Shemitta Work at Israel National Fund Land – #304
Date and Place: 3 Sivan 5670 (1910), Yafo
Recipient and Background: Dr. Feichtwanger, who was apparently an official in the World Zionist Organization.
Body: I received your letter and am honored to tell you that the immoral matter of work being done on Israel National Fund land [during Shemitta] is just what they are doing of their own volition. They did not ask any question of which types of work may be done by a Jew, based on the sale of the land, and which types of work may only be done by a non-Jew. They did not present me with the facts of the matter at all, so that I could determine which things are so pressing that they cannot wait until next year and which things will not cause serious loss to the Yishuv if they wait until the non-holy, next year.
Realize that we have not allowed at all to plant new vegetation. There are only a small handful of exceptions, which involve unusually large loss, where we allowed non-Jews to plant, in addition to other known halachic reasons for leniency. All of this applies when parties come to ask halachic authorities, but when they treat Shemitta like any other year, without asking for the instruction of a religious authority, it desecrates the holy Torah regarding national property in the Holy Land. We must protest this with all our might, and whoever possesses sensitivity for the honor of our nation should accept our call.
