighbors.

For the next couple of weeks we're in Chu"l, and my kids were shocked to hear that that Shmitta is only observed in Israel.

That made me smile, somehow.

ALN

Batya said...

Yes, there are such differences, and it's sometimes hard to remember. Here in Israel our Judaism is more complete.