Today I came across a the most absurd article. It says that Jews around the world are being offered the chance to Keep Shemitta! Yes... even if you live in London, Melbourne, Monsey or Beverly Hills, you can purchase tiny plots of land for $180. Thus, you can stay in chu"l and "keep" shemitta limehadrin!
What a load of nonsense. Shemitta is a massive challenge. Both individually and nationally, the questions that it raises, both Halakhic and theological, are enormous. However, you have to be here to keep Shemitta!
We live in a world where we don't ever want to miss out, where the Internet connects us into a global village. But this is too much! How can you remain there and "fulfil" Shemitta here? Shemitta is something that is embedded in the clods of earth, the economic and social environment of a living breathing land. If you want to keep Mitzvot Hetluyot Bararetz (religious laws that regulate agriculture) , then live BaAretz!
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