You’re the Judge

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jul 2, 2021

News Letter 5857-020
The 5th Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 26th year of the 120th Jubilee Cycle
The 22nd day of the 5th month 5857 years after the creation of Adam
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

1896 Days until the Two Witnesses
398 Days into the 2300 Days Started May 31st, 2020

July 3, 2021


Shabbat Zoom Meeting

There are many people in need of fellowship and who are sitting at home on the Sabbath with no one to talk to or debate with. I want to encourage all of you to join us on Shabbat, and to invite others to come and join us as well. If the time is not convenient then you can listen to the teaching and the midrash after on our youtube channel.

What are we doing and why do we teach this way?

We are going to discuss both sides of an issue and then let you choose. It is the work of the Ruach (Spirit) to direct and to teach you.

The medieval commentator Rashi wrote that the Hebrew word for wrestle (avek) implies that Jacob was “tied”, for the same word is used to describe knotted fringes in a Jewish prayer shawl, the tzitzityot. Rashi says, “thus is the manner of two people who struggle to overthrow each other, that one embraces the other and knots him with his arms”.

Our intellectual wrestling has been replaced by a different kind of struggle. We are Wrestling with Yehovah as we grapple with His Word. It is an intimate act, symbolizing a relationship in which Yehovah and I and you are bound together. My wrestling is a struggle to discover what Yehovah expects of us, and we are “tied” to the One who assists us in that struggle.

Today, many say Israel means “Champion of God”, or better — the “Wrestler of God”.

Our Torah sessions each Shabbat teach you and encouraged you to constantly challenge, question, argue against, as well as view alternative views and explanations of the Word. In other words, we are to “wrestle with the Word” to get to the truth. Jews worldwide believe that you need to wrestle with the Word and constantly challenge Dogma, Theology, and views or else you will never get to the Truth.

We are not like most churches where “The preacher talks and everyone listens.” We encourage everyone to participate, to question and to contribute what they know on the subject being discussed. We want you to be a champion wrestler of the Word of Yehovah. We want you to wear the title of Israel, knowing that you not only know but are capable to explain why you know the Torah to be true with logic and facts.

We have a few rules though. Let others talk and listen. There is no discussion about UFO’s Nephilim, Vaccines or conspiracy-type subjects. We have people from around the world with different world views. Not everyone cares who is the President of any particular country. Treat each other with respect as Fellow wrestlers of the word. Some of our subjects are hard to understand and require you to be mature and if you do not know, then listen to gain knowledge and understanding and hopefully wisdom. The very things you are commanded to ask Yehovah for and He gives to those who ask.

Jas 1:5  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach, and it shall be given to him.

We hope you can invite those who want to keep Torah to come and join us by hitting the link below. It is almost like a Torah teaching fellowship talk show with people from around the world taking part and sharing their insights and understandings.

We start off with some music and then some prayers and it’s as though you were sitting around the kitchen back in Newfoundland having a cup of coffee and all of us enjoying each other’s company. I hope you will grace us with your company someday.

Sabbath July 3, 2021, will be at 1 PM Eastern for our afternoon service. 

We look forward to you joining our family and getting to know us as we get to know you.

Joseph Dumond is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Joseph Dumond’s Personal Meeting Room

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Septennial Torah Portion

If you go to Torah Portion at our archived section, you can then go to the 5th year which is the 5th year of the Sabbatical Cycle, the one we are in now, as we state at the top of every News Letter. There you can scroll down to July 3, 2021, and see that this Shabbat we could very well be midrashing about

Genesis 43

2 Samuel 15-16

Psalm 86-87

Luke 6

If you missed last week’s exciting discoveries as we studied that section you can go and watch past Shabbats on our media section.

 


 

49.6 Degree Celcius Tuesday…..IN CANADA!

I would like you to know and understand that it almost hit 50 degrees here in Canada this week. That is a temperature that we never see. It might be more common in Saudi Arabia, but it is never heard of in Canada. Yet this past Tuesday the town of Lytton hit that mark.

The other thing I have to point out is the anger here in Canada over the residential schools and the many unmarked graves being found. No one has been found guilty of anything. No autopsies have been done to determine the cause of death of any of the graves found. But rumours are rampant and guilty without a trial is being spread by the media and other sources.

EDMONTON — With another plot of unmarked graves found in British Columbia, and a Roman Catholic church burnt to the ground, Wednesday became one more in a series of dark days.

About 30 minutes outside Edmonton, in Morinville, Alta., residents watched in the early morning hours as a century-old Roman Catholic church’s steeple and roof collapsed, surrounded by flames in what Alberta Premier Jason Kenney labelled a potential “hate-crime.”

Several hours later, a site believed to contain some 182 sets of human remains in unmarked graves — the third such site revealed over the past month in this country — was flagged near the location of a former residential school in Cranbrook, B.C.

Both events come at a moment of tension in Canada where many are facing the realities of the residential school system that existed for most of the 20th century and which claimed the lives of at least 4,000 Indigenous children.

Even though speculation has been widespread, no official connection between a string of church burnings that have happened across Canada in recent days and the unmarked grave sites has been made.

But for Arthur Noskey, the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta grand chief, churches need protecting, and during a meeting Wednesday, he and other Indigenous leaders discussed having their members appointed as security to do so.

Their reasons for offering that security, however, are not simply about protecting buildings, Noskey suggested.

“These are potential evidence sites,” he told the Star. “We’ll be talking to our members directly and our elders as well.

“I know everybody’s hurting and the whole nation is in an uproar, but you know, for us, the truth is coming out.”

Treaty 8 covers the northern half of Alberta, as well as a swath of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and is comprised of 39 First Nations communities.

Sites of former residential schools — there were 25 in Alberta — also need to be protected, said Noskey.

There have been a series of church fires since the discovery of 215 unmarked graves near a former residential school in Kamloops in B.C. and another site where 751 unmarked graves were flagged on the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.

After RCMP said Wednesday that they are investigating the “suspicious” fire that levelled the St. Jean Baptiste church in Morinville, the Alberta premier said it appeared to be a hate-crime and called it “unacceptable.”

With the heatwave bubble over western Canada and North Western USA, the residential school rumours are heating up. Pun intended. Anger is growing and there could very well be more churches torched.

Then today as I go to post more news is coming from the same town that set the record high temperatures this week. Lytton British Columbia.

Residents of Lytton, British Columbia, the Canadian village which recorded the country’s highest ever temperature, 49.6C (121.3F), have been forced to flee by a wildfire. The mayor of Lytton, ordered people to evacuate, saying flames had spread through the village in just 15 minutes. A heatwave has hit western Canada this week, with British Columbia recording three times its usual number of deaths.

