Commentary for Kilayim 6:12

Introduction In mishnah 4:5 we learned that according to Bet Hillel, there need to be two rows of vines for their to be a vineyard, whereas Bet Shammai held that only one row was necessary. As a reminder, if something is considered a vineyard, he will have to distance seeds four cubits from there, whereas if it is considered to be individual vines, he will only have to distance the seeds six handbreadths. In today’s mishnah we learn that Bet Hillel agrees with Bet Shammai that an aris, vines draped over reeds or a fence, is treated like a vineyard. In English this is translated as an “espalier,” a word which I admit that until now I did not know. My on-line dictionary translates it as, “a plant, especially a fruit tree, trained to grow flat against an upright surface, for example, a wall or fence, or on wires.”

What is an aris (an espalier) [which is regarded as a vineyard]? One who has planted a [single] row consisting of five vines beside a fence ten handbreadths high, or beside a trench ten handbreadths deep and four wide, they leave a space of four cubits in which to work it. For an aris to be considered like a vineyard, it must have at least five vines planted next to a fence ten handbreadths high or a trench ten handbreadths deep and four wide. They would train the vine to grow either on the sides of the fence, or on the walls of the trench. It seems that since this structure is more substantial, Bet Hillel agrees that it is treated like a vineyard. Practically speaking, treating the vines as a vineyard means that he will have to distance any seeds four cubits from them, as opposed to six handbreadths, the distance for single vines.

Bet Shammai says: they measure the four cubits from the body of the vine to the field; But Bet Hillel says: from the fence to the field. The mishanh now records a disagreement as to where they measure from when providing a space to work the vineyard. According to Bet Shammai they measure from the vines themselves. Bet Hillel says that they measure from the fence on which the vines are trained to the plot that he wants to plant with seeds, even though there will end up being less than four cubits between the actual vines and the seeds.

Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri said: all who say so are mistaken! Rather, if there are four cubits from the body of the vines to the fence, they leave a space in which to work it and they may sow the rest. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri disagrees with the tradition in the previous sections, according to which Bet Hillel holds that one row of vines is counted as a vineyard if it is in the form of an aris. Rabbi Yohanan b. Nuri admits that there was a tradition concerning “four cubits” and an “aris,” but he holds that the tradition was not like that recorded above. The “four cubits” and an “aris” tradition teaches that if the aris grew four cubits out from the fence, then they leave a space (of six handbreadths) in which to work the aris, just as they do with a single row of vines, and they may plant between this space and the fence. However, if there are less than four cubits, then one can’t plant between the vines and the fence.

And how much is the space in which work to work a vine? Six handbreadths in every direction. Rabbi Akiva says: three. This section now teaches how much space one must leave to work a single vine, meaning how much space one must leave between the vine and any seeds. According to the first opinion, he needs to leave six handbreadths, whereas Rabbi Akiva holds that three are sufficient.

Introduction This mishnah deals with an aris grown on a terrace, and the vines are draped over a field below. Do the vines above cause it to be prohibited to sow seeds in the fields below?

An aris which projects from a terrace: Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says: if a person standing on [level] ground is able to harvest all of it, [such an aris] prohibits [sowing seed in] four cubits of the field, but if [he is] not [able to do so], it prohibits [sowing seed] only [in] the [soil] which is directly below it. If a man standing on the ground below is able to reach up and harvest the grapes from the aris, then we look at the aris as if it stood in the field itself and it prohibits sowing seeds within four cubits. However, if he can’t reach up and harvest the grapes then the aris prohibits sowing seeds only directly below the aris. It will be permitted to plant in the space not directly below the aris, even if this is less than four cubits from the vines.

Rabbi Eliezer says: even one who has planted one [row of vines] on the ground, and one on a terrace, then if it is ten handbreadths above the [level] ground, one does not combine with the other; if it is not [ten handbreadths high] then one does combine with the other. Rabbi Eliezer brings another rule that also has to deal with vines planted on terraces. If one row of vines is planted on an upper terrace and another row is planted on a lower terrace, then the rows combine, provided that the upper row is less than ten handbreadths higher than the lower row. In such a case the rows will combine to form a vineyard. However, if they are separated by more than ten handbreadths, then they do not combine to form a vineyard and each row is treated separately.

