The Laws of Sefichin
What Are Sefichin?
Sefichin are vegetables that began to grow during the Shemittah year; according to the Rambam, this includes any vegetable harvested during the Shemittah year.
The Law of Sefichin
By Torah law, these crops are permitted to be eaten and possess the sanctity of the seventh year. However, Chazal decreed [Pesachim 51; Rambam, chapter 4 of Shemittah ve-Yovel] that they may not be eaten, because of transgressors who would sow their fields during the Shemittah year and claim that the produce had grown on its own.
Therefore, it is forbidden to eat vegetables that began to grow in the seventh year in a Jew’s field, and they are prohibited due to the prohibition of sefichin.
The Prohibition of Sefichin Regarding Vegetables That Began Growing in the Sixth Year and Were Harvested in the Seventh
The Rishonim disagree regarding vegetables that began to grow in the sixth year and were harvested during Shemittah: since they began growing in a Jew’s field in the sixth year, perhaps they are not subject to the prohibition of sefichin; or, since the harvesting took place during the Shemittah year, perhaps they are subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
The opinion of the Rash (tractate Sheviit, chapter 9, mishnah 1) and the Ramban (Vayikra 25) is that, with regard to the prohibition of sefichin for vegetables, the determining time is the beginning of growth.
However, the Rambam’s opinion (Laws of Shemittah and Yovel, chapter 4, halachah 12) is that for the prohibition of sefichin we follow the time of harvesting, just as with the sanctity of the seventh year. According to him, any vegetable harvested during Shemittah, even if most of its growth occurred before Shemittah, is forbidden due to the prohibition of sefichin. This is also the opinion of the Rashas (on the Jerusalem Talmud, chapter 9, halachah 1), and so it appears in the responsa of the Mabit (vol. 3, §45): vegetables that do not keep and were harvested in the seventh year have no possible way to be permitted for eating, even if they grew in the sixth year, for we follow their harvesting; only regarding vegetables of non-Jews is there uncertainty whether they have the sanctity of the seventh year as in the Land of Israel, etc. — these are the words of the Mabit.
Our master the Chazon Ish wrote in his work on Shemittah, §9, subsection 17, that since the Rash and the Ramban disagree with the Rambam regarding a rabbinic prohibition, one may rely on the lenient opinions. Therefore, various Shemittah committees have the practice of being lenient regarding vegetables during the first months of the Shemittah year, in accordance with the opinion of the Rash and the Ramban.
However, as is known, the Chazon Ish was personally stringent according to the Rambam’s view, that vegetables harvested in the seventh year are subject to the prohibition of sefichin [unless they were harvested in the sixth year and stored]. Likewise, many Sephardim are stringent according to the Rambam’s view that these vegetables are forbidden to eat due to the prohibition of sefichin, because they maintain that in the laws of Shemittah — for which there is no Shulchan Aruch — the ruling follows the Rambam. Nevertheless, the Chazon Ish wrote that even in this matter the halachah follows the majority of the Rishonim, and many Sephardim are lenient in this regard.
To What Does the Prohibition of Sefichin Apply?
The prohibition of sefichin applies both to food for human consumption and to animal feed [except for straw and stalks].
Crops prohibited by the prohibition of sefichin are only vegetables, grain, legumes, and annual crops [which are sown from year to year], but not fruit of the tree.
A perennial vegetable with a hard stem (such as lemon verbena and rosemary, eggplant, pineapple, artichoke, papaya, and banana) is not subject to the prohibition of sefichin. But if the stem is soft (as with mint, strawberry, and celery), one should be concerned that it may be subject to the prohibition of sefichin (all the examples in this section still require practical clarification; some of them also do not produce within their first year, which is also a reason why the decree of sefichin would not apply to them).
Perennial spices are not subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
With regard to an especially low shrub (such as shiba), one should be concerned that it may be subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
A hefker field is subject to the prohibition of sefichin and is not considered a fallow field, because it is suitable for sowing. The status of produce grown in a perforated pot requires analysis; in practice, one should be stringent in this matter.
