(Photo By: Ben’s Farm)
By: Abigail Klein Leichman - August 26, 2021
Starting the second week of September, Israeli organic farmer Ben Rosenberg will stop planting in the field. He will grow his veggies in raised containers inside fabric-covered hothouses until next September.
The hothouse setup was expensive, and he will only be able to grow about half the usual 40 seasonal varieties he raises in the field during a normal year.
But it’s not going to be a normal year. The year 5782 on the Jewish calendar – starting at sundown on September 6 – is a sabbatical year for the land.
According to the Bible, every seventh year in the Land of Israel is a shmita (“release”) when debts are canceled and fields lie fallow and ownerless.
Promoting growth through most forms of plowing, planting and pruning is forbidden, as are the usual methods of reaping and harvesting.
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