Deaths Spike as Heat Wave Broils Canada and the Pacific Northwest

Hyperthermia claimed nearly a dozen lives in one day in one Washington county. A small town in British Columbia set Canada’s heat record at just over 121 degrees Fahrenheit.

By Vjosa Isai, Dan Bilefsky and Shawn Hubler
Published June 30, 2021Updated July 1, 2021, 12:16 a.m. ET
Hundreds of deaths in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon have been linked to a heat wave that has roasted the Pacific Northwest for days and broken Canadian heat records, sending hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for relief.

Lisa Lapointe, British Columbia’s chief coroner, said 486 deaths had been reported there between Friday and Wednesday afternoon — a period in which about 165 deaths would normally be documented. Deaths were expected to increase, she said.

“While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to the extreme weather B.C. has experienced,” she said.

Oregon’s state medical examiner’s office on Wednesday attributed at least 63 deaths in five days to the punishing heat in that state, including 45 in Multnomah County, which includes Portland — where temperatures have reached a record 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

In Washington, officials reported nearly a dozen lives lost to hyperthermia on Wednesday alone in King County, which includes Seattle; two heat-related deaths were reported there the day before.

In Snohomish County, Wash., at least three people died this week from heatstroke, according to the medical examiner’s office, which added that investigations are pending into at least two more suspected heat-related deaths.

“This was a true health crisis that has underscored how deadly an extreme heat wave can be, especially to otherwise vulnerable people,” Dr. Jennifer Vines, the Multnomah County health officer, said in a statement. “I know many county residents were looking out for each other and am deeply saddened by this initial death toll.”

This year a study found that 37 percent of heat-related deaths could be linked to climate change. Global warming has raised baseline temperatures by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit on average since 1900, experts say.

“Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves,” said Kristie Ebi, a professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington. “When you look at this heat wave, it is so far outside the range of normal.”

Brethren you and I both know these events are not caused by climate change nor by Global Warming as they claim or would have you believe. These heatwaves and the results they cause are the results of mankind’s living. But not that we are putting carbons in the air. No, they are caused by our father Yehovah being angry with us and fed up with our rebellion and not obeying His laws. He is now punishing us and He is not yet done. He doing it now. Not going to do it. He is doing it now.

I want you to remember exactly what Yehovah warned us He was going to do.

Lev 26:18  And if you will not yet listen to Me for all this, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze.

Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits.

Lev 26:30  And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images, and throw your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols, and My soul shall despise you.

Lev 26:31  And I will make your cities waste and cause your sanctuaries to be deserted. And I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.

Lev 26:32  And I will turn the land into wasteland. And your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.

Lev 26:33  And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be waste, and your cities waste.

And while we are here there is this other section of Lev 26 to consider in relation to the world’s news.

Lev 26:23  And if you will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will still walk contrary to Me,

Lev 26:24  then I will walk contrary to you and will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Lev 26:25  And I will bring a sword on you that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant. And when you are gathered inside your cities, I will send the plague among you. And you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

Lev 26:26  When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied.

Lev 26:27  And if you will not for all of this listen to Me, but will walk contrary to Me,

Lev 26:28  then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

Lev 26:29  And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.

World Food Program warns of ‘biblical’ famine without action

June 30, 2021, 09:27 AM

‘Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen’ are close to famine already, body warns

The head of the UN’s World Food Program warned Wednesday there could be “unprecedented famine of biblical proportions” in dozens of countries without further action to address food shortages.

Speaking at a G20 event on humanitarian aid in Brindisi, Italy, WFP chief David Beasley said world leaders had stepped up last year with funds to help those already struggling when the coronavirus pandemic hit – but must now do so again.

“We thought Covid would be in our rearview mirror by the end of 2020, only to see it recycled, with Delta and other variants taking place,” he said, noting that poorer countries are paying a heavier price.

The WFP, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its work, is appealing for $6 billion to help 41 million people it says are on the edge of famine in 43 countries.

It says famine-like conditions already exist in Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudanand Yemen, while Nigeria and Burkina Faso are of particular concern.

“These are not just statistics, these are people with real names… literally on the brink of starvation,” Beasley told a joint press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

Failing to address these issue could lead to increased international instability and migration, he said.

Aid agencies say food shortages driven by conflict, climate change and economic shocks has been exacerbated by the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic.

 


 

You Be the Judge

This coming Tishri 1, 2021, just 5 weeks from now, will be the start of the Shmita year if you are following the Hillel Calendar. Those on the Hillel Calendar will be saying it is the year 5782. Again this all begins on the 1st day of Tishri.

Yehovah on the other hand says that the start of the year is the 1st of Aviv. The month when Passover is.

Exo 12:2  This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

And if you have been following us here at sightedmoon.com for any length of time at all, you will know this is the year 5857 as declared in each and every newsletter each week. It is the 5857th year since the creation of Adam. But we are not here this week to prove this or are we?

Now, when they believe the year is 5782, all they have to do is divide that number by 7 to see if it is a Shmita year. And viola, 7 goes into that number 826 times. And that is their proof for this year being the Shmita year. And now using this erroneous thinking they then come up with the idea of selling the land that they are farming to an Arab for a dollar.

Let me now share with you what Wiki Pedia has to say about the Shmita year and then I want you who are to judge angels to judge this matter. I am going to quote Wiki Pedia and you can decide what is truth and what is false. I will help a little.

Shevi’it

In halakha (Jewish law), produce of the Seventh Year that is subject to the laws of Shmita is called sheviit. Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:

  • It can only be consumed or used (in its ordinary use) for personal enjoyment
  • It cannot be bought, sold, or thrown out.
  • It must be used in its “best” manner so as to ensure fullest enjoyment (For example, fruits that are normally eaten whole cannot be juiced).
  • It can only be stored so long as naturally-growing plants of the given species can be eaten by animals in the fields. Once a particular species is no longer available in the field, one must rid ones house of it through a process known as biur.[24]

By biblical law, Jews who own land are required to make their land available during the Shmita to anyone who wishes to come in and harvest. If the land is fenced etc., gates must be left open to enable entrance. These rules apply to all outdoor agriculture, including private gardens and even outdoor potted plants. Plants inside a building are exempt. However, the rabbis of the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud imposed rabbinic ordinances on harvesters to ensure an orderly and equitable process and to prevent a few individuals from taking everything. Harvesters on others’ land are permitted to take only enough to feed themselves and their families.[24]

