Beit Din Treasury - Historical and Contemporary Overview

Initially, the Beit Din agents would sit at the entrances to towns. Anyone who brought fruits would have them taken and given food for three meals in return, with the remainder placed in the town's treasury. When the fig season arrived, the Beit Din agents would hire workers to pick them, make them into cakes (dried figs shaped into round cakes), store them in the town's treasury, and distribute them on Shabbat eves to each household according to its size (Tosefta Shevi'it Chapter 8, Halacha 10).

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How to purchase fruits and vegetables during the Shemitah year?

Halachic concepts for the Shemitah year

From the Tosefta, it is clear that the fruits are ownerless, and the Beit Din appoints workers for picking, preserving, and distributing them.

A. We learn that in orchards, groves, and vineyards, which are ownerless during the Shemitah year, the produce is sanctified with the holiness of Shevi'it and is prohibited from being harvested and traded commercially. The Beit Din maintains them for the public benefit and distributes their fruits equally to everyone in the town or from other towns, in quantities sufficient until the next distribution. If they receive more, there's concern they might trade with the fruits. (This is not practical with vegetables since they do not keep well and are not found in fields during the Shemitah year, as they are planted annually. During the transition period, the month of Tishrei, there are almost no vegetables in the fields. According to the Chazon Ish, this applies to grains.

B. The appointed managers of the Otzar Beit Din are permitted to do things that individuals are forbidden to do:

1. To harvest crops as in other years.

2. To set prices based on expense calculations.

3. They may measure and weigh since they're not selling but distributing.

4. They don't need to eliminate them when the time of elimination arrives.

5. To prevent people from gathering from the ownerless produce in quantities exceeding three meals. The payment is not subject to the sanctity of Shevi'it, as it is not given in exchange for the fruit but for the ongoing expenses.

How is an Otzar Beit Din established? The owners declare their fields ownerless and submit a declaration document to the Beit Din. Here is the text of the declaration document - We, the undersigned, hereby declare completely ownerless all fruits and crops of our lands in the Holy Land that may have Shevi'it concerns, and from now on our hands are removed from all the above for all. In testimony and as a sign of truth we sign this in the year... which is the seventh year according to our count based on the early Geonim.

The Beit Din usually appoints the landowner as their agent to care for the trees and harvest the fruits, and gives the landowner an authorization document with this text: Authorization document -  We, the undersigned Beit Din Tzedek, have taken under our authority all fruits and produce that have Shevi'it concerns belonging to all those who signed the declaration document attached to this authorization document. By the power of the Beit Din, we hereby authorize the owners of the said lands to engage in the care and sale of all the ownerless produce, to take compensation for their effort and labor and the cost of all tools and instruments needed for the said fruits and all the said produce through those engaged in their sale as mentioned above, directly or through their agents, all not as payment for the fruits but as payment for the labor and instruments. We authorize the said landowners who are declaring their property ownerless to appoint, under our authority, agents and commissioners to provide them with compensation for the labor and instruments mentioned above, and whatever they do shall be done only with our approval and authorization according to the permission given to them hereby. In testimony whereof we have signed here in the Holy City in the year... Signed...

Distribution Station from Otzar Beit Din

 Usually, the Otzar Beit Din opens special distribution stations for distributing fruits from the Otzar Beit Din. The quantity of fruit distributed is determined by the size of the family. A family with many members will receive more fruit than a family with fewer members. In past Shemitah years, the Otzar Beit Din administrators sold booklets of vouchers, and when distribution time came, an announcement was published that voucher number X entitled one to apples, oranges, etc. Families with many children received booklets and vouchers in red. Medium-sized families received green booklets. Families with 2-3 members received blue booklets. At the distribution stations, the designated quantity was given according to the number and color of the voucher.

Here is an announcement published in Jerusalem during the Shemitah year of 5670 (1910): "The time has come to distribute the almonds of Shevi'it from the gardens whose owners fulfilled the commandment of 'the land shall rest' according to our holy Torah. Therefore, anyone who wants to take part in these almonds and treat them with the sanctity of Shevi'it should come to the people listed below."

Gathering from Ownerless Sources

Those who did not give their produce to the Otzar Beit Din, and the Otzar Beit Din did not take the produce under its care, such as homeowners with orange trees, grapevines, mint leaves, etc. in their yards, any person is permitted to gather an amount sufficient for their needs, while observing all the laws of Shevi'it produce sanctity. For citrus fruits, according to all poskim, the sanctity of Shevi'it will apply to crops harvested in the eighth year that were formed during the seventh year.

According to those who follow the opinion of the Chazon Ish, the sanctity of Shevi'it applies to citrus fruits both those that formed in the sixth year and were harvested in the seventh, and those that formed in the seventh and were harvested in the eighth.

Purchasing in the Local Market

The supply of fruits and vegetables from the local market will be possible for those who don't have a Shemitah store or Otzar Beit Din in their city, but only under the following conditions:

1. For vegetables, when the time of Sefichin prohibition or the time of elimination has not yet arrived.

2. For tree fruits, when the time of elimination has not yet arrived. If the time of Sefichin prohibition or elimination has arrived, there is no possibility to purchase those types except only in Shemitah stores.

3. Do not give money for the fruits to a merchant who is suspected of violating Shemitah laws; therefore, payment can be made in one of the following ways:

By absorption - In the same store or stall where fruits and vegetables are sold, also buy items that are not sanctified with Shevi'it sanctity. For example, in winter, months Tishrei-Iyar, also buy apples, and tell the store owner that the payment for the entire purchase will only be for the apples that are not sanctified with Shevi'it sanctity. We have absorbed the price of the produce sanctified with Shevi'it sanctity into the payment for the produce that is not sanctified, so that we received the vegetables as a gift without payment. 4. By payment via check - If purchased on credit, payment can be made later by check. Checks are not affected by Shevi'it sanctity.

5. Open a debt record page, and pay only after consuming the produce sanctified with Shevi'it sanctity.

6. Payment by credit card and the like.

Do not weigh the produce; rather, the greengrocer will give by estimation. His expertise will aid him in discernment.

Summary of the Halacha: Remember, purchasing in stores that are not distribution stations of the Shemitah Committee or Otzar Beit Din is only allowed in places where there are no Shemitah stores, or if the food is urgently needed and not available elsewhere. In any case, one should consult with a rabbinic authority in these situations (In this article, I was assisted by the book "The Kitchen in Shemitah" by Rabbi Heiman).