Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach on Whether Shemittah Applies to Cotton (27 Tishrei)

And the question that was facing Rav Shlomo Zalman was the Kedushei Sheviit, whether there's a-- we have to treat as produce of Sheviit cotton fibers.

This is from the twenty-seventh of Tishrei of Tav Shin Chaf Zayin in nineteen sixty-six.

He's writing to a Rabbi, uh, Yisrael Moshe Arentson, or it's a Yud Mem Arentson, who was a Rav in Petach Tikva, and he apologizes for the delay in answering, uh, in responding.

But apparently, Rav-- this Rav Arentson had sent him a long essay, or maybe in a sefer, about whether a Sheviit Shmita should apply to cotton.

The reason why it wouldn't apply to cotton is that cotton isn't a food, and therefore you might think it doesn't count as a produce, as a vegetable or a fruit, as a produce of the Shmita year, and therefore you might think that you don't have to treat it as Shmita, uh- the product of it as Shmita.

Meaning there's-- in, in Shmita issues, there's work in the land and what you're allowed to do and not allowed to do in terms of work the land, and then there's how we have to treat fruit of Shmita, produce of Shmita.

That's a separate set of halachot.

And his suggestion apparently was that he thought cotton you shouldn't have to treat as, uh, as, as Shmita produce because it's not produce, 'cause it's only used for creating clothing, I think.

And he called it Yeshuat Moshe.

I'm not sure if Yeshuat Moshe was a long essay or if it was a book.

And then he says-- it seems like it was a sefer because Rav Shlomo Zalman says, "So now I took myself an opportunity to look at what I took-- what I wrote in the margins, wrote on the page when I got the sefer." It seems like Rav Shlomo Zalman, whether or not he had the time then to sit down and write back an answer, as soon as he got a sefer, he went through the sefer, took notes on the side, made comments on the side, and then was ready to answer it.

So now he's ready to answer it.

So he goes back and looks what he wrote.

So at the end of Od Vav, I won't tell you the-- where it was in the future, but he's telling it to this guy because the guy has the sefer in front of him.

So this Rav Arentson had written that cotton fibers shouldn't have any Shmita issue to them, and that will affect...

If you're gonna make material or clothing out of cotton fibers, and they're Shmita cotton fibers, you're gonna have whole sets of halachot that you're gonna have to worry about because in Shmita issues, we're not allowed to throw it out the same way as you throw out other things.

We have to let it rot on its own, and then we're allowed to throw it out.

We're supposed to use up as much of it as we can.

We have to only use it.

We're only allowed to own it till Shana Habi'a, and then we have to ma'akir.

There's all sorts of halachot that come up with Shmita produce.

So if you say that it doesn't apply to cotton, that will affect or help the deal-- or if you say it does apply to cotton, that will change how we deal with cotton during a Shmita year.

That's pretty sure in Shmita year, uh, greatly.

And the assumption here is I'm pretty sure that we're not thinking of this-- we're not following the Hetter Mechira for this discussion.

We're not allowing ourselves to settle the land of Israel or, or accept that that works in terms of preventing produce from becoming Shmita produce.

And the question that was facing Rav Shlomo Zalman was the Kedushei Sheviit, whether there's a-- we have to treat as produce of Sheviit cotton fibers.

This is from the twenty-seventh of Tishrei of Tav Shin Chaf Zayin in nineteen sixty-six.

He's writing to a Rabbi, uh, Yisrael Moshe Arentson, or it's a Yud Mem Arentson, who was a Rav in Petach Tikva, and he apologizes for the delay in answering, uh, in responding.

But apparently, Rav-- this Rav Arentson had sent him a long essay, or maybe in a sefer, about whether a Sheviit Shmita should apply to cotton.

The reason why it wouldn't apply to cotton is that cotton isn't a food, and therefore you might think it doesn't count as a produce, as a vegetable or a fruit, as a produce of the Shmita year, and therefore you might think that you don't have to treat it as Shmita, uh- the product of it as Shmita.

Meaning there's-- in, in Shmita issues, there's work in the land and what you're allowed to do and not allowed to do in terms of work the land, and then there's how we have to treat fruit of Shmita, produce of Shmita.

That's a separate set of halachot.

And his suggestion apparently was that he thought cotton you shouldn't have to treat as, uh, as, as Shmita produce because it's not produce, 'cause it's only used for creating clothing, I think.

And he called it Yeshuat Moshe.

I'm not sure if Yeshuat Moshe was a long essay or if it was a book.

And then he says-- it seems like it was a sefer because Rav Shlomo Zalman says, "So now I took myself an opportunity to look at what I took-- what I wrote in the margins, wrote on the page when I got the sefer." It seems like Rav Shlomo Zalman, whether or not he had the time then to sit down and write back an answer, as soon as he got a sefer, he went through the sefer, took notes on the side, made comments on the side, and then was ready to answer it.

So now he's ready to answer it.

So he goes back and looks what he wrote.

So at the end of Od Vav, I won't tell you the-- where it was in the future, but he's telling it to this guy because the guy has the sefer in front of him.

So this Rav Arentson had written that cotton fibers shouldn't have any Shmita issue to them, and that will affect...

If you're gonna make material or clothing out of cotton fibers, and they're Shmita cotton fibers, you're gonna have whole sets of halachot that you're gonna have to worry about because in Shmita issues, we're not allowed to throw it out the same way as you throw out other things.

We have to let it rot on its own, and then we're allowed to throw it out.

We're supposed to use up as much of it as we can.

We have to only use it.

We're only allowed to own it till Shana Habi'a, and then we have to ma'akir.

There's all sorts of halachot that come up with Shmita produce.

So if you say that it doesn't apply to cotton, that will affect or help the deal-- or if you say it does apply to cotton, that will change how we deal with cotton during a Shmita year.

That's pretty sure in Shmita year, uh, greatly.

And the assumption here is I'm pretty sure that we're not thinking of this-- we're not following the Hetter Mechira for this discussion.

We're not allowing ourselves to settle the land of Israel or, or accept that that works in terms of preventing produce from becoming Shmita produce.