Shemitta - Frequently Asked Questions

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What the heck is “Shemitta”??
What qualifies you to write a book like this?
If it is so important, why isn’t it free?

What the heck is “Shemitta”??

Shemitta is based upon the Hebrew root, shamat, meaning “release.” It is typically applied to the release of all debts every seven years described in Deuteronomy 15. The seventh year has hence become known as “the year of release,” so named in Deut 31:10.

The scope of this book is the Mosaic law applicable to the seventh year and immediately related to elements thereof. Together, keeping or violating these statutes induces either the national blessings or curses of Leviticus 26 in an almost mechanical fashion. The key element is a new understanding of the original plan for the Sabbath for the Land, lost to history for 3,500 years.

What qualifies you to write a book like this?

Nothing in particular, and everything altogether.

There are two pages on this site that address this question: Why Now? and Why Me?. Yet there are a couple of things they don’t say that I feel compelled to answer here:

Brilliant scholars throughout history have studied the Bible in microscopic detail, and yet, by the time you finish this book I am certain you will be convinced that this understanding is completely correct, despite the fact that it has gone undiscussed all that time. If anybody knew about this, they did not put it in writing.

Think of it for a moment: Here we are at a historic juncture that has the inarguable potential to become the tribulation anticipated since at least the Book of Enoch. This magnificent system, one that presages the entire history of Biblical revelation, lay hidden by our own disobedience in its oldest body of Law, to be revealed with sudden rediscovery by a Gentile of the founding verse, yet it went unmentioned in two volumes of Talmudic scholarship spanning the topic.

To me, these things are as shocking as to anybody. There I was, so cynical about religion I jokingly called myself the “founder” of the “First Church of Pantheistic Agnosticism.” All I can tell you is that now I consider myself accountable to Him for having been left with this talent, to make it grow for Him, by seeing to it that you hear this message. In my opinion, we do not have long to get it together.

If it is so important, why isn’t it free?

There are a whole bunch of reasons for why I chose to start marketing it this way.

The Shemitta CD contains 765 photographs. That made it too huge for traditional downloads. The costs of production and sales have yet to be covered, including paying the people who took the pictures. Most were good enough to offer them for free with the stipulation that, if I sold a lot of books, I'd pay them a reasonable fee.
In the twelve years of research and brutal physical labor that have led me to this point, I have not taken one dime in contributions or payment. I have a house to repair, kids to send to college, and not much for retirement, just like anybody else.
I will probably have significant travel expenses to fund associated with spreading the word about this find.
The twenty-year investment in restoration of our land must continue. I'm getting older. Either I do it, or I have to pay somebody to do it. I'd really like to teach more people how to do it. Weeding among over 300 species isn't easy. We've learned a lot that should be inculcated.
I haven’t taken the time to set up a non-profit yet. I probably will.
If it is well-accepted, I intend to have it translated into multiple languages, especially into Hebrew for free distribution in Israel. That won’t come cheap. Please help pay for it.

Hence, I will be pricing the various forms of Shemitta to be as inexpensive as possible considering those demands. If there comes a time when I can afford to make it free, I will do that.

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