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Brit-Am Now no. 1740.
Movement of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
26 August 2011, 26 Av 5771.
Contents:
1. New Article. Who is the Satan? by Yair Davidiy
2. Odds and Ends.
(a) Note on articles based on the work of Rabbi Fishel Mael.
(b) Old Picture of Yair in Jerusalem.
3. Answer to Another Question About the Shemitta Year.
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1. New Article.
Who is the Satan? by Yair Davidiy
http://www.britam.org/Satan.html
[Job 1:6] Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Contents:
Introduction.
(1. Concerning Lucifer and Satan.
(2. Concerning Satan and the Power of Adversity.
(3. Satan as an Agent of the Almighty?
(4. Satan and Modern Ideological Movements.
(5. Will A Future Adherent of Satan Lead the World Against Israel?
(6. Satan as the Great Accuser.
(7. Satan as Samael or the Protective Spirit of Esau-Edom.
(8. Satan in the Book of Job.
(9. Interim Conclusions.
Extract:
Introduction.
We in Brit-Am regard ourselves as scholars and students. We try to learn with you and alongside you rather than laying down doctrine. We present information and form opinions based on it. Later we are prepared to moderate and adapt our conclusions according to whatever additional knowledge and input of opinion we may receive.... Below we give a collation of remarks (slightly adapted here and there) and Brit-Am commentaries concerning the Satan that we have made over the years.
2. Odds and Ends.
(a) Note on articles based on the work of Rabbi Rabbi Fishel Mael.
In case anyone is wondering articles being sent out are progressing according to the order of the book "Shivtei Yisrael".
We have one to three more articles explaining some general principles before we begin discussing the individual Tribes.
Rabbi Mael provides a great deal of information concerning each and every Tribe.
"Fishel" in Yiddish means "Little Fish".
Some people claim that the Hebrew name Nun (as in Joshua son of Nun) also means fish as it does in Aramaic.
(b) Old Picture of Yair in Jerusalem.
Who Says I'm a Sloppy Dresser?
http://www.britam.org/images/injerusalem.jpg
3. Answer to Another Question About the Shemitta Year.
Miri wrote:
Dear Mr. Davidy,
Thx for the additional info on the shmitah and Jubilees.
But, my question is: when is the shmitah year and when is the Jubilee year? Can it be known? Does anyone write the date/year? Or is it acceptable to just do it every 7 years if you are in the Land and farming? Seems to me that it would behoove the rabbis to be sure to apply these sabbatical years since we are back in the Land, and not just issue a fake lease to someone who is not Jewish and keep on using the Land. This seems to be a blatant rebellion. Considering the times we are living in, I wouldn't want to take that chance!
MB~
Brit-Am Reply:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Shmita#Observance_in_the_Eretz_Yisrael
The last Shmita year began on the Jewish New Year in September 2007, corresponding to the Hebrew calendar year 5768.
The next Shemitta Year would therefore be on the Jewish New Year Day (ca. September) in 2014.
Brit-Am Observations:
Nearly all Ultra-Orthodox Jews keep the Shemmitta Year as do many of the National Religious and some of the non-Religious.
The way of getting around it that you referred to (fictiitiously selling the land to a non-Jew) was instituted in the time of Turkish Control of the Land and continued later by some of the Religious Zionists.
The rationale is that Shemmittah was probably no longer obligatory from the Torah. It had been re-instituted by the Rabbis. Rabbinical methods could therefore be employed to circumvent it.
Historically, when the circumvention was instituted not working in the fields could have meant virtual starvation for the Jews in Palestine.
It was stressed at first that this circumvention was meant to only be a temporary measure taken under duress due to exceptional circumstances.
Wikipedia gives more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita
Later the new State of Israel depended in part on agriculture to sustain itself so the circumvention was continued.
Nowadays the situation is different.
Today most of the farmers are not religious. They will farm no matter what the Rabbis say.
Also experience shows that when the fields are not worked Beduin and Arab squatters and grazers try to take them over, sometimes with success. This endangers the Jewish community in the Land.
It is therefore preferable to give those farmers who wish to work and probably will do so anyway some king of quasi-religious legalization.
Nevertheless,
More and more farmers do keep the Shemmittah and report a blessing in doing so.
It could in fact under present circumstances make economic sense to enforce it everywhere.
It allows the land to reset. It provides a period of re-training and re-allocation of land usage, etc.
It saves water resources and allows them to recover from over use. The environment has a chance to clean itself up from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
The present State of Israel is very crowded and water is scarce. According to some opinions we would be better over eliminating a good portion of the present agricultural usage altogether.
Biblical Verses:
"You may plant your land for six years and gather its crops. But during the seventh year, you must leave it alone and withdraw from it. The needy among you will then be able to eat just as you do, and whatever is left over can be eaten by wild animals. This also applies to your vineyard and your olive grove." (Exodus 23:10-11)[
"God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, telling him to speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land must be given a rest period, a sabbath to God. For six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and harvest your crops, but the seventh year is a sabbath of sabbaths for the land. It is God's sabbath during which you may not plant your fields, nor prune your vineyards. Do not harvest crops that grow on their own and do not gather the grapes on your unpruned vines, since it is a year of rest for the land. [What grows while] the land is resting may be eaten by you, by your male and female slaves, and by the employees and resident hands who live with you. All the crops shall be eaten by the domestic and wild animals that are in your land." (Leviticus 25:1-7)
"And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase'; then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years. And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the produce, the old store; until the ninth year, until her produce come in, ye shall eat the old store." (Leviticus 25:20-22).
"At the end of every seven years, you shall celebrate the remission year. The idea of the remission year is that every creditor shall remit any debt owed by his neighbor and brother when God's remission year comes around. You may collect from the alien, but if you have any claim against your brother for a debt, you must relinquish it..." (Deuteronomy 15:1-6)
Some legalistic background information:
COUNTING SHEMITTA AND YOVEIL
(from an article by Rav She'ar-Yashuv Kohen in Techumin 7)
http://www.chaburas.org/shemittacount.html
Note:
Originally Shemmittah was a Torah obligation.
Nowadays it is Rabbinical. When the Rabbis re-instituted it they did not include (for most aspects) the areas of Sinai, Lebanon. Syria, and Jordan. Even some areas west of the Jordan were not included.
In the Messianic Age after the Return of the Ten Tribes Shemittah will once again be a Torah obligation.
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