3,801. Selling a Field Full of Produce

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 11:5

Pursuant to the previous halacha, let’s say that there are ten years until yoveil and someone sells a field for 100 dinars. The buyer benefits from the field for three years when the seller decides to redeem it. In such a case, the seller gives the buyer seventy dinars and the buyer returns the field. Similarly, if the buyer benefits from the field for six years, the seller gives the buyer forty dinars and the buyer returns the field. If the seller doesn’t redeem the field, leaving it with the buyer until yoveil, it then returns to the seller without money changing hands. This is as per Leviticus 25:15: “Based on the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you.”

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 11:6

If the owner sold the field full of produce and redeemed it after two years, he can’t tell the buyer to return it as full of produce as it was when it was sold. Therefore, if he sold the field full of produce before Rosh Hashana and redeemed it after two years, the buyer will have benefited from three harvests in two years. Nevertheless, the amount to buy back the field is based only on those two years, as per Leviticus 27:18: “based on the remaining years.” We see that the calculation is based solely on years and not on crops.