“The same is true of agriculture today, because the reality of farming has changed so drastically. The Torah commands us to leave peah, a corner of the field for poor people. But, when I leave peah, I leave just a symbolic minimum, because I know that no one is going to come and take it.”
Mr. Ben Tsvi forms a word picture of a Biblical harvesting: “There’s a field, an owner, and a row of hired workers sitting on their knees and cutting the wheat. Behind them stands a group of poor people. As the workers cut, they assemble sheaves from the wheat stalks in their hand.
“If a stalk falls, it’s considered ‘leket’ and must be left for the poor. But, when it falls, the worker is discomfited. The owner, his boss, comes to see what’s happening. He doesn’t want his crop to go to the poor.
“The Mishna discusses these things. What happens if two stalks fall? Three? It was an entire reality that doesn’t exist anymore. Today, combines harvest the field, and they don’t drop stalks as they work.”
Olives and Neta Revai It’s impossible to live as if in Mishnaic times, when it’s in fact a modern era with a very different environment. But, farming still allows some unique opportunities for mitzvah fulfillment that a city dweller never meets.
The Ben Tsvis’ five dunams of olive trees are young; this shemitta year’s fruit – which will actually be harvested towards the beginning of the eighth year – will also be neta revai, products that grow during a tree’s fourth year. During a tree’s first three years, its fruits aren’t eaten due to the prohibition of orlah. During the fourth year, the Torah commands us to eat its fruits in Jerusalem.
Today, most farmers don’t eat the fruit in Jerusalem. Instead, they “redeem” the neta revai with coins and eat the fruits. These coins are put aside and never used. Mr. Ben Tsvi’s enthusiasm for this rare mitzvah is apparent as he discusses some of the ins and outs of its practical execution. He’s not yet sure how he will do it.
As an idealist, Mr. Ben Tsvi is sensitive to his inability as a modern farmer to fulfill the agricultural mitzvot exactly as the Torah commanded. But when the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt, he will be geared, educated and ready to implement these mitzvot. We urbanites are going to have to go to farming school before we can even get started.