Wednesday, August 19, 2015

"Four Species" economic woes for Sabbatical year

BUY LOCAL: Despite Rabbinic Support, Israeli ‘Four Species’ Business Anticipates 50% Loss over Shmita Issues (JNi Media/Jewish Press).
(JNi.media) In advance of the upcoming Sukkot holiday season, Israeli distributors of the four species—Etrog (citrus fruit), Lulav (date palm), Hadas (myrtle) and Arava (willow) are expecting the current shmita (fallow) year will take a significant toll on their sales. This is despite well-known and commonly accepted halachic adjudications that allow for the purchase of Israeli-grown produce on the shmita year.

Despite the religious mandate which requires that farming be curbed during this year, leading religious authorities have approved legalistic measures to allow for the purchase of four species grown in the holy land and in so doing limit the economic damage to local Jewish growers and distributors.

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More on this year's Shmita (Sabbatical year) is here and links.