Places Where the Prohibition of Sefichin Does Not Apply
Produce grown by a non-Jew is not subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
Regarding a Jewish-owned field rented by a non-Jew, as well as state-administered lands that are leased and subleased to non-Jews, the later authorities disagree.
Produce of Transjordan, even if grown by a Jew, is not subject to the prohibition of sefichin, but it does possess the sanctity of the seventh year.
Plants that are not normally sown are not subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
In the following fields — a fallow field, a plowed field left unsown, a vineyard field, and a field already sown — the prohibition of sefichin does not apply. The reason is that there is no concern that people will come to sow vegetables there.
Produce grown inside a house is not subject to the prohibition of sefichin [even in a house that is not roofed].
Produce grown in a non-perforated pot appears not to be subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
Additional Laws of the Prohibition of Sefichin
Vegetables harvested in the seventh year, where there is doubt whether they were sown in the seventh year, may not be eaten. However, they may be burned only if one knows with certainty that they are sefichin.
It is forbidden to feed animals crops that were prohibited as sefichin.
A pot in which sefichin were cooked must undergo hagalah; if food was cooked in it while it was ben yomo, the food is prohibited to eat.
A sharp food cut with a knife that had been used to cut hot or sharp sefichin is forbidden to eat.
Sefichin that are forbidden to eat and are growing in one’s field — it is a mitzvah to uproot them. The Chazon Ish was uncertain whether it is permitted to destroy them by hand, and he leaned toward the view that although by Torah law they possess the sanctity of the seventh year, since Chazal prohibited them, it is permitted to destroy them by hand.
Mushrooms are not subject to the prohibition of sefichin.
Sefichin are forbidden to eat but permitted for benefit [Bava Metzia 58; Menachot 84]. However, it is forbidden to use them for planting or to feed them to one’s animal [Chazon Ish, §9].
If sefichin became mixed with other vegetables, they prohibit the mixture unless there is sixty times their amount; and when mixed with their own kind, they prohibit in any amount [see Rambam, chapter 7, halachah 22 of Shemittah ve-Yovel].
The Amount of Growth Before Shemittah Needed to Avoid the Prohibition of Sefichin
Grain and legumes must reach one-third of their growth before Rosh Hashanah; if they reached one-third of their growth after Rosh Hashanah, they are forbidden.
Vegetables — if they began to grow before Shemittah, they are not prohibited; the Rambam’s view is that anything harvested in the seventh year is forbidden, as explained above.
Ways to Buy Vegetables Without Concern for Sefichin
A. Vegetables grown outside the Land of Israel.
B. Vegetables from Syria and Transjordan, whether grown by a non-Jew or by a Jew.
C. Produce grown by a non-Jew.
D. When they began to grow before Shemittah (though some are stringent in this matter and maintain that they are permitted only if harvested before Shemittah, as above).
Concern for Sefichin When Buying Flowers During Shemittah
Decorative flowers that have a fragrance are subject to the prohibition of sefichin [in the case of annual flowers or perennials with a soft stem].
Decorative flowers without fragrance — according to the basic law, they are not subject to the prohibition of sefichin, since they do not possess the sanctity of the seventh year; nevertheless, there is room to be stringent that they are subject to the prohibition of sefichin even though they do not possess the sanctity of the seventh year.
There is also room to discuss this from the perspective of the laws of produce that was guarded or worked during Shemittah, but in practice one may be lenient in this regard. However, there is a prohibition of assisting transgressors.
When moving a flowerpot from place to place, some are stringent not to do so because of the change in its nourishment from the ground, and this requires discussion.
If one wraps the pot in nylon, it may certainly be moved from place to place.
In practice, however, one should not buy flowers without supervision because of the prohibition of sefichin, and also because of the prohibition of assisting wrongdoing; if the flowers have fragrance, there is also a prohibition of commerce.
The Laws of Sefichin in the Eighth Year
Sefichin harvested in the seventh year — some are stringent that they remain forbidden forever.
Sefichin harvested after the conclusion of the seventh year are forbidden until similar produce grows, or after Chanukah even if similar produce has not yet grown.
Vegetables such as potatoes and onions, which are commonly stored in cold storage, may be eaten only when the majority of vegetables of that type in the market are from the produce of the eighth year.
