Shmita Games

Sholom from Sanhedria asks: My wife usually sends her delicious vegetable quiches for mishloach monos. This year, the vegetable ingredients have kedushas shvi’is. Is it permitted to use kedushas shvi’is produce for mishloach monos? One may not use kedushas shvi’is to pay debts. The reason is that it looks like trading sh’mittah produce, which is…

Yerucham from Neve Ya’acov asks: A tomato plant has recently started growing out of our concrete garden path. Are these tomatoes permitted or do they fall under the category of s’fichin? At this time of year, all tomatoes grown on Jewish-owned land are forbidden because of s’fichin. Even if they grew spontaneously (for example, from…

Shuli from Sanhedria asks: I usually prepare mezonos rolls using fresh orange juice. May I use sh’mittah orange juice for this purpose? One may only use sh’mittah produce in the usually accepted manner. It is accepted practice to squeeze oranges (and lemons) for their juice. There is therefore no problem in making orange juice from…

Rina from Ramot asks: I sometimes make a vegetable quiche. In the past, I have often served a slice to my non-Jewish cleaning help. May I continue to do so if the vegetables are sh’mittah produce? If she asks for a slice to take home for her husband, may I give it to her? The…

Elana in Har Nof asks: I have a nine-month-old baby. May I feed him sh’mittah bananas? If your baby will eat most of the banana, there is no problem, even if he wastes a little bit of fruit. This is his usual way of eating bananas! (Obviously, any remnants must be placed in the sh’mittah…

Sammy from Ramat Eshkol asks:  My wife makes a delicious soup out of fresh tomatoes. Can she prepare the soup with sh’mittah tomatoes? Can she peel the tomatoes before putting them into the soup? Tomatoes are generally eaten either raw or cooked. It is therefore permitted to cook them in a soup. However, since only…