Though not motivated by anything specifically Messianic, there has been a common consensus of Orthodox believers I know regarding the laws of shvi’it. The general thrust of this consensus is that the reliance on the heter mechira does not seem an adequate way of observing the shmita year. This lead to an attempt to formalize the parameters of our observance of the shmita in a manner that properly describes this concern.
I have decided to first briefly outline some of the significant halachic elements of hilchot shvi’it since it is a lesser known area of halachah.
First and foremost is the prohibition on certain agricultural melachot. However, the oddity of the shmita is that on the one hand they are prohibited but on the other we are meant to take small amounts of wildly growing produce. This second part tempers the basic prohibition in certain ways.
There is also a rabbinic prohibition on sefichin, which is essentially everything but tree fruit (but also prohibiting grapes and olives). This prohibition was set in place in order to prevent people from secretly planting during the seventh year and then claiming it was a miracle. This prohibition is especially useful today in regards to harvesting grain. There is little difference between mass picking and individual picking of tree fruit but this is not true of harvesting grain. Without this prohibition we might be more tempted to harvest large amounts of grain improperly. Since this is a rabbinic prohibition there are limitations to it as well. The main practical one is for sefichin grown halachically in pots which are permissible during the shmita.
Produce of the seventh year also possesses kedusha. For this reason it must not be wasted or thrown away. It can also be cooked and prepared in certain ways that are not considered wasting it.
There is also a requirement to perform biur at various times throughout the seventh year. Biur is removal of produce at the end of its season from one’s property and declaring before three people that the produce is ownerless. Then anyone who wishes (including the original owner) may take the produce.
Commerce with produce of the seventh year is prohibited. Also, the land cannot be guarded. In other words, anyone should have access to whatever produce is growing on it.
The heter mechira essentially attempts to solve these problems by selling the land to gentiles. This method relies on several assumptions. The most fundamental assumption is that we are in a situation of pikuach nefesh. Though when the heter was originally conceived we could argue this was true, it is certainly not true today. Another assumption is that
Another method is the Otzar Bet Din (storehouse of the court). This method only pertains to tree fruit, since there is a rabbinic prohibition on the remaining produce. Once tree fruit is picked with the proper shinui the greatest difficulties are the limited amount that can be picked by one person and selling it to the consumer. In this case, the beit din acts for the whole community (or as the whole community). The gatherers are the appointed agents of all the community, so they essentially bring us each our portion that we could have picked had we been in the orchard. Also, when the consumer buys the fruit he is just paying for the costs of production and the salary of the workers defrayed across the produce.
