A surprising and unexpected confrontation may take place within the opposition, with the burning halakhic question in the background - whether it is permissible to plant trees in the year of the shemita.
According to Halacha, every seven years is the year of the shemita, and it is forbidden to work the land.
But the plantations in the Negev, which are based on strategic questions about the control of the land of the Land of Israel, make the issue much more complex.
Rabbi Dov Lior, one of the most prominent rabbis in the national religious sector, stated early in the morning (Wednesday) in a conversation with MK Itamar Ben Gvir that it is permissible to plant trees in the Negev in order to maintain control of the place. It is the struggle for the Land of Israel that determines in this case. "Rabbi Lior explicitly said that this is a mitzvah, that the war on the Land of Israel is a mitzvah.
There is no problem in planting a shmita in such a case. "
"Rabbi Lior criticized those who talk about shemita and do not care about the land of the Land of Israel. He said it was an important struggle, gave encouragement and said 'Kadima'."
Following Rabbi Lior's ruling, Ben Gvir arrived this morning in the areas where the trees are planted on behalf of the JNF, bringing cypress trees with him, and planted them in the field. There was a slight confrontation with several Bedouins. And I made it clear that these are our territories. "
Rabbi Lior's position is not unusual, and farmers have been planting for decades in order to preserve the lands of the Land of Israel.
Thus, in 1965, the Jordanians, who controlled the Latrun area, intended to plow on Shabbat during a shmita year to establish facts on the ground, and the kibbutz members of the religious insults plowed the fields in front of them in order to seize the territory.
But behind the scenes the issue is more complex, and may even turn into a kind of confrontation within the opposition.
Most ultra-Orthodox MKs maintain a thunderous silence and do not enter into the issue, but yesterday (Tuesday) MK Uri Maklev (Torah Judaism) came out against the plantings and said "the act of planting trees now in the midst of the shemita year in the south is strictly forbidden."
MK Itamar Ben Gvir plants a tree in the Negev, Photo: Knesset Chamber
The one who also leads this position is one of the most prominent rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox sector, Rabbi Yosef Efrati, who serves as the head of the Beit Midrash for Halacha in settlement.
"Unfortunately for some of these beds there were state places and public places that even when they asked to keep a bed they continued to carry out plantings under the heading of rescue plantings, on the pretext that without the above execution foreigners would take over the above lands.
Rabbi Efrati noted that the "Vision Man" stated that in the real fear of taking over land, it is permissible to plant trees, but "in the cases before us, all that needs to be done to preserve the land is to monitor continuously throughout the year and prevent lawful invasion."
Therefore, he stated, "From a halakhic point of view, planting in the Land of Israel should not be carried out under the pretext of settling in the Land of Israel.
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