After growths

According to the Mosaic law, grains, fruits, legumes and vegetables are permitted to be eaten in the Seventh Year, yet must they be harvested in an irregular fashion, and only as much as a person might need for his sustenance, without the necessity of hoarding the fruits in granaries and storehouses.[30] It is not permitted to make merchandise of Seventh Year produce.[30][31]These restrictions are implied by the biblical verse, “You are not to reap the after growth of your harvest, nor gather the grapes of your untended vines” (Leviticus 25:5), and by the supportive verse, “In the Seventh Year you must let it (i.e. the ground) rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove” (Exodus 23:11). Grain cannot be harvested by using a sickle, nor can a man reap an entire field, or make use of beasts to separate the grain from the husks by treading.[30][31][32] Grapes that are on the vine can be taken, sufficient for his immediate needs, but they cannot be pressed in a winepress, but only in a small tub.[33]

When certain farmers began to secretly sow their fields during the Seventh Year and to harvest what they had planted, and to cover-up their action by saying that such produce was a mere after growth from last year’s planting, the Sages of Israel were compelled to enact restrictions on Seventh Year produce and to forbid all aftergrowths (Hebrew: ספיחין‎) of grain, legumes and those vegetables which are usually planted by mankind, in order to put an end to their deception.[34][32] Other rabbinic authorities prohibit only the aftergrowths of vegetables, but permit the aftergrowths of legumes and grain.[35] They permitted, however, to pick the fruits of trees that grow of themselves during the Seventh Year, for one’s immediate needs, and to gather such vegetables and herbs that are not normally planted by man, such as wild rue (Ruta chalepensis), either wild asparagus (Asparagus aphyllus) or amaranth (Amaranthus blitum var. silvestre), purslane (Portulaca oleracea), wild coriander (Coriandrum sativum), parsley growing alongside rivers (Apium graveolens), garden rocket growing in marshlands (Eruca sativa), sweet marjoram (Majorana syriaca), white-leaved savory (Micromeria fruticosa), and the like of such things.[34][36][37] Had any of these been kept watch over in the courtyard of a house, their aftergrowths would be forbidden to eat in the Seventh Year.[37] Rabbi Nathan ben Abraham permits the gathering of aftergrowths of mustard greens (Sinapsis alba) during the Seventh Year.[38]

An ancient practice in the Land of Israel was to permit the gathering of spring onions which grew of themselves during the Seventh Year, after the first rains had fallen upon them and sprouted.[39]

The laws governing Aftergrowths apply only to crops grown in the Land of Israel.[32]

Heter mechira

Proclamation of Chief Rabbi, Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Regarding The Importance of Shemitah Observance, and collecting for a communal fund to support those who observe shmita without compromise.

 

In the late 19th century, in the early days of Zionism, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor came up with a halakhic means of allowing agriculture to continue during the Shmita year. After ruling in favor of Minhag Yerushalayim, that the biblical prohibition consists of not cultivating the land owned by Jews (“your land”, Exodus 23:10), Rabbi Spektor devised a mechanism by which the land could be sold to a non-Jew for the duration of that year under a trust agreement. Under this plan, the land would belong to the non-Jew temporarily, and revert to Jewish ownership when the year was over. When the land was sold under such an arrangement, Jews could continue to farm it. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of British Mandate Palestine, allowed this principle, not as an ideal, but rather as a limited permit for individuals and times which are considered by Halacha of great need (“b’shas hadchak”), which became known as the heter mechira (lit. “sale permit”). Rabbi Kook explained in a lengthy responsum that the ideal is not to rely on the leniency of heter mechira, but rather to observe shmita according to all opinions. He noted that he himself did not rely on the leniency, it was intended only in a limited time of great need, for those unable to observe the shmita without the leniency.

The heter mechira was accepted by Modern Orthodox Judaism and is one of the classic examples of the Modern Orthodox approach toward adapting classical Jewish law to the modern world. However, this approach has not been universally accepted in the Orthodox community and has met with opposition, particularly from Haredi poskim (authorities of Jewish law).

In contemporary religious circles these rabbinic leniencies have received wide but not universal acceptance. In Israel, the Chief Rabbinate obtains permission from all farmers who wish to have their land sold. The land is then legally sold to a non-Jew for a large sum of money. The payment is made by a cheque post-dated to after the end of the Sabbatical year. When the cheque is returned or not honoured at the end of the year the land reverts to its original owners. Thus, the fields can be farmed with certain restrictions.

Although the Orthodox Union’s Kashrut Division accepts Minhag Yerushalayim and hence regards the produce of land owned by non-Jews as ordinary produce, it does not currently rely on the heter mechira because of doubts about whether the trust arrangement involved effects a valid transfer of ownership.[24]

Some Haredi farmers do not avail themselves of this leniency and seek other pursuits during the Shmita year.[22]

Storehouse of the rabbinical court

The ancient idea of an otzar beit din (storehouse of the rabbinical court) is mentioned in the Tosefta (Sheviit 8, 1). Under an otzar beit din, a community rabbinical court supervises harvesting by hiring workers to harvest, store, and distribute food to the community. Members of the community pay the beth din, but this payment represents only a contribution for services, and not a purchase or sale of the food. This Talmudic device was revived in modern times as an alternative to the heter mechira.[24]

Because under this approach land cannot be sown but existing plants can be tended and harvested, the approach is applied to orchards, vineyards, and other perennial crops. A beit din, or rabbinical court supervising the process, hires farmers as its agents to tend and harvest the crops, and appoints the usual distributors and shopkeepers as its agents to distribute them. Individual consumers appoint the court and its designees as their agents and pay monies to court-appointed designees as agents of the court. Thus, under this approach, a legal arrangement is created whereby the crops themselves are never bought or sold, but rather people are merely paid for their labor and expenses in providing certain services. In modern Israel, the badatz is notable for adapting and supervising such arrangements.

The Orthodox Union notes that “to some, the modern-day otzar might seem to be nothing more than a legal sleight of hand. All the regular players are still in place, and distribution rolls along as usual. However, in reality, it is identical only in appearance as prices are controlled, and may correspond only to expenses, with no profit allowed. In addition, the otzar beit din does not own the produce. Since it is simply a mechanism for open distribution, any individual is still entitled to collect produce from a field or orchard on his own. Furthermore, all agents of the beit din are appointed only if they commit to distributing the produce in accordance with the restrictions that result from its sanctity.”[24]

Biur

Under the rules of the Shmita, produce with Sabbatical sanctity (shevi’it) can only be stored as long as plants of the same species (e.g. plants sprouting by themselves) are available to animals in the fields. Once a species is no longer available in the land, halakha requires that it be removed, made ownerless, and made available to anyone who wishes to take it through a procedure called biur.

