Taking a giant step towards encouraging farmers to agree to keep shmitah, Minister of the Interior Gideon Saar has announced that farmers signing up to shmitah programs will be exempt from paying arnona property tax during shmitah year. Saar has re-introduced the regulation that was used during the administration of Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s.
The ministry will inform local government that farmers who agree to abandon their fields and keep shmitah in a Halachic framework will be exempt from the arnona payment for the entire shmitah year.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Okay, now let’s see how the Israel haters can spin this on its’ head and show how the govt is still in the shmad business. I’m sure it won’t be too difficult for them.
baltimore jewish life:
but what about marijuana (in shmita)? The question was referred to rabbis in the Religious Zionism movement, and most of them replied that because it is used as a medication and not as food, patients can continue consuming the plant.
#2: Which means that even the RZ rabbonim don’t approve of the heter mechira.
#1: This is a silver lining to a giant cloud. You see that the article points out that Rabin did the same thing–would you say that Rabin wasn’t in the shmad business? What with murder on the Altalena, Oslo, etc?
Good plans and assistance to the farmers. May more join the band of Shmittah observers.
Bout x goverment do something wats behind it?