October 25, 2007

New York Times - hard hitting journalism as always

Israel's Top Court Backs Loophole in Farming Law

"The Israeli Supreme Court stepped into a religious dispute on Wednesday, ordering the chief rabbinate not to allow local rabbis to decide for themselves whether to authorize produce from Jewish land to be sold during this sabbatical year.

The case centered on a loophole in religious law used to allow Jewish-owned farms to grow and sell kosher produce every seventh year, when the Bible says that Jewish land in Israel should be left fallow. The Biblical injunction about the sabbatical, or “shmita” year, is taken literally by many ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, who refuse to buy or consume produce unless it is grown by non-Jews on land not owned by Jews."


Yeah... we're nutty like that... taking our G-d's commandments literally.

"So G-d, let me get this straight. When you say no pork, you mean don't eat it all the time, right?" -- Moses
Oh, and flattering headline too.

No comments: