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Beit Midrash
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- Chemdat Yamim
- Igrot Hare’aya
Recipient: Rav Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky, known as the Ridbaz. The Ridbaz was a leading Torah scholar, who had served as a rabbi in several communities in Eastern Europe and then in Chicago. In 1905, he moved to Eretz Yisrael and founded a yeshiva in Tzfat. An author of many Talmudic works, his most famous halachic stance was against the heter mechira, the temporary sale of land in Eretz Yisrael in an attempt to obviate the restrictions of Shemitta (the Sabbatical year).
Body: I just received your holy letter with your respected pamphlet, Kuntras Hashemitta. Your pure words were salt on my unbandaged wounds. Only Hashem, Who knows all secrets, knows that my heart is bitter over the lot of the mitzva of Shemitta. With all my heart and soul and the life of my spirit and soul, I desire and am thirsty to strengthen the mitzva and return it to its former glory.
Igrot Hare’aya (200)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
157 - Deeper Literature
158 - Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook: – #189 – part I
159 - The Need to Sell the Land before Shemitta
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Therefore, I am compelled to follow the lead of the Rabbis in their rule of "It is better that Israel should eat sickly, slaughtered meat so that they do not eat unslaughtered and thus non-kosher meat" (Kiddushin 21b). I was compelled to arrange this halachic device for those who are compelled to use it, just as they did in previous Shemitta years. I knew that the present situation makes it impossible to avoid doing something to allow people [to create leniencies in the observance of Shemitta].
The first element of need is the matter of sufficient [produce for consumption] during Shemitta. It is conceivable that if this were the only issue, it might have been possible with great intervention that the Baron [Rothschild] might have given a sum that might have sufficed in the difficult circumstance.
The main matter, though, is the break that [Shemitta observance] would have made in the marketing, especially of wine and oranges, which comes to millions. It is not just that they will lose this incredible income during the Shemitta year (according to the Rambam, it is possible that the oranges would have two years of certain restrictions). Rather, it will break all marketing deals, as the importers abroad will not cooperate with exporters who cancel sending shipments periodically, as all know. This would definitely cause horrible hardship to all commerce, even post-Shemitta. The Baron would not want this, and he possibly cannot even handle it. His main intention was that the marketing should develop to the point that the farmers can support themselves without his help. Therefore a heter mechira is definitely needed for the export market as matters now stand, even though it is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea.
Hashem should see our difficulties and give us good counsel, so that we will be able to serve Him in the Holy Land without impediments and distractions. Because I know that even if all the greatest rabbis of the generation opposed the sale, people would not listen, mainly because of the great need, I desired to not publicize matters. That way, our actions will not look like there is a general agreement of the leading scholars but rather a practice that people do due to their plight. The scholars of the generation need to look the other way to fulfill the Rabbis’ contention that "it is better to sin unknowingly than on purpose" (Beitza 30a). We must hope that Hashem’s mercy will bring us better days, after Hashem raises our stature in the Land, and we can support ourselves without the help of other people and without the deceptiveness of exporting Shemitta produce abroad, which is difficult to permit. Then we will return to previous glory with all its sanctity.
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat Repercussions of a Sale That Turned Out Not Happening – part II
(based on ruling 83045 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat Payments after a Gradual End of Employment
(Based on ruling 82024 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Igrot Hare’aya Trying to Arrange Purchase of Land in Eretz Yisrael
#222 Date and Place: 2 Elul 5669 (1909), Rechovot
Igrot Hare’aya Informing a Friend he Is Not Insulted – #320
Date and Place: 5 Menachem Av 5670 (1910), Rechovot (probably)
Igrot Hare’aya Concern for Communal Kashrut Standards – #288, 290
Date and Place: 4 Nisan 5670 (1910), Yafo
Igrot Hare’aya The State of Religion in Eretz Yisrael – #277 – part I
Igrot Hare’aya – Letters of Rav Kook Date and Place: 9 Adar I 5670 (1910), Yafo
Rabbis in Midrash
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(based on ruling 85031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 85031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
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(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
(based on ruling 83037.1 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
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Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh)
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh)
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Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the cornerstone laying for the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh – 1938)
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 263 (address at the cornerstone laying for the Yeshiva Chakla’it in Kfar Haroeh – 1938)
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Parshat Re'eh
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Parshat Eikev
Description: The 7 Haftarot we read after Tisha B'Av ("Shiva D'Nichemta") surely get us excited that they're coming TRUE, and awaken us to yearn, dance & join the return to Zion! The short article also deals with the problems and solutions facing the American Jewish community as discussed at a recent panel, as well as the question why Jews come from America to Israel to help when we face problems, but Israelis don't come to aid Jews in America when they face anti-Semitism.
