During the period when the Land was desolate, without Jewish orchards or fields, the prohibition against raising small livestock lapsed (SA ḤM 409:1). After we merited returning to the Land of our ancestors and making its desolate places bloom, the question arose anew. Some maintain that since the reason for the decree is known – to prevent damage to fields – the decree remains in force as long as the reason remains. Since today there are fields that could be damaged by these animals, the decree has regained its force (Yabi’a Omer ḤM 3:7; Shevet ha-Levi 4:227).
- Tzvi Pesaḥ Frank, however, maintains that when a decree has lapsed for a period of time, it does not come back into force without a new enactment. Since the decree lapsed during the exile, its force expired, and today there is no prohibition against raising small livestock in the Land (Har Tzvi, notes to Tur ḤM 409).
In addition, during the early period of renewed Jewish settlement in the Land, it was accepted practice to raise herds of small livestock. It therefore follows that all the settlers who planted fields and engaged in agriculture settled there with the understanding that small-livestock herders were permitted to graze their animals in open fields, provided they were careful not to damage orchards or vegetable fields. Since the entire enactment was made for the farmers’ benefit, and they agreed that small livestock could be raised around their fields, there is no basis for restoring the enactment (Amud ha-Yemini 23; Tzitz Eliezer 7:24:3).
Moreover, it may be that the reason for the enactment itself no longer applies. Today law-enforcement authorities can reach virtually any place and enforce the law in a way that protects fields from animals. Accordingly, there is no need to restore the enactment.
In practice, since the dispute concerns a rabbinic prohibition, the halakha follows the lenient view, in keeping with the rule that in cases of uncertainty regarding rabbinic law, one may be lenient. Not only may one be lenient in this matter; it is proper to do so. Today, grazing small livestock helps fulfill the mitzva of settling the Land, since grazing makes it possible to hold broad expanses of land and fulfill the mitzva of inheriting the Land, so that it remains in our hands and not in the hands of another nation. Since the original enactment was rooted in the mitzva of settling the Land, when raising these animals benefits the settlement of the Land, doing so is a mitzva.
