Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron - Farming Controversy

Farming Controversy

In 2000, Bakshi-Doron became involved in a disagreement with some of the leading rabbis in Israel. In order to get around the Halakhic prohibitions of shmita, in which farmland must lie fallow once every seven years, Sephardi and Zionist Ashkenazi rabbis had traditionally issued "sales permits", with which farmers could symbolically sell their land to non-Jews for the sabbatical year, letting them continue to farm. That year the permits came under fire by Haredi Mitnagdic authority Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv. Chief Rabbis Bakshi-Doron and Lau, along with former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, ruled that the permits were still valid, and Bakshi-Doron publicly told farmers to go ahead with the sales.

When Bakshi-Doron gave farmers the green light to go ahead and work during the sabbatical year, the haredi newspaper Yated Ne'eman leaked threats that he would be excommunicated. He and his family were also threatened with ostracism, which would have meant that no member of the haredi community could have contact with them.

Eliashiv also said that unless Bakshi-Doron backed down, he would no longer be recognized as a rabbi among Haredim. In response, an emotional Bakshi-Doron met with Israeli President Moshe Katsav, where he reportedly burst into tears. Despite the open support of Katsav and Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Bakshi-Doron ultimately bowed to Eliashiv's threat. This was widely seen by members of the National Religious camp, which Bakshi-Doron belonged to, as a surrender to the Haredi community.