Sabbatical year Bible: Encyclopedia II - Sabbatical year Bible - Modern observance in Israel

Sabbatical year Bible - Modern observance in Israel

According to Orthodox Judaism, the Sabbatical year is still in force in modern-day Israel, and the seven year cycle has not been lost. The time of the occurrence of the Jubilee Year though may be in doubt. According to Jewish law, observance of the Sabbatical year is of high accord, and one who does not do so may not be allowed to be a witness in a Jewish court.

Since it is allowed for Jews to farm fields owned by non-Jews during the Sabbatical, it has become customary to sell all fields in Israel to a loyal non-Jew for the symbolic price of one shekel before the Sabbatical. They are then bought back for the same price after the Sabbatical. Thus, the fields can be farmed anyway. This procedure is carried out by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Since this procedure was first invoked in the late 19th century it has met with opposition from Haredi poskim (authorities of Jewish law), and hence many Haredi Jews do not avail themselves of this leniency, and Haredi farmers are supported by communal funds.

The 50th year of the land, that is also a Shabbat of the land, is called "Yovel" in Hebrew, which, strangely, sounds much like the Latin "Jubilee", also meaning 50th.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Modern observance in Israel", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki