Shmita Today

hmita: The rare bracha that takes place only once in seven years

Shmita- Once in seven years, bnei yisroel are commanded to cease working their land and to declare it hefker, making the produce of their sweat and toil  available to the poor …and even to the consumption of animals. 

There are two main mitzvos to shmita: 

  1. “ושבתה הארץ שבת לה'” – Letting the earth “rest”– in other words: Stopping to work the land in the seventh year 

AND:

2. “והשביעית תשמטנה ונטשתה”, The mitzvah of declaring all produce on the field hefker

However, the zchus of being mekayem this mitzvah.. is not exclusively for farmers

For many generations, this rare mitzvah was available to almost all who wanted a part in it, being that the majority of the population were farmers. 

But times have changed. 

The world today looks nothing like it once did. 

And there are not very many farmers amongst us anymore. 

With the advancement of technology, and the replacement of most of the tedious manual labor with machines, the number of people being actively mekayem the mitzvah of shmita dropped drastically. 

Only the very few agriculturists and farmers that remained in their field of work merited to be part of the tremendous zchus of “וציויתי את ברכתי” – “I shall ordain abundance.” Vayikra, 25:21

But what about the rest of us? 

There didn’t seem to be a practical solution for the many gedolim and yidden throughout the generations who wished to have a chelek in this mitzvah. 

If one were to try to accomplish this on his own, he would have to: 

  1. Purchase a piece of pre-planted land for a small fortune
  2. Do all the extensive research regarding halacha and legal matters
  3. Certify the land in TABO and register it for taxes through a lawyer, specifically, according to the Israeli law system (דינא דמלכותא דינא, so the kinyan would be complete halachically)
  4. Make sure work is done on the land in the sixth year 
  5. Ensure that no work is done on this land in the seventh. Close monitoring.

That’s where  Agudat Shmita comes in. 

Established in Erev Shmita תשס”ח, Agudat Shmita is here for all those who have yearned to fulfill their dreams of fulfilling this mitzva, but found the goal to be unattainable.. 

We simplified this lengthy process into one simple step, so that every fellow jew can access the powerful blessings that accompany all who do this mitzvah b’hiddur.

זכות קיום מצוות שמיטה לברכת וצויתי את ברכתי

וצויתי את ברכתי – ברכת השמיטה

נאמר בתורה (ויקרא כה, כ–כא): ‘וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ. וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת

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