Making Sense: Is the Shemitah Year Really Behind Us?

The Shemitah year has passed, and yet we still don't know where to buy vegetables. Let's try to create some order.

For which fruits and vegetables has the Shemitah year ended?

Broadly speaking, for us as consumers, the Shemitah continues for the following vegetables: garlic, dry onions, pumpkin, and butternut squash. For carrots and sweet potatoes, it depends on which halachic authority you follow. Additionally, the Shemitah continues for all types of fruits, at least until Passover, and for some, even beyond that.

For all other vegetables, the Shemitah year has ended, and they can be purchased without Shemitah concerns, provided that maaser (tithes) has been properly separated.

Even after the Shemitah year, is it advisable to buy from stores with strict kosher certification?

When purchasing from a vegetable vendor without strict kosher certification, we should only buy vegetables that are no longer subject to Shemitah laws, and remember to separate maaser at home without a blessing. If we're buying from a vendor who sells only vegetables, we should try to pay the exact amount as much as possible, to avoid receiving change.

Regarding fruits only, one should purchase from a store with strict kosher certification, or from a store that has a list of fruits under supervision, due to concerns of orlah (forbidden fruit from trees less than three years old).

The detailed explanation follows.

1. Bananas: These can be purchased now, even without Shemitah supervision - provided that maaser has been properly separated.

The banana is a perennial plant from the Musaceae family. This is because the banana plant begins growing from an underground bulb called a "rhizome," from which a trunk-like structure rapidly develops to its maximum height, and only afterward does the trunk flower and produce fruit, withering immediately after yielding its crop. However, the disadvantage of this method is that such plants are typically susceptible to diseases and pests, which is why most new commercial plantations today are planted with tissue-cultured plants. These plants are produced and grown in laboratories under sterile conditions and are free from diseases and pests.

Summarizing all this information, we find that the banana, despite being a fruit of the earth and therefore following the rule of harvesting (so if harvested in the eighth year, it doesn't have Shemitah sanctity), doesn't produce its fruits in the same year it's planted. Therefore, all produce from the Shemitah year grows in the eighth year.

Thus, immediately after the Shemitah year passes, all new produce doesn't have Shemitah sanctity since it was harvested after the Shemitah, and it's also not prohibited under the sefichin decree, even though it was planted or cultivated during the Shemitah year. Therefore, a few days after Rosh Hashanah, bananas may be consumed even without Shemitah supervision, but only if maaser has been properly separated.

Pineapples, papayas, and similar fruits fall into the same category.

(Illustration photo: Shutterstock)

2. Other vegetables, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., can be purchased without Shemitah supervision starting from the first day of Chanukah.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are annual plants: they are harvested from the fields the same year they are planted. Therefore, the measure for their Shemitah sanctity is the time of harvesting, so if they were harvested after the Shemitah year, they no longer have Shemitah sanctity. On the other hand, since most crops today are grown from strong seedlings that can produce fruit for half a year or more, and those seedlings were usually planted before this Rosh Hashanah, the sefichin prohibition applies to these seedlings: any vegetable planted during the Shemitah year and grown during it is forbidden for consumption, even after the Shemitah year. Therefore, there is still a prohibition against consuming vegetables that aren't under good kosher supervision checking that these crops are free from Shemitah concerns.

However, the prohibition on these vegetables isn't permanent, but only until it's possible to grow similar ones. This means we need to check and estimate whether these crops could have an equivalent that could be planted after Rosh Hashanah and bear fruit, and the prohibition will last as long as the time measured from planting after Rosh Hashanah until they are harvested. Since for many species most of the growth takes much longer than what their equivalent could be planted and bear fruit, because the seedlings undergo genetic engineering that strengthens and improves them. Therefore, the permission for these seedlings will be according to the decree of our Sages of blessed memory: on the first day of Chanukah, the sefichin prohibition expires for all field crops. This allows for other vegetable crops as well, which we know were planted before Rosh Hashanah and still continue to bear fruit, so we need to ensure we buy vegetables with Shemitah supervision until Chanukah.

3. Garlic and onions should not be purchased without Shemitah supervision until the coming summer. Carrots - until the month of Tevet.

The problem with these vegetables is completely different, as they are typically summer crops that are stored for a long time. As was the case last year during the Shemitah, the produce was harvested in the sixth year and stored almost until the end of summer. This creates a different kind of problem, as now most of the crops in the market are from the Shemitah year, which are subject to the sefichin prohibition, and they are kept in storage until the summer months that will come upon us, unless they were crops grown by non-Jews or alternatively for those who rely on the heter mechirah (symbolic sale of land). Therefore, extra caution is needed here - not to consume potatoes or onions and also carrots that aren't supervised, even after Chanukah. However, for carrots, the time is shorter, and they are already permitted in the month of Tevet.

Thanks to Rabbi Avraham Yehuda Halperin Shlita