The Orthodox Union describes the contemporary application of the rules of biur as follows:

On the appointed day, one must remove all the relevant produce, and all products containing such produce, from his home and take it to a public area such as a sidewalk. Once there, the individual declares the produce in front of three people who do not live with him. He then waits to give the witnesses a chance to claim the produce. Once they have taken what they want, he is permitted to reclaim whatever remains. It is permissible to choose three people whom one knows will not claim the produce for themselves, even though they are legally entitled to.[24]

Thus, while the obligation of making one’s produce available to the public and permitted to all takers can be performed in such a way as to minimize the risk that this availability will actually be utilized, this risk cannot be entirely eliminated. The community at large, including members of the poor, must be afforded some opportunity to take the produce.

Biur only applies to produce that has shevi’it sanctity. For this reason, it does not apply to produce grown under the heter mechira for those who accept it. (Under the reasoning of the heter mechira the shmita does not apply to land owned by non-Jews, so its produce does not have shevi’it sanctity.)[24]

Here are the things said that I highlighted and want you to judge.

  1. Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:
  2. imposed rabbinic ordinances on harvesters to ensure an orderly and equitable process and to prevent a few individuals from taking everything. Harvesters on others’ land are permitted to take only enough to feed themselves and their families.
  3. Grain cannot be harvested by using a sickle, nor can a man reap an entire field, or make use of beasts to separate the grain from the husks by treading.[30][31][32] Grapes that are on the vine can be taken, sufficient for his immediate needs, but they cannot be pressed in a winepress, but only in a small tub.[33]
  4. When certain farmers began to secretly sow their fields during the Seventh Year and to harvest what they had planted, and to cover-up their action by saying that such produce was a mere after growth from last year’s planting, the Sages of Israel were compelled to enact restrictions on Seventh Year produce and to forbid all aftergrowths (Hebrew: ספיחין‎) of grain, legumes and those vegetables which are usually planted by mankind, in order to put an end to their deception.
  5. Had any of these been kept watch over in the courtyard of a house, their aftergrowths would be forbidden to eat in the Seventh Year.[
  6. The laws governing Aftergrowths apply only to crops grown in the Land of Israel.[32]
  7. Regarding The Importance of Shemitah Observance, and collecting for a communal fund to support those who observe shmita without compromise.
  8. Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor came up with a halakhic means of allowing agriculture to continue during the Shmita year. After ruling in favor of Minhag Yerushalayim, that the biblical prohibition consists of not cultivating the land owned by Jews (“your land”, Exodus 23:10), Rabbi Spektor devised a mechanism by which the land could be sold to a non-Jew for the duration of that year under a trust agreement. Under this plan, the land would belong to the non-Jew temporarily, and revert to Jewish ownership when the year was over. When the land was sold under such an arrangement, Jews could continue to farm it.
  9. Under an otzar beit din, a community rabbinical court supervises harvesting by hiring workers to harvest, store, and distribute food to the community. Members of the community pay the beth din, but this payment represents only a contribution for services, and not a purchase or sale of the food. Because under this approach land cannot be sown but existing plants can be tended and harvested, the approach is applied to orchards, vineyards, and other perennial crops. A beit din, or rabbinical court supervising the process, hires farmers as its agents to tend and harvest the crops, and appoints the usual distributors and shopkeepers as its agents to distribute them. Individual consumers appoint the court and its designees as their agents and pay monies to court-appointed designees as agents of the court. Thus, under this approach, a legal arrangement is created whereby the crops themselves are never bought or sold, but rather people are merely paid for their labor and expenses in providing certain services.
  10. Under the rules of the Shmita, produce with Sabbatical sanctity (shevi’it) can only be stored as long as plants of the same species (e.g. plants sprouting by themselves) are available to animals in the fields. Once a species is no longer available in the land, halakha requires that it be removed, made ownerless, and made available to anyone who wishes to take it through a procedure called biur.

Now, you, who are to judge Angels, I call upon you to judge in this matter. Should Yehovah bless Israel for their efforts in keeping His laws or allow the curses to fall upon them for not obeying HIs laws?

I would like each of you to write a short judgment as to why each of the sections I have numbered 1-10 are legal or illegal. And you are to back it up with chapter and verse. You are going to have to judge and some of these are very cunning and can suck you in before you even know you are being deceived.

And I will make this number 11. What are the scriptures that prove the Shmita years are only to be kept in the Lond of Israel, and or what are the scriptures that prove they are to be kept in all the world?

You have these 11 judgments to make. Please post your rulings in the comments section below.

 

13 Comments

  1. Jenny

    Gen 1:26 God gave man dominion over a the earth..

    Exodus 19:5 IF you will obey My voice and keep My covenant THEN you will be a peculiar treasure unto Me….for ALL the earth is MINE.
    He made all the land = ALL the land is His; He has given man dominion over the land so how we use the land or choose to rest the land is on us ourselves. IF we follow His ways we are His peculiar treasure… obedience is blessed. If we choose not to do His ways we earn the curse. Since ALL the land is His ALL the rules apply to ALL the land!!!..this is my quick answer to all 11 …done! 🙂

    Reply
    • James Relf

      Thank you Jenny You have given a quick answer for Number 11 with just two scriptural references. Some would argue those. Do you have other scriptures to support what you are saying?
      And are you able to address the other 10 questions?

      Reply
    • Anton Z De Asis

      In the Philippines, that practice is called Community Pantry. Because the activity is mostly done in urban areas, everything given off was from mostly anonymous donors, who probably bought them.

      Reply
  2. Glenn Caron

    No Planting , No pruning , NO harvesting . Most of the rabbis rules mentioned harvesting . They need to define harvesting …. gathering up large quantities and storing up for another time is PROHIBITED. Planting DURING shmitta is prohibited why would anyone plant before shmitta for a shmitta gathering that you cannot HARVEST!Thats a good way to lose a lot of expenses and labor that way. No pruning of the trees that are perennial like Figs, grapes etc. must let the animals and people take of as they USE them … NO harvesting ! . …..
    Lev 25:3  You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. 
    Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for Jehovah. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. 
    Lev 25:5  You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land. 
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your servant, and for your slave woman and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who stays with you, 
    Lev 25:7  and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.
     
