The Chazon Ish, the founder of Bnei B’rak writes in his sefer on Shmitta that he’s bothered by the fact that they allowed certain leniencies because of taxes. What about Hashem’s promise of beracha? Why cut corners? At the end of this long piece, he writes, “They saw that there was a lot of poverty, but when they said rely on the Beracha, that doesn’t mean just sit back and rely on the Beracha. It means that you have to do hishtadlut and this is not a contradiction. You can get a beracha from someone, but then you have to follow up with the efforts.
Recently, we welcomed an Israeli farmer at Yad Yosef, Avichai, who told us the following great story about his first Shmitta:
“I couldn’t sit and watch my lands lay fallow, so I decided to make Shlichut (travel to America for the year as a type of Ambassador). My wife went to the Jewish agency and applied to be a teacher in a school in New Jersey. She was accepted for a job at the Ben Porat Yosef school in Paramus, but the agency said that in order to send us, I needed a job as well. My wife and I discussed what I could do and my wife suggested that I go work for ELAL. I ended up taking job in their cargo security section in Newark, and we moved to Englewood. Once I started working, I realized they wanted me to work on Shabbat (this was the before the new owner Shomer Shabbat owner was there. I’m sure that they’re not doing this anymore). I thought to myself, “ I’m keeping Shmitta in Israel and I came here to Newark to work on Shabbat? No way.” I told the man who is in charge of the shifts to please put me in any day he wanted- Fridays or Saturday nights, but no way on Shabbat.
At that point, they were not working on Fridays and their busiest day was Shabbat.
For a few weeks, the man was able to put me on shifts that worked out, but at some point, he told me that the supervisor noticed that I wasn’t there on Shabbat and that it wasn’t okay, and that I should work like everybody does. I told them, “I don’t care. I’m not working on Shabbat, do what you want.“
He told me he had to report this to the supervisor and I said okay.
There is a law in America, and in Israel, that if you don’t want to work on your holidays, they cannot fire you. Because of that, they could not fire me, but they started to build a case against me, claiming that I was unprofessional, and they tried to sabotage me…. after five or six weeks of this, I realized what they were doing. The supervisor then called me in and said that I couldn’t work with them, that I was unprofessional and it was too dangerous, and he was sending me to the chief supervisor of ELAL all over the world.
They told me they would fly me to Israel for this meeting, scheduled on a Thursday morning, and then fly me back to America on the midnight flight. I asked him if I would be able to stay for the weekend, but he said no. So I flew to Israel, went to the office of the man who is in charge of worldwide security. He asked me if I knew why I was there. I said that Yes, I did, it was because I did not want to work on Shabbat. He said that wasn’t the reason, it was because I wasn’t professional etc. I told him that if that was the reason, then they could fire me right now. The man asked me how I could say that, I had a house in America, I had a contract, I had my kids in school, my wife was there…. I told him not to worry and that if I wasn’t professional they could fire me on the spot. The supervisor told me that if that’s how I was speaking , then they would call me to the Israeli consulate in Manhattan, in two weeks from that point, for a hearing at the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs ( the payments for ELAL workers come from the government). He said they would fire me at that hearing but in the meantime, although I couldn’t work for them because it wasn’t safe, but they would keep paying me. I left the meeting, went to meet my parents, went to see my friends, and then I flew back to America. On the flight home, I started to think about what I would do without a job. How would I pay the bills? How would I pay the rent? What would happen? I thought I thought. When I arrived home, it was early in the morning. I made myself breakfast, had my tea, and then I got a phone call from Keren Hashvit (the organization that helps shmitta farmers). I don’t know how they found me, or how they got my phone number, but they told me that they heard that I was in America and they were looking for a farmer who would be willing to go into the schools and communities to teach the people and children about Shmitta. They asked me if I was available. I told them, “Yes, now I am.“ They asked me how much money I wanted, and I told him I just needed money to cover my bills and for food for my family. So I worked for them that year, and it turned out that the Israeli consulate only called me for the hearing four or five months later. They had continued to pay me, and payed for my health insurance. When I finally went for the hearing, there was a very nice woman sitting there, along with my old supervisor. I saw that the supervisor was waiting for the woman to yell at me, but she turned to me and said, “I heard from your supervisor already. What do you have to say?“
I told her that the only thing I had to say was that I came to America for one year, had no plans to stay, and all I asked is that they kept my visa until the end of June so that my children could at least finish school there. The day after that, I would go home.
I told her a little bit of my story, how I live near Gaza etc saw her eyes open wide, and I saw the enthusiasm in her face. She said, “Not only am I going to leave you the visa, I’m going to make sure that you have money and that you have a job.” She called in her assistant and told him to take my phone number, and to make sure that I have everything that I need. She told him to call me twice a week, and to find me a job. My supervisor’s face started changing colors. This was not what he expected.
In the end, I had to return to Israel a little earlier than I had planned, and on the way home I saw my old supervisor, on the plane with his wife. I said hello, and went on my way. Later on, I called my friend at the Newark station and asked him what happened. What was the supervisor doing on the plane? He told me that he got fired.
This is just one of the many Nissim/miracles that I have witnessed.
After hearing this story from Avichai, I have no question that the reason that ELAL switched to a Shomer Shabbat owner is because of the Mesirut Nefesh/self sacrifice of Avichai.
What a story! What a hero! And he calls himself a simple farmer.
We should have many more simple farmers like that!
Have a wonderful day.