Sources for laws of Shabbat, Shemitah, and Kashrut

Shalom and thank you for turning to us. I will begin with your second question. You are correct in saying that in Israel one needs to buy produce from a Rabbinically supervised source, and actually the Shemitah laws affect not only the actual year of Shemitah but much of the following year and perhaps even more, due to the different types of growth of different plants. In Israel one needs to buy Rabbinically supervised produce all the time because aside from the Shemitah laws, there are laws dealing with Orlah – not eating fruit from a tree until its fourth year of life, and tithing. There are many details to these laws and that is why produce in Israel needs to be supervised regularly. Orlah applies outside of Israel to a Jew who grows fruit. In the regular market outside of Israel however, one may purchase fruit because the Orlah status is considered to be nullified amongst the preponderance of non-Orlah produce. If however you are in a regular market buying produce and you see that there are fruit which are imported from Israel, you need to find out if they were supervised in Israel. This also applies not just in Shemitah years, for the above-mentioned reasons. In America the kashrut organizations called OK or OU check these things out.

Regarding written sources for the laws of Shemitah, Shabbat and Kashrut, we can suggest the following: Feldheim publishers have produced a series of books called ‘Shmirath Sabbath – a guide to the practical observance of Shabbat’. This was originally published many years ago but is a well-known classic and is probably still available. There is possibly a book on the laws of Shemitah from the same series or the same publisher. Regarding kashrut you need to go online again and look. Feldheim very possibly has something on kashrut and they generally have good materials. Another source of information can be the Chabad.org website which has information on just about any topic in Judaism.

All the above is very important, but it must be pointed out that these references are an excellent basis and very important to learn, but in any case of doubt or difficulty, one should ask a competent orthodox Rabbi. It says in “Ethics of the Fathers’ chapter1:6 (otherwise known as tractate Avot,) that one should “Make for yourself a Rabbi and acquire for yourself a friend.” This means that it is desirable to establish a relationship with a Rabbi. preferably in your area but at least with whom you can communicate relatively easily, who knows you or can get to know you, so that he can take into account your unique life circumstances when making a Halachic decision for you. Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves and sometimes too soft. Halacha sometimes has aspects that laypeople are not aware of to reach more individualized decisions. Acquiring a friend means literally that, but it also means to try to be in an environment of people who share your spiritual goals or are even more advanced than you, so that you can learn from them.

We hope this has been helpful, feel free to ask any other questions you may have.