Torah Down Under

The passuk says in this week’s sedrah (25:6) וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה לְךָ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּרִים עִמָּךְ But you may eat whatever the land during its rest year will produce, you, your slaves and maidservants, the hired workers and the labourers who live with you. The Rambam says ( הל' שמיטה ויובל, ד', כ"ד ) מצות עשה להשמיט כל מה שתוציא הארץ בשביעית... וכל הנועל כרמו או סג שדהו בשביעית ביטל מצות עשה וכן אם אסף כל פירותיו לתוך ביתו, אלא יפקיר הכל ויד הכל שוין בכל מקום שנאמר ואכלו אביוני עמך It is a mitzvah to allow everyone to take what the land produces during shmittah , and anyone who locks his vineyard or fences his field during shmittah has been מבטל this מצות עשה . And so too if he gathered all his produce into his house. Rather he must be מפקיר everything and everyone has an equal right to it, as the passuk says “And the poor of your people will eat.” The מנחת חינוך in מצוה פ"...

Bikkurim When a person brings bikkurim , they read the pessukim of arami oved avi in which they thank Hashem for both the fruit and also the land: וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה הֵבֵאתִי אֶת רֵאשִׁית פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה לִּי ה ' "And now behold I have brought the first fruits of the land that you have given me, Hashem." Subsequently, in order to bring bikkurim and also read the pessukim in the Beis Hamikdash, the grower has to own both the produce as well as the land which the produce was grown on. If someone buys land at a time of Yovel, then the person who bought the land only owns the land till Yovel, and they are not the permanent owner of the land. Do we say that this person can read the pessukim and thank Hashem for the land because he is currently the owner of the land, or do we say that because he will have to give the land back in Yovel he is only a tempoary owner of the land? The gemara in Gittin (48a) explains that the answer to this question ...