Shemittah: Radical Perspectives on Society, Land and the Individual
Rabbanit Gilla Rosen
Rabbanit Gilla Rosen teaches Talmud and Midrash and works as a Yoetzet Halakha (Halakhic advisor) for Nishmat. Rabbanit Rosen is dean of the Yakar Center for Tradtition and Creativity. Gilla studied at the Michlala College for Women, Barnard, the University of Manchester, Matan and Nishmat. She received her MA in Comparative Literature. She has lectured at Pardes, Matan, Midreshet Lindenbaum and the Melton Program at Hebrew University. She lives in Jerusalem with her children and grandchildren.
The Biblical descriptions of Shemittah, and other laws regarding Tzedaka, pose a challenge to the normal rules that govern the structures and smooth functioning of our society. Hazal emphasized the critical significance of these ideals and at the same time created practical methods to circumvent the difficulties that they created, amplifying the cognitive dissonance already present. We will look at passages in Talmud and Midrashic texts and analyze together where these divergent patterns of thought lead us.