The Four Species in the Sabbatical Year
The Four Species in the Sabbatical Year
Etrog:
An etrog that formed in the sixth year before Rosh Hashanah and was picked in the seventh year after Rosh Hashanah: according to most Rishonim, it is exempt from the laws of the Sabbatical year and is obligated in terumot and maasrot; according to the Rambam, it has the sanctity of the Sabbatical year [and is obligated in terumot and maasrot]. Therefore, in order to take the Rambam’s opinion into account, one should buy an etrog that was picked before Rosh Hashanah. If one has only an etrog that was picked after Rosh Hashanah, it is permitted to take it through an Otzar Beit Din.
It is forbidden to take Sabbatical-year produce outside the Land of Israel; therefore, it is forbidden to send etrogim abroad, unless one is sending an etrog to places where it is impossible to obtain a non-grafted etrog.
It is forbidden to insert cloves as fragrance into an etrog that has the sanctity of the Sabbatical year.
It is permitted to yellow an etrog using apples of the Sabbatical year.
Aravah:
An aravah does not have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year [and it is forbidden to cut it without the owners’ permission], but it is proper that it have kashrut certification to ensure that prohibited work was not done with it, because of the prohibition of assisting transgressors. [As for the prohibition of ne’evad — produce worked on in violation of the Sabbatical year — there is room to discuss being lenient, since, as it has no sanctity of the Sabbatical year, it is not subject to the prohibition of ne’evad; and there is also room to discuss the prohibition of ne’evad regarding benefit.]
It is forbidden to prune the tops of the aravah in order to increase its branches.
Lulav:
It does not have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year [and it is forbidden to cut it without the owners’ permission], though some were stringent about this for themselves [in the eighth year (5783), but in this year (5782) there is no lulav at all that has the sanctity of the Sabbatical year, since it formed in the sixth year].
For those who are stringent and hold that a lulav has the sanctity of the Sabbatical year, there is room to question whether it is permitted to make rings and koishiklakh from it. If it is possible afterward to join the leaves together and make a broom from them, it is permitted.
Hadassim:
If they are not intended for fragrance but were planted for the mitzvah, they do not have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year; some were stringent for themselves [on Sukkot of the eighth year (5783), but during the Shemittah year itself (5782), they certainly do not have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year, because they formed in the sixth year].
Hadassim that are intended to be smelled, such as on Motzaei Shabbat [and are not intended only for fulfilling the mitzvah of the Four Species], do have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year.
It is forbidden to burn the hadas bushes in the Sabbatical year so that they will grow three-leaved.
Hanging fruits and etrogim for decoration:
It is permitted to hang Sabbatical-year fruits for decoration only if they will remain fit to be eaten after Sukkot.
Burning the lulav and hadassim at the burning of chametz [according to those who are stringent that they have the sanctity of the Sabbatical year]: if the lulav has already dried out and its leaves are not fit to be made into a broom, it is permitted to burn it; likewise, hadassim, if they have dried out and have no fragrance, it is permitted to burn them.
