Having laid some foundation for our discussion of shemittah, we can begin to discuss some of the actual laws. First, we should note that shemittah in our times is a rabbinic ordinance, meant to replicate the Torah law that applies only when the majority of the Jewish people are living in the Land of Israel. In addition, I would point out that the rules we note today relate not only to those who actually plant in fields, but have ramifications for home gardening in Israel as well.

One of the basic prohibitions of the shemittah year is planting, zeriah, which involves placing a seed in the ground for the purpose of having it grow. While one might have thought that this prohibition only applies to plants that eventually produce food (since so much of shemittah seems to revolve around how we harvest its fruits and make it available to the poor), the general conclusion is that even trees and plants that do not bear fruit may not be planted during shemittah. Where the distinction between these types of trees does become relevant, however, is in cutting off parts of the tree. There (in contrast to fruit-bearing trees, as we’ll see below), no change is required in shemittah years. This rule makes the acquisition of sekhakh for a sukkah, and lulavim and aravot, problem-free even during shemittah. While there are some opinions that planting is a problem for the person who does it (not for the Land itself), we generally do not allow forms of planting that would circumvent this issue, such as by a machine, or by an indirect action.

Another prohibited activity is cutting back a tree or plant in order to have it grow better, and here there is an interesting debate among the rishonim. Rambam seems to apply that prohibition to all forms of pruning, but many authorities seem to limit it, at least at a de-oraita level, to vines (that grow grapes). To explain, the Hazon Ish suggested that when one prunes a grape-vine, it leads to the actual production of more fruit; when one prunes other trees, it benefits the tree in general, but does not directly produce more fruit. In that explanation, the prohibition of pruning (in the Torah) is similar to that of planting, an act that produces yield. The prohibition of pruning forms the basis for another important issue, that of planting (or re-planting) an already existing plant or tree. While some view this as only rabbinically prohibited, one point of view bases a de-oraita prohibition on the example of pruning—if cutting back a tree to allow it to grow better is prohibited, certainly actually putting a tree in the ground to grow should be prohibited.

Where all this becomes relevant to ordinary people (who live in Israel) is in terms of planting in one’s house. Where the floor of the house is itself the earth (as was true for hundreds of years), the Yerushalmi wonders whether the prohibition is intended for the earth or the field (each term is used in the Torah); while one’s house is clearly not a field, it is, in this case, the earth. In that case, some ruled permissively, since shemittah is only rabbinic. Hazon Ish, however, pointed out that it is a rabbinic ruling modeled after a Torah principle, so that the doubt is whether the Torah would have prohibited it or not. We must therefore prohjbit such planting.

However, most people no longer have earthen floors, so the question should really be applied to flower pots of various sizes. In halakhic terms, there are two kinds of flower pots—those with a hole on the bottom and those without. Those with a hole on the bottom (even a very small hole; R. Rimon actually rules that any clay pot should be considered as if it has a hole) are seen as connected to the ground, and have the same rule as the ground inside the house itself. R. Rimon does not that R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, ztllh"h, raised the possibility that such pots only have the status of the earth itself once there is a plant in that pot gaining sustenance from the dirt within the pot. If that were true, it would be permissible to plant a plant within that pot, but not to prune existing plants.

More relevantly, R. Rimon notes that such pots are only considered connected to the ground if they are on the ground floor of the house and do not have a tray underneath them. If, however, the pot is on the second floor, or has some kind of an impermeable tray underneath it, it would be considered an atsits she-eino nakuv, an pot without a hole. In such cases, there is generally a rabbinic rule to treat this pot as if it were a pot with a hole, meaning to treat it as connected to the ground. However, if that pot is within the house (and here it must be within the house, meaning having at least a roof on top of it; some authorities think there even have to be walls around it), the combination of leniencies makes it possible to treat this as a non-shemittah item, to plant and prune it as one wishes.

The leniency regarding items grown in a house without a direct connection to the ground might apply more commercially, to those fruits and vegetables grown in greenhouses (one example is Gush Katif, where hydroponics are used, at least partly also to avoid problems of bugs and insects in the vegetables). Here, too, we can argue that such planting should be permitted, since it is in a house and not directly connected to the ground. Some, however, are leery of this situation because this is the way these items are grown all throughout the years—it becomes somewhat difficult, then, to claim that this is not sadekha, your field.

The question of plowing is somewhat complicated, so I will not entertain it here, except to note that it applies to plowing that affects planting in some way. If someone decides to dig a deep hole in Erets Yisrael during shemittah, they may do so. Rambam, however, prohibits this in the case where the hole will be used for planting in some way (so that digging an irrigation pit, while not really plowing, may be prohibited since it contributes to the planting process). In addition, the dirt that comes from that hole cannot simply be spread over the rest of the ground, it must be collected in specific piles, since digging up earth and spreading it over older earth is too similar to plowing to be permissible.

Next week, be-ezrat Hashem, we’ll move on to harvesting, a topic that affects us even more directly,since it talks about the kinds of fruit and vegetables we would need to avoid.