    Exo_12:49  There shall be one law to the native, and to the visitor that stays among you.

    Lev_25:18  And you shall do My statutes, and keep My judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land in safety.
    God did not mention which LAND but can be understood as ANY land where you reside and you live. Its about YOU and where you go and live and YOU must do the Torah which the Shmitta is part of to complete it as written above.
    Generally, when God instructs Israel through Moses to do certain things regarding the Shmitta “when you come into the land” is a reference of a TIME to come and not referencing that the statutes only apply IN the LAND you are going into but that when YOU GO into the land it will be a Shmitta year to keep the Sabbatical year according to the instructions s THEY were going into the land just before he spoke these words so that NOW in context makes sense, for if read any other way , it would be OK to whore our daughters , steal , kill etc and NOT listen and do the Torah . Now that does not make sense, so the former applies. I almost stopped reading this Rabbis Wikipedia explanation when I saw the Harvest was allowed. How is it that these LEARNED rabbis don’t read ? or is it in a language they cannot understand ? I don’t get it when the world reads all the same thing and comes up with all these justifications. Oh, its the world , OF COURSE! . “Come out of her, My people” !

    Reply
  3. Pauline

    Q #1. Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:

    Shevi’it
    In halakha (Jewish law), produce of the Seventh Year that is subject to the laws of Shmita is called sheviit.
    Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:
    * It can only be consumed or used (in its ordinary use) for personal enjoyment
    * It cannot be bought, sold, or thrown out.
    * It must be used in its “best” manner so as to ensure fullest enjoyment (For example, fruits that are normally eaten whole cannot be juiced).
    * It can only be stored so long as naturally-growing plants of the given species can be eaten by animals in the fields. Once a particular species is no longer available in the field, one must rid ones house of it through a process known as biur.[24]

    Scriptures concerning the land rest:

    Exo 23:10  And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
    Exo 23:11  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

    The Sabbath Year
    Lev 25:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
    Lev 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
    Lev 25:3  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
    Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    Keyword definitions:

    Seventh
    H7637   (Strong)
    ‎שְׁבִעִי    שְׁבִיעִי
    shebı̂y‛ı̂y    shebi‛ı̂y
    sheb-ee-ee’, sheb-ee-ee’
    Ordinal from H7657; seventh: – seventh (time).
    Total KJV occurrences: 98

    Year
    H8141   (Strong)
    ‎שָׁנָה    שָׁנֶה
    shâneh    shânâh
    shaw-neh’, shaw-naw’
    (The first form being in plural only, the second form being feminine); from H8138; a year (as a revolution of time): –    + whole age, X long, + old, year (X -ly).
    Total KJV occurrences: 812

    Sabbath

    H7676   (Strong)
    ‎שַׁבָּת
    shabbâth
    shab-bawth’
    Intensive from H7673; intermission, that is, (specifically) the Sabbath: –  (+ every) sabbath.
    Total KJV occurrences: 111

    Rest

    H7677   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎שׁבּתון
    shabbâthôn
    BDB Definition:
    1) Sabbath observance, sabbatism
    1a) of weekly sabbath
    1b) day of atonement
    1c) sabbatical year
    1d) of Feast of Trumpets
    1e) of the 1st and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles
    Part of Speech: noun masculine
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H7676

    Rest defined in Strong’s “special holiday”
    H7677   (Strong)
    ‎שַׁבָּתוֹן
    shabbâthôn
    shab-baw-thone’
    From H7676; a sabbatism or special holiday: – rest, sabbath.
    Total KJV occurrences: 11

    JUDGEMENT 1

    Lev 25:4 tells us the Shemitah year is a “Shabbat Shabbathon”. It is a “special holiday of rest unto the land” “a sabbath for Yehovah”

    Lev 25:4  But in the seventh H7637  year H8141  shall be H1961  a sabbath H7676  of rest H7677  unto the land, H776  a sabbath H7676  for the LORD: H3068  thou shalt neither H3808  sow H2232  thy field, H7704  nor H3808  prune H2168  thy vineyard. H3754 

    We were not able to find reference to the word “Shevi’it” in scripture pertaining to sanctity of the produce yielded during the Schemitah requiring special rules for its use. Therefore the idea of “Shevi’it” is illegal. “Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you”. There is no scripture requirement regarding how the food is to be prepared, cooked or at what stage it may or may not be eaten. There is also no rule regarding disposal of rotting produce, except that only what is required should be taken/plucked for the need of the person/s picking it, that is, it should not harvested in its entirety by one person/family or hired workers.

    The pertinent rules:

    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    Q #2. Imposed rabbinic ordinances on harvesters to ensure an orderly and equitable process and to prevent a few individuals from taking everything. Harvesters on others’ land are permitted to take only enough to feed themselves and their families.

    JUDGEMENT 2

    There should be no hired harvesters working the land. Those who take/pluck/harvest for their own use should do so in a manner that is not considered ‘harvesting a field’ e.g. they should not be guilty of ‘harvesting’ the full crop. They should only take what is required for their own need; leaving some for others to also gather for their needs or for animals who might come to also eat. Those harvesting can return the next day and gather again according to their need. Also of note is that those ‘harvesting’ should not do so in a manner that it might be considered ‘work’. This is a period of ‘rest’ for the land AND for the ‘harvester’. Only taking what is required for personal/family use is not the same as clearing a whole tree or field aka ‘work’.

    The pertinent rules:

    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.


    The word ‘yom’ in Brown Driver Briggs is defined as: 1) “day, time, year”, 1e) “year”, 1d) “time, period (general)”. Therefore Exo 20:10 is pertinent to this judgement.

    H3117   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎יום
    yôm
    BDB Definition:
    1) day, time, year
    1a) day (as opposed to night)
    1b) day (24 hour period)
    1b1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
    1b2) as a division of time
    1b2a) a working day, a day’s journey
    1c) days, lifetime (plural)
    1d) time, period (general)
    1e) year
    1f) temporal references
    1f1) today
    1f2) yesterday
    1f3) tomorrow
    Part of Speech: noun masculine
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to be hot

    Q #3. Grain cannot be harvested by using a sickle, nor can a man reap an entire field, or make use of beasts to separate the grain from the husks by treading.[30][31][32] Grapes that are on the vine can be taken, sufficient for his immediate needs, but they cannot be pressed in a winepress, but only in a small tub.[33]

    JUDGEMENT 3

    There is no mention in the Biblical instructions regarding ‘how’ to harvest during the Land Rest. If a sickle or blade is required to cut the fruit or grain, then that is ok. If a person has harvested so much grain that it requires a beast to ‘separate grain from husk’ they should question if they have harvested too much from the field.

