The Torah in Parashat Behar introduces several prohibitions that apply during the Shemita year – which is observed every seven years – including the command, “Ve’et Inveh Nezirecha Lo Tibsor” (25:5), forbidding harvesting grapes during Shemita in the usual manner. This command establishes a general prohibition forbidding the collection of all Shemita produce in the usual way of harvesting. It is permissible to partake of the Shemita produce, but the produce must be collected with a Shinui (“deviation”), differently from the usual manner of harvesting, in order to show that the produce is ownerless and readily accessible to everyone. Interestingly, the Torah here refers to the grapes which may not be harvested normally with the expression, “Inveh Nezirecha.” The commentators disagree as to what the term “Nezirecha” means in this verse. The verb N.Z.R. generally means “separate” – as in the word “Nazir,” referring to somebody who vows to abstain from wine – and thus Rashi explains this phrase as speaking of one who set his produce aside for himself, in violation of the laws of Shemita. Instead of making his grapes ownerless, as the Torah requires on Shemita, he kept them “separate” and guarded, reserved for himself. The Torah commands that even though this produce was not declared ownerless, nevertheless, it is subject to the laws of Shemita, and may not be harvested in the usual manner. The Ramban explains this phrase differently, claiming that the Torah speaks simply of a vine which has yet to be harvested. The Torah refers to such vines as “Inveh Nezirecha” because a Nazir does not harvest his grapes, since he is not allowed to eat them or drink wine. After one harvests produce during Shemita, even in a permissible manner, it is subject to various different restrictions. For example, the produce must be used constructively, and may not be wasted. The Tosefta tells that the Sages recognized the practical difficulties caused by the Shemita restrictions on harvesting, and so they instituted the system of “Osar Bet Din” (literally, “the court’s warehouse”). In this system, the Bet Din takes responsibility for the fields, and hires the fields’ owners as its workers to collect the produce and store it. The restrictions of Shemita do not apply to Bet Din, and so this system allows for the restrictions to be circumvented. The Hazon Ish (Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, 1878-1953) approved of this system in the modern era, and to this day, the Osar Bet Din arrangement is followed to allow for the harvesting and distribution of Shemita produce. The owners of the fields officially work for the Bet Din, and their profits are received as payment for their services.