Kommentar zu Peah 1:2

אין פוחתין לפאה מששים – from according to the Rabbis [no less than 1/60th]

Introduction This mishnah teaches that although there is no measure for peah, as we learned in yesterday’s mishnah, there is a minimum measure. The mishnah also provides a general means for determining how generous a person should be.

אף על פי שאמרו אין לפאה שיעור – As we have stated (that there is no measure) from the Torah itself.

They should not leave peah of less than one-sixtieth [of the field]. One shouldn’t leave less than one-sixtieth of his field as peah, meaning the four corners added up together should equal at least 1/60 of the field.

הכל לפי גודל השדה – If his field was large and the [number of] poor people few, he provides and increases upon the 1/60th measure – according to the size of his field; and if his field is small and the poor are many, he adds upon the 1/60th according to the multitude of the poor [in the midst of the community].

But even though they said, “there is no measure for peah,” everything depends upon the size of the field, the number of poor people, and the extent of the yield. When one is trying to determine how generous to be with leaving peah he should take three things into account. The first is the size of the field. If he has a big field then he should be able to afford to leave more of it as peah. The second is the number of poor people in his town. The more poor people the more peah. Finally he should take into account how much crops his field yielded, the better the yield the more he should give.

ולפי הענוה – [according to their humility]. There are those who have as their reading of the text ענוה – with a [letter] VAV, that is to say, according to his great measure of humility, he will increase [his gift] to the poor, based upon the language [found in] (Psalms 18:36), “Your care has made me great.” And Maimonides explained the expression as עניה [with a YOD], that is to say, how the earth will “respond” [as in Hosea 2:24 – “And the earth will respond with new grain and wine and oil…”]. And there are those who have as their reading of the text ענבה – with a BET, and its explanation is the large size of the grain and their smallness, for if the ears of corn of the field are in one place are full and good and in another shriveled [and] thin, he should not leave the corner of the field complete from the bad [grain], but he should estimate one-sixtieth for the bad [parts] and for the pleasing [parts].