    Regarding grapes. They should not be harvested, nor tended during the land rest. They are set-apart for the land rest and should be left to grown unattended. Only pluck for the purpose of eating that day.

    Exodus 23:11   But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.

    Lev 25:5 reads: ( H853 ) That which groweth of its own accord H5599  of thy harvest H7105  thou shalt not H3808  reap, H7114  neither H3808  gather H1219  the grapes H6025  of thy vine undressed: H5139  for it is H1961  a year H8141  of rest H7677  unto the land. H776 

    Reap
    H7114   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎קצר
    qâtsar
    BDB Definition:
    1) to be short, be impatient, be vexed, be grieved
    1a) (Qal) to be short
    1b) (Piel) to shorten
    1c) (Hiphil) to shorten
    2) to reap, harvest
    2a) (Qal) to reap, harvest
    2b) (Hiphil) to reap, harvest
    Part of Speech: verb
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

    Gather
    H1219   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎בּצר
    bâtsar
    BDB Definition:
    1) to gather, restrain, fence, fortify, make inaccessible, enclose
    1a) (Qal)
    1a1) to cut off
    1a2) fortified, cut off, made inaccessible (passive participle)
    1a3) secrets, mysteries, inaccessible things (substantive)
    1b) (Niphal) to be withheld
    1c) (Piel) to fortify
    Part of Speech: verb
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: a primitive root

    undressed
    H5139   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎נזר / נזיר
    nâzı̂yr / nâzir
    BDB Definition:
    1) consecrated or devoted one, Nazarite
    1a) consecrated one
    1b) devotee, Nazarite
    1c) untrimmed (vine)
    Part of Speech: noun masculine
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H5144

    Regarding how to press the grapes during the time of the land rest:
    There is no mention that grapes ‘cannot be pressed in a winepress, but only in a small tub’. But should a large winepress be required then one should consider that they have harvested too many grapes and thereby broken the shemitah.

    Q #4. When certain farmers began to secretly sow their fields during the Seventh Year and to harvest what they had planted, and to cover-up their action by saying that such produce was a mere after growth from last year’s planting, the Sages of Israel were compelled to enact restrictions on Seventh Year produce and to forbid all after growths (Hebrew: ספיחין‎) of grain, legumes and those vegetables which are usually planted by mankind, in order to put an end to their deception.

    JUDGEMENT 4
    
a. When certain farmers began to secretly sow their fields during the Seventh Year …

    Exo 23:10  And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
    Exo 23:11  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
    and…
Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

    Any secret sowing or planting would break the land rest.

    b. “and to harvest what they had planted”, “saying that such produce was a mere after growth from last year’s planting”, “the Sages of Israel were compelled to enact restrictions on Seventh Year produce and to forbid all after growths”

    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    After growths should not be forbidden. All volunteer growth should be left to grow and left for the poor and animals to eat from.

    Q #5. Had any of these been kept watch over in the courtyard of a house their after growths would be forbidden to eat in the Seventh Year.

    JUDGEMENT 5

    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

Torah does not forbid the eating of plant fruits/vegetables grown in pots in courtyards, kitchens or indoors. Torah forbids planting, sowing and harvesting in your field. There is no mention of containers or pots. I’m unsure if sowing micro greens in containers is forbidden… but the harvesting of such sowing would fall under ‘do not harvest’ so perhaps the sowing of micro greens would also be forbidden.
    This subject requires further investigation.


    Q #6. The laws governing after growths apply only to crops grown in the Land of Israel.[32]

    JUDGEMENT 6

    There are many passages that tell us the whole earth belongs to Yehovah.

    Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Deuteronomy 10:14  Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

    Job 41:11  Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

    Psalms 24:1  A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

    Psalms 50:11  know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

    1 Corinthians 10:26  For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

    1 Corinthians 10:28  But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:


    Q #7. Regarding The Importance of Shemitah Observance, and collecting for a communal fund to support those who observe shemitah without compromise.

    JUDGEMENT 7
    
The who observe shemitah without compromise are those who prepared in the 6th year by planing, planting, harvesting and storing during the 6th year.

    Lev 25:20  And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
    Lev 25:21  Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.


    Q #8. Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor came up with a halakhic means of allowing agriculture to continue during the Shmita year. After ruling in favor of Minhag Yerushalayim, that the Biblical prohibition consists of not cultivating the land owned by Jews (“your land”, Exodus 23:10), Rabbi Spektor devised a mechanism by which the land could be sold to a non-Jew for the duration of that year under a trust agreement. Under this plan, the land would belong to the non-Jew temporarily, and revert to Jewish ownership when the year was over. When the land was sold under such an arrangement, Jews could continue to farm it.

    JUDGEMENT 8

    There are no rules in Scripture about temporarily selling your land to a non-believer so that you can plant, sow and harvest while it’s under a non-believer’s ownership. The Scripture instruction is for everyone, everywhere; there are no exceptions.

    Lev 25:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
    Lev 25:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
    Lev 25:3  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
    Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    For the whole earth is Yehovah’s …

    Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Deuteronomy 10:14  Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

    Job 41:11  Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

    Psalms 24:1  A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

    Psalms 50:11  know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

    1 Corinthians 10:26  For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

    1 Corinthians 10:28  But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:

    Q #9. Under an otzar beit din, a community rabbinical court supervises harvesting by hiring workers to harvest, store, and distribute food to the community. Members of the community pay the beth din, but this payment represents only a contribution for services, and not a purchase or sale of the food. Because under this approach land cannot be sown but existing plants can be tended and harvested, the approach is applied to orchards, vineyards, and other perennial crops. A beit din, or rabbinical court supervising the process, hires farmers as its agents to tend and harvest the crops, and appoints the usual distributors and shopkeepers as its agents to distribute them. Individual consumers appoint the court and its designees as their agents and pay monies to court-appointed designees as agents of the court. Thus, under this approach, a legal arrangement is created whereby the crops themselves are never bought or sold, but rather people are merely paid for their labor and expenses in providing certain services.

    JUDGEMENT 9
    
a. “…supervises harvesting by hiring workers to harvest, store, and distribute food to the community”

Isa 26:2  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

    Exo 31:13  Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
    Exo 31:14  Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people

    Exo 23:11  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.

