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![]() Shabbat Parashat Vayishlach 5776Ask the Rabbi: Beracha Acharona on Fruit of Non-Jews in IsraelRav Daniel MannQuestion: If I eat nochri (field in Answer: While this sounds like a Shemitta (whose halachot continue regarding fruit) question, it applies every year. It also applies to orchards sold through heter mechira. We start with the main sources on the change of wording of the beracha. The gemara (Berachot 44a) cites both versions of the beracha and first says that in chutz la’aretz one says “peiroteha” (on its [the Land’s] fruit) and in The Beit Yosef (Orach Chayim 208) cites a machloket between Rabbeinu Yona and the Rashba whether one says hapeirot or peiroteha on fruit grown in There is a major machloket, raised most prominently in Gittin (47a), whether a non-Jew’s acquisition of land in Eretz Yisrael uproots the laws that apply to Eretz Yisrael. The halachic conclusion is not fully clear (see Rambam, Terumot 1:10). There are macholokot in different applications, including the one between Rav Yosef Karo (Avkat Rochel 24) and the Mabit (I:11) whether the fruit that grows under a non-Jew’s ownership has Shemitta status. The former’s opinion, that Shemitta status is removed, is the more accepted one (see Shabbat Ha’aretz (R. Kook), Mavo 15). One could then claim that such fruit is uprooted from Eretz Yisrael status regarding our question as well. However, I have been unable to find a hint in classical texts or rulings in more recent sources that indicate a distinction within Eretz Yisrael between the fruit of Jewish-owned fields and non-Jewish fields. There are some opinions (see discussions in Birkei Yosef, OC 208:11 and Kaf Hachayim, OC 208:59) that on fruit from sections of Eretz Yisrael that lost kedushat ha’aretz with the Babylonian exile and were not restored to kedushat ha’aretz in the Second Temple, we do not say peiroteha. Not all agree. After all, these areas are still Eretz Yisrael regarding many spiritual matters (see Shabbat Haaretz ibid.). Hashem gave them to us, we will return, and, according to most, we still presently have a mitzva to live there (see Encyclopedia Talmudit, Yeshivat Eretz Yisrael, ftnt. 28-29). Our question is about areas with the kedusha from the time of the Therefore, even though in cases of doubt it is better to say hapeirot (Mishna Berura 208:54), the common practice to say peiroteha on fruit even from non-Jewish fields is logical. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Refuah Sheleymah to Orit bat Miriam
Hemdat Yamim is dedicated to the memory of:
for our homeland.
Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h. who passed away on 10 Tamuz, 5774
Rabbi Reuven Aberman zt”l beloved friend and Member of on 9 Tishrei, 5776 R' Meir Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld o.b.m
R ' Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha and Chana bat Yaish & Simcha Sebbag, z"l
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