(25 Oct 2014) LEADIN:
Every seven years - according to the Bible - Jewish farmers must give their lands a rest.
But how does a modern-day society now reconcile that ancient spiritual practice with a need to feed millions of mouths?
With a nudge and a wink, that's how.
STORYLINE:
The seventh-year sabbatical - named "shmita" in Hebrew - began in September on the Jewish New Year, and extends through till the autumn of 2015.
Though only a minority of Jewish farmers in the Middle East abide by strict Jewish religious law, nearly all of them choose to follow the biblical directive, in part so they don't lose their Orthodox customers' business.
"Only good will grow from it," goes the official slogan of Israel's government directorate that guides perplexed Jewish farmers through the archaic laws of the sabbatical year.
But some farmers have begun to employ a clever solution; using hydroponics, growing produce not in soil, but in nutrient-enhanced water.
Here in the small desert community of Bnei Netzarim, 40-year-old Gilad Fine grows organic romaine lettuce and kale in thin white troughs.
They're connected to an automated grid that circulates the enhanced water which feeds the plants the nutrients they need.
"Every seven years, we have a commandment in the Bible - in the Tanakh - that we have to let the land rest and we're not meant to work the land," he says.
"We're meant to study - this year Torah - and our farm is meant to be open for who would like to come and eat, can eat what the farm has to offer."
Gilad Fine's greenhouse follows specific guidelines that certify the produce kosher for the sabbatical year; the troughs are raised high and the ground is covered in dark nylon.
"This solves the problem for the Shmita," he says.
"What we have, the plant is in a closed tunnel, the root system is not closed to the land, it's above land, if you can see also we have nylon on it so we won't see the land, and it's above the land and there's no relationship here between the land and the root. So we are not using the land this year. So then we're keeping the Shmita in a certain way, by not using the land."
While Gilad Fine uses his inventive method to growing crops, the most devout Jews don't accept these loopholes.
Instead, they prefer to import produce from abroad or from Palestinian farmers.
According to Israeli agricultural and religious officials, out of some 6,700 Jewish farmers in Israel, only around 50 want nothing to do with the religious rules.
And only around 100 have abandoned their farms altogether this year in exchange for small government stipends.
Most opted for a simple solution and sold their farms to the government.
The government then sold the land - valued together at $33 billion USD - to a 25-year-old non-Jewish telemarketer named George Shtraykhman from St. Petersburg, Russia.
This turns him into one of Israel's biggest private landowners, but the year-long sale is only symbolic - he didn't even take home a copy of the contract.
To farmers like Yehuda Gabay, following the biblical directive is a nuance which distinguishes true faith.
"There are some farmers who obtain selling permits. With the selling permits you are allowed to grow and to sell it to the food chains, the food chains get the selling permits," he says.
"As far as I am concerned, because I am a believer that the law of the Torah is important to me, that's why I don't harvest and I am a man of faith."
Gabay now plans to not work his land until autumn 2015.
He says he's prepared to watch his finances suffer if that means honouring the sabbatical year.
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