    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    NOTE: If the poor of the land cannot travel themselves to the gardens or farms to glean for themselves, rather than employ ‘harvester’, ‘delivery services’ and ‘shops’ to distribute the food it would be perhaps better to provide buses/transport to take the poor and needy to the gardens and farms and to facilitate their obedience to Exo 23:11 rather than usurping and controlling the situation.

    b. Because under this approach land cannot be sown but existing plants can be tended and harvested, the approach is applied to orchards, vineyards, and other perennial crops.

    Lev 25:3  Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
    Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
    Lev 25:5  That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

Existing plants can not be tended or harvested. That would break the land rest commandments.

    Q #10. Under the rules of the Shmita, produce with Sabbatical sanctity (shevi’it) can only be stored as long as plants of the same species (e.g. plants sprouting by themselves) are available to animals in the fields. Once a species is no longer available in the land, halakha requires that it be removed, made ownerless, and made available to anyone who wishes to take it through a procedure called biur.

    JUDGEMENT 10

    Preparation for the land rest should be done in the sixth year. All planting, sowing, harvesting and storage should take place in the sixth year. Not in the seventh. Storage of harvested/gleaned fruit, grains and/or vegetables in the seventh year would break the land rest commandments.

    Lev 25:21  Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

    Exo 23:11  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy olive yard.

    Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
    Lev 25:7  And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

    Q #11. What are the scriptures that prove the Shemitah years are only to be kept in the Land of Israel, and or what are the scriptures that prove they are to be kept in all the world?

    JUDGEMENT 11

    Lev 23:3  Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

    See the definition of ‘day’ below from Brown Driver Briggs.

    Definition of ‘dwelling’

    H4186   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎משׁב / מושׁב
    môshâb /
    BDB Definition:
    1) seat, assembly, dwelling-place, dwelling, dwellers
    1a) seat, sitting, those sitting, sitting company or assembly
    1b) dwelling place, dwelling
    1c) situation, location
    1d) time of dwelling
    1e) those dwelling, dweller
    Part of Speech: noun masculine
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H3427; a seat

    And from the same chapter as the Land Rest instructions we find concerning “Redemption of Property” in verse 24…
    
Lev 25:23  The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
    Lev 25:24  And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

    Concerning the Sabbath the word for ‘day’ is ‘yom’…

    Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
    Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

    The word ‘yom’ in Brown Driver Briggs is defined as: 1) “day, time, year”, 1e) “year”, 1d) “time, period (general)”

    H3117   (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
    ‎יום
    yôm
    BDB Definition:
    1) day, time, year
    1a) day (as opposed to night)
    1b) day (24 hour period)
    1b1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
    1b2) as a division of time
    1b2a) a working day, a day’s journey
    1c) days, lifetime (plural)
    1d) time, period (general)
    1e) year
    1f) temporal references
    1f1) today
    1f2) yesterday
    1f3) tomorrow
    Part of Speech: noun masculine
    A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from an unused root meaning to be hot

    Furthermore the period of rest is for you, your family, your hire staff, home help, cattle and the stranger within your gates.

    Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

    There should be no ‘hired help’ working your land to pick any type of harvest. Instead your gates should be left open so the poor, needy and animals can feed on the food. The plants should be left untended to grow, to bear fruit, to die down and reseed on their own without interference from the land owner. This is to happen all over the world in every country…

    Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

Deuteronomy 10:14  Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

    Job 41:11  Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

    Psalms 24:1  A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

    Psalms 50:11  know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

    1 Corinthians 10:26  For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.

    1 Corinthians 10:28  But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof:


    Reply
    • James Relf

      Concerning judgment #4, the man broke the Sabbatical year. And He lied about doing it. I would look to the man picking up sticks on the Sabbath which is the same as a Sabbatical year. And I would impose the same penalty upon the perpetrator breaking the Sabbatical year wilfully. He should be stoned to death. And after that, another tzit tzit would be worn to remind us of this commandment.

      Reply
    • James Relf

      I would lean the answer in #5 with the same answer you gave in #7. If you prepare for the Shmita year as you are commanded in the 6th year, then there would be no need for hydroponic grow operations. Stop thinking about the food aspect here for a moment or a year. What is the spiritual lesson being taught? What lessons are you to learn as you prepare for the Sabbath by storing up food on the 6th day? Did you shop on the Sabbath Day? Did you cook a huge meal on the Sabbath Day? Was the food prepared on the 6th day and then just warmed up or dished out on the Sabbath. Is it more of a fend for yourself on the Sabbath by getting up and going to the fridge and making a Sandwich?
      If you know how to prepare for the weekly Sabbath each week, then you will understand the more spiritual meaning of keeping the Shmita year and letting the land rest. You will have prepared for it the year before.

      Reply
    • James Relf

      Well done Pauline. Very well done. I am honoured to see this effort put forward by yourself and others.

      Let me remind you all of the scriptures for #11.

      If the Shmita is only for the land of Israel because it says when you come into the land and then begins to talk about the Sabbatical years.
      Lev 25:2 Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to Jehovah.

      If that is your argument and justification for not keeping the Sabbatical Years then you could also make the case that only the laws stated before verse 23 were applicable to all of us and those after verse 23 were only for those in the land of Israel

      Lev 19:23 And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit of them as uncircumcised. It shall be uncircumcised three years to you. It shall not be eaten.
      Lev 19:24 But in the fourth year all the fruit of them shall be holy to praise Jehovah.
      Lev 19:25 And in the fifth year you shall eat of the fruit of it, so that it may yield to you its increase. I am Jehovah your God.
      Lev 19:26 You shall not eat anything with the blood. You shall not divine, nor conjure spirits.
      Lev 19:27 You shall not round the side of your head, nor mar the edge of your beard.
      Lev 19:28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks on you. I am Jehovah.
      Lev 19:29 You shall not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a whore, lest the land go whoring, and the land become full of wickedness.
      Lev 19:30 You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am Jehovah.
      Lev 19:31 You shall not turn to mediums, and you shall not seek to spirit-knowers to be defiled by them. I am Jehovah your God.
      Lev 19:32 You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of the old man, and fear your God. I am Jehovah.
      Lev 19:33 And if a stranger lives with you in your land, you shall not oppress him.
      Lev 19:34 The stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
      Lev 19:35 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures and weights, or in quantity.
      Lev 19:36 You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
      Lev 19:37 And you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and do them. I am Jehovah.

      Those who argue that Sabbatical and Jubilee year rests are only for when you are in the Land of Israel then must also agree that prostitution of your daughters only applies to when you are in the Land of Israel and that because we are not in the land, we can legally prostitute your daughters.
      YOu could use the same argument to justify tattoos, eating of blood, and marring your beards for the dead.

