In Eretz Yisrael today there is no practical opportunity to fulfill this mitzva. Israeli sheep produce simple, coarse wool suitable only for thick thread, from which a kohen gains nothing. Moreover, the cost of shearing exceeds the wool’s value; shearing is done for the animals’ welfare alone, to prevent the weight of wool from burdening them. Owners therefore pay the shearers and give them the wool as wages. In these circumstances the kohen has little use for what he receives either. One cannot argue, however, that this wool is unfit for clothing and therefore exempt — it is technically wearable; the preference for finer wool in the clothing industry is simply a consequence of rising living standards.
If the owner sold all the wool to Jewish shearers in exchange for the shearing while it was still on the sheep, Rambam holds that the obligation passes to the shearers. Some hold that since the wool no longer belongs to the owner at the time of shearing, and the shearers do not own the sheep, neither party is obligated (Rema YD 333:8, as explained by Shakh 333:8; AHS 333:8).
A further difficulty concerns ownership. As noted in section 7, the custom is to sell the esophagus of animals that have not yet given birth to a non-Jew, to prevent the firstborn from becoming sacred. For purposes of the first shearing, any animal in which a non-Jew holds a share does not count toward the five-sheep threshold.
One who wishes to fulfill this mitzva today must therefore ensure that the sheep are entirely his, shear them personally or through an agent, separate 200 grams so that at least 100 grams remains after cleaning, and give the wool to a kohen. Even if the kohen will presumably not use the fleece, the mitzva has been fulfilled.
Some hold that no berakha is recited over the first shearing, since the Yisrael is not giving of his own — God granted the kohanim rights to these gifts from the outset (R. Yehuda b. Palat; Ramban). Others hold that one recites the berakha “concerning the giving of the first shearing,” since unlike the foreleg, cheeks, and maw — which belong to the kohen from the moment of slaughter — the first shearing must be actively designated, making the act of separation a genuine mitzva (Roke’aḥ; Pe’at ha-Shulḥan). This was also the practical ruling of our teacher, Rav Z. Y. Kook, of blessed memory.
