Buying Produce in the Seventh Year

The main produce that is proper to buy in Israel in the seventh year is produce of the ‘heter mekhira’. And since the final gathering of ‘heter mekhira’ produce is done by Jews, the produce is obligated in terumot and ma’asrot, and the custom is to be stringent out of doubt and to separate from it both ma’aser ani and ma’aser sheni. However, since according to the Mabit there is no need to separate terumot and ma’asrot from it, the custom is to separate the terumot and ma’asrot without a berakha (above 5:11).

In practice, today we rely on a kashrut certificate, and therefore one should be careful to buy from chains or stores that have a kashrut certificate stating that the produce was grown within the framework of the ‘heter mekhira’, and this certificate must also include confirmation that terumot and ma’asrot were separated.

It is a mitzva to prefer ‘heter mekhira’ produce over produce grown by non-Jews abroad, for two reasons: First, it is stated (Vayikra 25:14): “When you sell property to your fellow (la-amitekha), or buy any from the hand of your fellow, you shall not wrong one another.” From the words ‘to your fellow’ we learn that when a Jew has the option of buying from Jews or from non-Jews, there is a Torah mitzva for him to prefer buying from his fellow Jews, and even if the Jew’s merchandise is slightly more expensive or slightly less good, it is a mitzva to prefer the Jew (Ahavat Ḥesed vol. 1, 5:7). Second, by buying ‘heter mekhira’ produce, one takes part in strengthening the Jewish farmers who fulfill the mitzva of settling the Land, for the better the situation of the Jewish farmers in the Land, the stronger Israel’s hold on the Land becomes.

All the more so when the choice is between ‘heter mekhira’ produce and the produce of non-Jews in the Land of Israel, it is preferable to buy from the ‘heter mekhira’, since in this way one strengthens the farmers in fulfilling the mitzva of settling the Land in the face of the non-Jews competing with us. Conversely, one who prefers the produce of non-Jews harms the mitzva of settling the Land, for the mitzva is that the Land be in our hands “and that we not abandon it to the hands of any other nation or to desolation” (Ramban in his additions to the positive commandments, 4). So too we learn from the mitzva: “And do not grant them favor (lo teḥanem)” (Devarim 7:2), not to give them a foothold in the land; and by preferring their produce, one strengthens their hold on the Land. To our sorrow, most of the non-Jews living in the Land today do not have the status of ‘ger toshav’, and the first reason for this is that they do not believe in the right of Israel to its Land (see above 7, n. 5).

Admittedly, in all years we also buy produce that non-Jews grow in the Land, and likewise in the seventh year it is permitted to buy produce of non-Jews from the Land, for the mitzva is to prefer the Jew’s produce, but there is no prohibition to buy from non-Jews. However, those who establish for themselves a principle in the seventh year according to which the produce of non-Jews is preferable turn things upside down: they prefer not to rely on the ‘heter mekhira’, which removes a rabbinic mitzva, and they harm the mitzva of settling the Land and the mitzva of preferring a Jew, both of which are Torah mitzvot. And this indeed happens in practice: because of those who prefer to buy non-Jewish produce in the seventh year, non-Jews, most of whom are hostile to us, expand the agricultural areas in their possession with every Shemita.^¹