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STORY FOR THE TABLE

A Dispute

for the Sake

of Heaven

n the middle of David ben Ze’ev Willowsky). Renowned
1909, as the Sab- for his commentary on the Yerushalmi
batical (Shem- (the Jerusalem Talmud), the Ridbaz was
itta) year of 5670 a great Torah scholar who had settled in
a pp r oac hed, Safed in 5665 (1905).
a controversy
flared up over The Rabbi of Jaffa, however, firmly
Ithe way the set- opposed this viewpoint. Fearful that
tlements should observe the strict adherence to the laws of Shemitta
would bring a financial holocaust upon
laws of Shemitta. In keeping
with their decision from the settlements, Rav Kook decided to
rely on a halachic loophole known as the
previous Shemitta years,
a number of Ashkenazi heter mechirah (permission by sale). Basi-
cally, using this heter, an arrangement
rabbis in Jerusalem pro-
hibited Jewish farmers is made in which Jewish farmland is
sold to non-Jews for the duration of the
from working the Land,
no matter what the con- Shemitta year. This allows Jews to con-
tinue working the Land since the laws of
sequences might be. They
even threatened the set- Shemitta did not apply to gentile-owned
soil. The Rav even published a specific
tlements of Judea and
the Galilee with a severe book entitled Shabbat HaAretz to explain
his position.
boycott on all grains,
fruits, and wine pro- Among the many proposed solutions to
duced during the Sab- the Shemitta problem, there was talk of
batical year. The major a joint venture between the Ridbaz and
force behind this side Rav Kook. Together they would travel
of the dispute was the to Paris to try and convince Baron de
Ridbaz (R. Ya’akov Rothschild to help offset the losses the

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