Introduction This mishnah deals with one who hangs vines over a trellis the question is can he plant seeds under the parts of the trellis not covered with vines.

One who suspends vines over papyrus-ropes [of a trellis], he may not bring seed beneath the remainder [of the trellis]. It is forbidden, ab initio, to sow seeds underneath a trellis with vines trained over it, even underneath the parts that don’t have vines on them.

However, if he did so, he has not caused them to be prohibited. Although one is not allowed to plant seeds underneath the trellis, if he does do so, he has not caused the seeds to be prohibited. This is because he has not sown the seeds underneath the vines themselves.

If new [tendrils] spread [over the remainder], that [which was sown under the remainder] is forbidden. If, contra to the rules, he does sow seeds underneath the trellis when there are no vines directly overhead, and then the vines do grow over those seeds, the seeds underneath the vines now become prohibited.

Similarly, when one hangs vines over some part of a non-fruit-bearing tree. The same rules that apply above also apply when one hangs vines over a non-fruit bearing tree. The tree in this case is considered to be like a trellis because it does not bear fruit. In tomorrow’s mishnah we will learn that the rule is different when the tree does bear fruit.

Introduction In yesterday’s mishnah we learned about a person who trains vines over non-fruit bearing trees. In today’s mishnah we learn about training vines over fruit bearing trees and whether one can sow seeds underneath other parts of the trees.

One who suspends [branches of] a vine on part of [the branches of] a fruit tree, it is permitted to bring seed beneath the remainder. Whereas when it came to non-fruit bearing trees it was forbidden to bring seed beneath the remainder, when it comes to fruit-bearing trees, it is permitted. This is because the fruit-bearing tree is considered to be significant and is not discounted compared to the vines. In other words, it is not treated like a trellis. Since it is considered its own entity, it is only forbidden to introduce seed directly underneath the vine.

If new [tendrils] spread [over the remainder], he must turn them back. When it came to non-fruit bearing trees, if the tendrils grew over the seeds which were (against the rules) sown below, they caused the seeds to become forbidden. Again, the rule is more lenient when it comes to fruit-bearing trees. When the vines’ tendrils grow over them, the seeds do not become prohibited, but he must nevertheless turn the tendrils back.

It happened that Rabbi Joshua went to Rabbi Ishmael in Kefar Aziz, and the latter showed him a vine [with its branches] suspended on part of [the branches of] a fig tree. He [Rabbi Yishmael] asked him [Rabbi Joshua]: “May I bring seed beneath the remainder?” He answered him: “It is permitted.” The mishnah now relates a story containing a halakhic discussion between Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Ishmael. In the first story Rabbi Ishmael asks Rabbi Joshua if he can bring seed under the remaining parts of a fruit tree, those parts that don’t have vines over them. In accordance with what we learned above, Rabbi Joshua says that this is permitted.

He took him to Bet Hamaganyah and he showed him a vine [whose branches were] suspended on part of a beam belonging to the trunk of a sycamore, which had many beams. He [Rabbi Joshua] said to him [Rabbi Yishmael]: beneath this beam it is prohibited [to sow] but beneath the remainder it is permitted. In the second story, the two rabbis find themselves near a vine whose branches were spread over the beams of a sycamore tree, which is non-fruit bearing. The answer here is a little different than the law that we learned in mishnah three above. Rabbi Joshua tells him that he is not allowed to bring seed underneath the entire beam, because the beam is so large that it is treated as an independent tree. However, he may bring seed underneath the other beams because they are treated as if they were separate trees.

Introduction Our mishnah defines what is a non-fruit bearing tree, termed in Hebrew serak, with regard to the halakhot which we learned above in mishnayot three and four.

