Word: fallow
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...Fallow Fields...
...ritual that the rabbis carry out every seventh year on behalf of Orthodox Jewish farmers who intend to observe Shemittah, the sabbatical "year of release" that began last week on Rosh Hashanah. During the year, according to the Law, all land owned by Jews in Palestine must lie fallow.* That way lies bankruptcy; so Jews have resorted to the legal maneuver of giving full title to their property to a non-Jew, who is not bound by the Halakah. This enables the Jews to work the land with a free conscience...
...commandment from the Lord, although Biblical critics believe that the custom originated as a primitive means of crop rotation. "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield," God ordered Moses in Exodus. "But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow." Normally, Israel's substantial minority of Orthodox Jews transfer their property through the chief rabbinate to an accommodating Arab. Because of pressure from religious parties, the Israeli government ordered the rabbinate to sell all public lands as well for the duration of Shemittah. During the sabbatical year, Abdullah thus will...
Five-Hour Day. At a recent conference on the subject, a surprising number of young rabbis spoke up to argue that Shemittah is so fraught with sham that the rules should be drastically modernized. One Orthodox farmer suggested that a corner of a field be left fallow as a symbolic reminder. Since the purpose of Shemittah is to allow more time for study and prayer, said another rabbi, the law could be fulfilled by limiting farm work to a five-hour...
...five-and ten-year contracts with farmers to fallow single fields or whole farms...