I found myself recently looking at the vegetables in the heter mechirah section of our local supermarket, and came across this:
I don't understand something (maybe because I don't know enough)...
OK, it says ללא חשש טבל (no concern for being produce from which the required donations have not been taken) alone, it doesn't mention שביעית (shmitta).
But why does it say הופרשו תרומות ומעשרות כדין (Terumah and Maaser has been taken)? Heter mechirah is supposed to make this non-Jewish produce! And if it does, where's the requirement for Terumah and Maaser?
The key word is: כדין. The din is that no truma and maaser are required, so this complies.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this is just marketing for amaratzim, the same kind who need a badatz hechsher on drain cleaner (next to the skull and crossbones).
Actually I didn't know enough.
ReplyDeleteThere was a disagreement between the Beis Yosef and the Mabit, if I remember correctly (it was mentioned in a shiur I listened to this morning: http://www.torahway.org/archive/mp3/07-09-2014.mp3).
One of them held that even if non-Jews aren't obligated to separate terumos and maasros from produce grown in Eretz Yisrael, Jews who buy said produce must do so. Apparently, this requirement may extend even into shmittah year, depending on another disagreement regarding why shmittah removes a Jew's obligation for terumos and maasros.
That said, I imagine that, in practice, those who rely on heter mechirah probably aren't particular about the chumrah of separating T&M from yevul nochri, regardless of the year.
Would you take maaser sheni or maaser oni? Or are you simply patur from both?
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