Eating the Produce Without Causing Loss
דרך אכילת הפירות שלא להפסידם
Regarding shevi’it produce it is stated (Vayikra 25:6-7): “But you may eat whatever the land during its Sabbath will produce – you, your male and female slaves, the hired and bound laborers who live with you, and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield.” And it is also stated (Shemot 23:11): “But in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves.” We learn that shevi’it produce must be made ownerless for all, and that there is no obligation to eat shevi’it produce, since it may be left in the fields for the animals and birds. But if a person wishes to use it, he must take care to use it in the manner appropriate for it, as it is stated, “The land during its Sabbath will produce for you to eat,” which the Sages expounded (Pesaḥim 52b): “to eat” and not to waste. This is the meaning of the term “holiness” used regarding shevi’it produce: it is sanctified and designated for eating in the manner appropriate for it, and not for waste. Therefore, produce fit for human consumption may not be fed to animals, since this is a loss for the produce, as human food is more valuable and important than animal food (Rambam 5:5).
In order not to cause a loss to shevi’it produce, one must eat it in the accepted manner. Therefore, one should not cook something that is normally eaten raw, such as watermelon, banana, and avocado. Nor should one eat raw something that is normally eaten cooked, such as rice and lentils (Rambam 5:3). A fruit that is normally eaten mashed, such as potatoes and bananas, may be mashed. But if only a negligible minority does so, it is forbidden to mash it, since mashing it is considered a loss compared to what is accepted. If one erred and mashed it, he should eat it mashed, so as not to lose it entirely.
A fruit that people normally squeeze in order to drink its juice may be squeezed. One should try to squeeze the entire fruit as much as possible, but according to the letter of the law one may squeeze it in the way people usually do in all years, even though a little of the fruit remains that will not be eaten (the next halakha will explain how to treat what remains). But a fruit that people do not normally squeeze for its juice may not be squeezed. Even when a negligible minority is accustomed to squeezing it, the prohibition remains in place, because by squeezing it one loses it from its normal use. If one erred and squeezed it, he should drink the juice, so as not to lose it entirely (Mishpat Kohen 85).
In the past, only a fruit that many people were accustomed to squeezing in order to drink its juice could be squeezed during shevi’it, but a fruit that only a minority was accustomed to squeezing could not be squeezed, since that was considered a loss compared to the normal way of eating it. However, in recent generations, the ways of eating fruit have become infinitely varied, to the point that one can say that the main custom today is that almost everything is accepted. Therefore, only when a negligible minority follows a certain practice, such that it is considered a very strange way, is it disregarded, and it is forbidden to eat shevi’it produce that way. But anything that is not a negligible minority is considered a normal way of eating. Therefore, it suffices that a small minority be accustomed to squeezing a certain fruit, or mashing it, or eating it raw or cooked, for it to be permitted to eat it that way, since this is not a very strange custom in the eyes of most people.¹
Notes (1)
- The Mishna (Shevi’it 8:2) states: “To eat something that is normally eaten.” The Yerushalmi there states: “If one wished to eat raw beets or to chew raw wheat, we do not listen to him,” because he is changing their manner of eating, and this is a loss (Rash and Gra). So too the Rambam writes (5:3): “One should not alter produce from its natural state, just as one does not alter teruma and ma’aser. Something normally eaten raw should not be eaten cooked, and something normally eaten cooked is not eaten raw.” Likewise, they said that one does not mash or squeeze something that is not normally treated so (Rambam, Hilkhot Terumot 11:2). The fundamental question is what is considered a deviation. This law is also relevant to the laws of Shabbat, where a melakha performed in an unusual manner (shinui) is rabbinically forbidden (Shabbat 92a), and to mixed vegetables (kilayim) in a vineyard, where something that is not normally grown does not render it forbidden (Shabbat 144b). Tosafot explain (Shabbat 92b, s.v. “ve-it”l”) that a custom unique to a certain place, if others would also act so under the same conditions, is not considered strange in other places. But if others would not act so under the same conditions, it is considered strange. The Ritva there adds that in the place where people follow it, it is not considered strange. The Ritva further writes that something clearly considered strange has the status of a deviation even in a place where some follow it. The Ran writes that the custom of a small place is nullified relative to other places and is considered strange. It seems that there is no dispute among the Rishonim; rather, they defined different situations of deviation, and the rule is that the attitude of the people of the region toward the custom is what determines whether it is strange.
In the laws of shevi’it, we find that the law changes from one Shemita to the next. As my teacher, Rav Eliyahu zt”l, used to say, in the past he ruled not to squeeze carrots because this was strange, but later he permitted it because people began squeezing them. Similarly, Shevitat Ha-sadeh 11:3 writes that in the past beets were eaten only cooked, but now people are accustomed to slicing them thinly and eating them raw in salad. However, regarding vegetarian and vegan foods, some wrote that they are strange (Mishpetei Eretz 22:4; Katif Shevi’it 62:3). Perhaps this was true several years ago, but in practice these foods are not considered strange today. In general, in the past it was ruled that only a way of eating accepted by many was considered a way of eating, but it was forbidden to eat in the manner of a minority, since that was considered a deviation (Mishpat Kohen 85). In the last generation it was already ruled that the custom of a large minority is considered a custom that is not strange (Mishpetei Eretz 22:4). It seems that today even the custom of a small minority is not strange, since eating customs have become infinitely varied, and almost every fruit is both squeezed and mashed. Thus, the way of eating today is to eat in very varied ways, and only what is considered very strange in people’s eyes, and only a negligible minority eats it that way, is considered not the normal way of eating. Above, 3:1, n. 1, it was explained that some say there is a mitzva to eat shevi’it produce. According to most poskim there is no mitzva, but if one took shevi’it produce, it is forbidden to cause it loss.