THE SHMITA POLEMIC – 'TORAT YEHONATAN' – 1889 – FIRST EDITION

THE SHMITA POLEMIC – 'TORAT YEHONATAN' – 1889 – FIRST EDITION
A halachic book in favor of Heter Mechira by Rabby Yehonatan Abelman. The book includes a letter to the author from Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector of Kaunas in which he supports selling the land of Israel to a gentile during the Shmita so he can continue to work it.
With the increase in the number of Jewish settlements, towards the Shmita of 1889, the question of observing the Shmita arose. Observing the Shmita could lead to the weakening of the Yishuv and maybe even to mortal danger. The clerks of the Baron Rothschild turned to the greatest Torah scholars of the generation: the NATZIV, Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever and Rabbi Mordechai Eliashberg. The question was whether to sell the lands of the settlements to a gentile, for a predetermined amount of time, so that the land could continue to be worked during the Shmita. The NATZIV did not permit to sell the land. Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever and Rabbi Mordechai Eliashberg supported the selling of the land, yet wanted the agreement of Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan of Kaunas. Rabbi Yitzchak joined the Heter as well as other Polish rabbis.
In the introduction to the book, the author explains the background for writing it.
The book discusses the matter at length and was one of the first books to deal with it in a comprehensive manner.
Rabbi Yehonatan Abelman (1854-1903) became a rabbi in Chorntz in 1875 and in 1884, a rabbinical judge in Bialystok. He was the nephew of the father of the Mussar movement Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. His writings were published only after his death in the book 'Zichron Yehonatan', which includes this book 'Torat Yehonatan'.
45 pp.
Condition: Good. Front cover falling apart.