TORAH VEHA'ARETZ RABBI MOSHE BLOOM INSTITUTE BY www.toraland.org.il/en
Announcement of the Kilaim Prohibition
T
he Mishnah in Shekalim (1:1-2) states about kilei zera’im:
“On the first of Adar they [Beit din] make a public announcement about the shekels and concerning kila’im... At first they [Beit din] used to uproot [the kila’im] and throw them before them. [But] when the transgressors increased in number, they used to uproot them and throw them on the roads. [Finally], they decreed that they should make the whole field ownerless.” Supervision for consumers or for farmers? Today, one of the rabbinate’s duties is to oversee kashrut supervision on behalf of consumers—to verify that the food is kosher. In Israel, it also ensures that produce is ready-to-eat: it supervises for orlah and separation of terumot and ma’aserot. During Chazal’s time we don’t see that the rabbinical court was in charge of any of these areas—only growing kila’im.
Probebly, there was a substantially different understanding of the role of the rabbinical court during the times of Chazal and the role the rabbinate has today. As opposed to untithed produce, which is forbidden to eat as long as terumot and ma’aserot have not been separated, kilei zera’im produce is permitted to eat, despite the fact that it was forbidden to cultivate. Even though the produce is permitted to eat, the rabbinical court supervised the growers to ensure that they didn’t transgress the kila’im prohibition. While today the rabbinate makes sure that the consumer receives kosher food, during the times of Chazal, the beit din was concerned that the farmer—the feeder—is kosher (doesn’t sin). Part of our responsibility as consumers is to ensure that the method our food is prepared is kosher and that no prohibitions are transgressed, inadvertently or intentionally, along the way. Chazal wanted to ensure that all strata of the population—not only consumers, but also those who work hard all year long to produce food for everyone—properly observe the laws of the sanctity of the Land of Israel. OU ISRAEL CENTER
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