      Again using that same illogical argument you could say that when you come into the land you are to keep the Sabbath as it does in verse 30. So outside the land, we do not need to keep it. But then in Lev 19:3, we are told to keep it. Oh, this is getting so confusing. And we know Yehovah is not the god of confusion, Satan is.

      So who is inspiring the brethren not to keep the Sabbatical Year when they are not in the land of Israel, Satan is. There is one law for the stranger and the Israelites. One Law. If you say the Sabbatical Year laws are only for the land of Israel you are working on behalf of Satan and spreading confusion. And if you think you are absolutely correct in this then we expect to also see you prostituting your daughters who are outside the land.

      This is precisely why we see all the curses of Lev 26 happening around the world and not just upon the nations of Israel alone. The Whole World has sinned and is guilty of not keeping the laws Yehovah has set out for all mankind. Not just the jews or Israel, but all mankind.

      Reply
  4. Pauline

    I agree with Glenn Caron and should have thought to add

    “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”  (Exo 12:49)

    Num 15:15  One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.
    Num 15:16  One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

    Reply
  5. Pamela Perrine

    I so appreciate everyone’s comments….what a great way to teach ourselves to discern properly! Thanks for this idea, Joe. I’m going to go the succinct route (for once, lol) and just say this b/c the majority of it has already been detailed –

    YHVH gives clear instructions on how to properly shamar/guard His commanded Sabbitcal and Jubilee years in Lev 25:1-7 and 18-22, Lev 26:34,35; Lev 26:2 says that Israel will have food aplenty and peace and safety IF they shamar His sabbaths PLURAL! All of them! Ex 23:11, Neh 10:31 and Prov 13:23 say it is for the poor and livestock.

    Lev 26:46 says His commands are between He and the CHILDREN of Israel, not the rabbinate or unions. Each person is directly responsible to Him!

    Ex 12:49, Num 15:15-16, 29 Lev 24:22, Gal 3:28 – there is ONE law for all, native born Israel and all those who join themselves to the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Which means that selling the land to anyone else does not negate the laws regarding the sowing/harvesting/processing of the produce.

    That alone blasts the idea that it’s okay to sell to someone in order to continue to work the land!

    Deut 4:2. Do NOT add to nor take away from Torah! That’s like saying that the One who created the universe in all its beauty and diversity didn’t do a good enough job and needs our help getting things done correctly. He doesn’t need us – or our ideas on how to get around His instructions!

    Reply
  6. Ella H Morgan

    I will only focus on what we are called to do or not do:
    Lev 25
    1) You do not plant
    2) You do not harvest
    3) What grows of its own can be eaten by you or anyone, including the wild animals
    4) We are to stock up on food to last into the following year when the new crops come in
    Deut 15:1-9
    5) You are to forgive the debts of those who owe you money or who have sinned against you
    6) You are to free those who have become your slaves

    Deut 31:9
    7) Read the entire Torah during the Feast of Tabernacles in the hearing of the whole assembly

    I feel the rest are rabbinic in order to put fences around what can and should be done, assuming people will not follow the simple instructions.
    For #11 As I understand where the “lost tribes” migrated to, I understand and believe that I am a part of Israel and wherever I stand, I stand as a part of Israel.
    Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon(all) the earth.
    Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.( a number innumberable could not fit in the physical land of Israel with the boundaries as we know them.)
    Hosea 1:10 Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God. (wherever we stand and live, we are a part of Yehovah’s chosen people and should obey his rules and regulations, obtaining his blessings for obedience).

    Reply
  7. Lori-Dawn

    I used Lev 25 as the basis for my judgements.
    1. illegal. I would say that the Rabbinic rules are hardship rules making the yoke hard to bear. Lev 25:3-7
    2. illegal. It is food for you, your servants, your hired laborers (the poor who are working to pay off debts), foreign guests who dwell with you, your animals as well as the wild animals. Lev 25:39-40
    3. illegal. It doesn’t matter how you gather, eat or cook the food, but it shouldn’t be in such large quantities that you are storing it away instead of eating it that day. Lev 25:6
    4. illegal. Those farmers should have been disciplined according to the Sabbath laws and put to death. Ex 31:15
    5. illegal. See explanation for #1.
    6. illegal. I’m grafted in and so I keep the laws to the best of my ability regardless of where I live. I could cheat and use some of the other answers people have given, but I won’t. I didn’t come up with a verse for my reasoning here. I just know it’s right, deep in my co
    7. illegal. If proper preparations were made in the 6th yr then no communal provisions are needed for the 7th. Lev 25:21
    8. illegal. This is a stupid legal loophole that only those who have no integrity or faith would use. Lev 25:2-4, Lev 25:21
    9. illegal. Lev 25:2-4, Lev 25:21
    10. illegal. It doesn’t matter when things are ripe and harvestable….you should have things stored up from the previous year. Lev 25:21
    11. I didn’t have any verses for this. I know. I need to study more.
    I love what everyone else has written!!

    Reply
  8. Rece Krein

    July 4, 2021

    Dear Joe,

    I felt led to write you this brief missive. Over the last couple years or so I have spent considerable time reading your material and watching your videos. In a humble way you have laid out what you consider to be your evidence, nonetheless after—what you believe to have been a fulfillment that your 2020 prediction came true, I noticed a marked change in your attitude and level of pride.

    When I was a boy back in the 60’s a Christian minister from India laid out this convincing argument that Yeshua was soon going to return and He wanted His people to congregate in India. Numerous families from our church sold everything they had and moved their entire families to India where they gave all of their money to this minister for the betterment of the commune. (Obviously, if Yeshua was returning soon what was the purpose of hanging onto their money?)

    Well of course we know that Yeshua did not return in the 60’s and soon this minister became authoritarian and would not let people leave. Of course none of them had any money so they were trapped there. Eventually their plight reached Canada where we had to raise money to help these families escape.

    Of course we have seen this same situation repeat itself with people like Jim Jones and David Koresh. Is your name also going to be added to these cultist leaders?

    You state if anyone tries to tell you that the current pandemic or heat wave is not Yehovah’s judgment on the earth you immediately delete it.

    That’s fine you can believe whatever you like but it does not make you right. The Spanish flu was by far more destructive than Covid, as was also the Black Plague. There have been numerous incidents of heat waves over the centuries. This is how records are set.

    Proverbs tells us that there is safety in numerous councilors, however it appears to me that you have become your own councilor.

    I leave you with this quote: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”― Aristotle, Metaphysics.

    Shalom,
    Rece Krein

    Reply

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