The first mishneh in Moed Katan says that it is permitted to water a very dry field during hol hamoed and the shmitta year. (Hol homoed are the middle days of the 7 day Passover holiday, and the middle days of the 8 day Sukkos holiday.) The reason that watering is so important to be permitted is written in the Rambam (H. Shmitta VeYovel ch. 1 h. 10) that if this field is not watered the land will become salty and all the trees in it will perish. Since this prohibition is NOT a Torah law rather a Rabbinical one, the Rabbis did not want extensive damage to result from their edicts.

The fact that hol hamoed and shmitta year are mentioned together requires explanation. The reason we do not work during hol hamoed is because our Rabbis wanted to limit the amount of work to the minimum. The permitted types of work are those that do not require great physical effort and would result in personal loss if not executed on time. The reason we do not work during the shmitta year is because the Torah and our Rabbis made forbidden any kind of agricultural in the land of Israel. The permitted types of works are those which are not mentioned in the Torah and which would result in losing the fruits if not executed on time. So we can see that the common denominator here is the necessity to prevent loss. Harav A.Y. Greineman told me that hol hamoed and shmitta have something else in common: that nobody else can do the work instead of the owner,as opposed to a person in the week of mourning that he may sometimes have others do work in his place.

Let us talk about Shmitta. The list of forbidden types of work during shmitta is quite long - we will learn them in the coming pages of gemorrah. The question is why is watering permitted? Is this a specific leniency only for watering or perhaps other types of work are permitted because they are similar in some way to irrigation? This question comes to be extremely important for farmers in Israel who wish to keep the laws of shmitta.

The answer to the question is quite complex. I am guided in my explanations by a book written by Harav Zeev Whiteman seven years ago. *

So let us start with the discussion on our page:

"But during the seventh year whether irrigation is similar to sowing or similar to plowing, neither of them are permitted during the seventh year! Abaye answers that the mishneh that permits irrigation is the opinion of Rebbi that holds that during the diaspora the commandment of shmitta is only a Rabbinical decree. Rava answers that even the Rabbis who disagree with Rebbi and hold that shmitta is a Torah law during the diaspora, agree that irrigation which is not specifically mentioned in the written law is not forbidden."

Now be careful! Both opinions hold that watering this field is not forbidden by the Torah. Abaye because there is no Torah-Shmitta anymore and Rava because of a "loophole" in Torah Law whereby some types of work are permitted because they lack being mentioned specifically in the written law.

Both opinions hold that irrigation is forbidden by the Rabbis. Abaye because all types of work in shmitta were forbidden by the Rabbis and Rava because anything that was in the "loophole" was "plugged" and forbidden by the Rabbis.

Both opinions hold that irrigation of the very-dry land mentioned in the mishneh is permitted during shmitta. Abaye and Rava agree that the Rabbis did not intend that their decrees would cause such extensive damage. On the other hand, Abaye holds that this is a generality and Rava holds that only irrigation along with other types of work in the same "loophole" are permitted. There is a commentary (N'muke Yosef) that irrigation is the only type of work permitted by the Rabbis.

There is a very deep disagreement between Abaye and Rava: Abaye holds that in our days there is no shmitta from the Torah. Rava holds that every seven years the Torah tells us to observe shmitta in the land of Israel.

If we hold by Abaye, any time the Rabbis have a doubt about certain aspects of shmitta we can be lenient because even the things the Torah mentioned should not be done are presently only Rabbinical decrees.

If we hold by Rava, any time the Rabbis have a doubt about certain aspects of shmitta we must be stringent because the Torah warned us not to work the land during shmitta.

The question of whether shmitta exists today as a Torah law is extremely difficult to answer. We find several important Rabbis of the previous generation whom after lengthy discussions refused to "take sides". Because of this, many of our Rabbis choose to discuss each type of work by itself to decide whether it deserves the same status as irrigation or not - when there will be damage to the crop if withheld.