According to Jewish law, every seventh year is a sabbatical -- or shmita -- year when Jewish farmers must let their fields lie fallow. And this is such a year.

But Israel's chief rabbi has ruled that Jewish farmers may sell their land to goyim -- non Jews -- temporarily for a year and still legally sell the produce.

Which reminds me of a story my rabbi used to tell.

In the story, a rabbi wakes up one winter sabbath morning to find that an overnight blizzard has blanketed the countryside. The rabbi must walk to shul -- the synagogue -- for morning prayers but he can't bring himself to mar with his footprints the perfect whiteness of the snowfall.

So he gets some goyim to carry him.