Heiter Mechirah and time of eradication

(Heiter Mechirah, literally “permission due to sale”, refers to a permission to work the land in the Land of Israel on a sabbatical year. This permission is granted when the piece of land being worked has been fictitiously sold to a gentile. Most expert rabbis are of the opinion that this sale is invalid, and it’s forbidden to work this land.) If I’m staying at a hotel that relies on Heiter Mechirah. What should I do? Am I allowed to eat there? And what is “eradication”?

Dear …!

In places where they serve produce that was grown under the aegis of “heiter mechirah”, there are three basic problems:

1. Shoots
2. Produce that was guarded and worked on the sabbatical year
3. Obligation to eradicate

Let me explain these.

1. Vegetables that grew under heiter mechirah were planted and cultivated on a sabbatical year, at a time when working the land is prohibited. Therefore, they have the status of forbidden shoots, which sprouted in a sabbatical year (“sphichin”). It’s forbidden to eat them.
2. Fruits that were grown under the aegis of heiter mechirah were planted not on a sabbatical year, but a number of years before that. Therefore, they are not considered forbidden shoots (“sphichin”). However, their cultivation did involve several transgressions:
   1. Instead of being rendered ownerless, they were guarded by Jews.
   2. Their care did involve work that is forbidden on a sabbatical year.

There are many authorities who are lenient on the issue of such fruit. They hold that this forbidden work does not render the produce prohibited.

3. Even this fruit that one is allowed to eat, according to what we explained just now, becomes forbidden once it reaches the date of its eradication. “Eradication date” means that none of this kind of fruit is left out in the fields where it grows. This particular kind of fruit, if it has been harvested and is now stored inside a house, has to be rendered ownerless (by making a declaration that one relinquishes its ownership). The time that this has to be done depends on the kind of fruit. (For example, today, in the middle of the month of Elul, the apricot has been gone from the trees outside for over a month; but the plum can still be found on trees.) If the fruit was not declared ownerless according to law, it is forbidden to eat it. 

Maimonides, Yad ha-Chazakah, the Laws of Sabbatical and Jubilee Years, 4:2, 7:1-3