Book Archives - Shmita Project

Shemita: From the Sources to Practical Halakha

Shemita examines the underlying principles and practical observance of the Jewish agricultural sabbatical year, leading readers from the sources in the Torah, Mishna and Gemara to the rulings of leading halakhic authorities, including Rav Kook and the Chazon Ish. The most comprehensive and systematic guidebook on the subject, Shemita considers the laws and numerous challenges and solutions pertaining to topics from tree pruning to fruit buying and soup making.

The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook 3rd Edition – Hardcopy and PDF

Completely redesigned with the user experience in mind, many additional sources, and more thorough commentary and explanations; the updated Shmita Sourcebook is designed to encourage readers to think critically about Shmita, its values, challenges, and opportunities, and how we might apply the Shmita tradition in a modern context to support building healthier and more sustainable Jewish communities today. The updated Sourcebook draws on a range of texts from within Jewish tradition, tracing the development and evolution of Shmita from biblical, rabbinic, historical, and contemporary perspectives. This comprehensive, accessible sourcebook is well-suited for individual, partnered, and group study, with guiding text and discussion questions to enhance your learning, regardless of educational background. The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook offers a holistic understanding of Shmita, from the depth of Jewish tradition to the most pressing issues of our time.

Envisioning Sabbatical Culture: a Shmita manifesto

Through 60 pages of poetic visioning and illustrations, Yigal Deutscher weaves language and art into a Shmita dreamscape, exploring foundational questions: What is the deeper mythic symbolism of Shmita? What is the hidden invitation that Shmita offers us today, for our food, economic, and social systems? How can we begin designing to renew and reimagine Sabbatical Culture for our own communities? This booklet is a narrative of awakening, remembering, reclamation, and celebration; a blueprint for a more sacred, resilient, and holistic future. Included within is a collection of micro-essays and graphics inspired by the weaving together of Shmita, Jewish Mythology, and the tools of Permaculture Design.

ENSOULING THE WORLD: SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS ABOUT SHABBAT AND SHMITA

A compilation of sources on healing the planet.

The Mindful Shmita Workbook

In this Mindful Shmita Workbook from The Tasman Center, we’ll offer seven prompts for reflection and practice. We hope this will be a way to savor, celebrate, and mark this Shmita year. The prompts can be responded to all at once during Elul, in preparation for the new year, during Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, or answered throughout the Shmita Year. There will be options for virtual connection with participants around the world and supplemental offerings over the course of the year as well.

The Hazon Shmita Sourcebook, 2nd Edition 2014

The Shmita Sourcebook is designed to encourage participants to think critically about the Shmita Cycle – its values, challenges, and opportunities – and how this tradition might be applied in a modern context to support building healthier and more sustainable Jewish communities today.

RAV KOOK’S INTRODUCTION TO SHABBAT HA’ARETZ

Rav Kook's Introduction to Shabbat Ha'Aretz is the first-ever English translation of the introduction to a book on shmita (Biblical sabbatical year) by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the land of Israel in the 20th century. His essay, written in 1909, is lyrical and mystical, a meditation on the big themes that underlie religious environmentalism.