What is a serak (non-fruit bearing) tree?
Any tree which does not yield fruit. The first opinion simply holds that all trees that do not bear fruit are considered to be serak trees, and all of the rules in mishnah three above apply to them.

Rabbi Meir says: all trees are serak, except the olive and the fig tree. Rabbi Meir holds that the only non-serak trees, meaning the only trees whose fruit are significant, are the olive and fig trees. All other trees are considered “serak,” non-fruit bearing. We should probably remember that the wide variety of trees that we now have certainly did not exist in the ancient near east. The one significant tree that Rabbi Meir does seem to be excluding is the date palm. Perhaps date palms were not used in training grape vines and hence Rabbi Meir just doesn’t consider them in this context. Alternatively, Rabbi Meir holds that grapes were more valuable than dates, and hence compared to the vine, the date palm is non-fruit bearing.

Rabbi Yose says: all trees that are not planted in whole fields, are serak trees. Rabbi Yose says that a tree is considered to be a fruit-bearing tree if people will plant a whole field of that type of tree. For instance, if people will plant a whole field of etrog trees, then an etrog tree would be considered fruit bearing in the context of the rule above in mishnayot three and four. If not, then it is considered to be serak tree.

Introduction Our mishnah returns to discuss the aris (espalier), the vines trained to grow on either a fence, another tree or in a ditch.

Gaps in an aris must be eight cubits and somewhat more [in order to be able to sow seeds in the gaps]. If there are gaps in an aris that are more than eight cubits wide, then one can sow seeds in them.

[In the case of] all measurements that the sages said in connection with a vineyard, there is no ‘and somewhat more’, except in the case of gaps in an aris. The mishnah now makes a parenthetical remark that throughout Kilayim, whenever a measure was given, it was given precisely. If the Mishnah says that something has to be four cubits, it need only be four cubits exactly. However, in the case of gaps in the aris, there has to be a little more than eight cubits. The Tosefta says that the gap must be eight cubits and one handbreadth.

The following count as gaps in an aris: if an aris was razed in its middle and five vines remained on one side and five vines on the other side. Then if the gap is [only] eight cubits, one may not bring seed there. [But if the gap is] eight cubits and somewhat more, they give [the vines] space to work them, and he may sow the rest. The mishnah now explains what gaps in an aris need to be in order to sow seeds there. There are two necessary conditions. The aris had to have originally had more than ten vines. The middle vines were then razed and there was left a gap in between the remaining vines that was big enough to plant two arisim, each of five vines. If this gap is precisely eight cubits (or less), then one cannot sow seeds in between. However, if the gap is more than eight cubits then he can leave space to work the remaining vines, and plant seeds in the middle. In mishnah one we learned that according to the sages, he needs to leave four cubits to work the remaining aris, whereas R. Yohanan ben Nuri holds that he need leave only six handbreadths. We should also note that gaps in an aris are treated differently from the karahat, the empty patch in a vineyard, which requires sixteen cubits for it to be permitted to plant there (mishnah 4:1).

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with the laws of an aris.

An aris which turns away from a wall where it forms an angle, and comes to an end, they give it space to work it and they may sow the rest. The mishnah describes a situation where an aris is planted at the corner where two walls meet, two of the vines being on one of the walls and three of the vines being on the other wall. In such a case, all he needs to do is leave six handbreadths from the vines in order to work them and he can plant the rest of the space in between the two walls.

Rabbi Yose says: if there are not four cubits there, one may not bring seed there. According to Rabbi Yose, there must be at least four cubits between the two walls; if there is not he may not sow seeds there.

Introduction This mishnah deals with reed canes that protrude from an aris but that don’t have vines hanging on them.

Canes which protrude from the aris and one is too concerned for them to cut them short, it is permitted to sow directly beneath them. In this case the only reason that he hasn’t cut the unused canes down is that he doesn’t want to destroy them. He has no plans to train the vines over these canes. Therefore, he may sow seeds directly beneath them.

If he made them [long] so that the new [growth] might spread along them, it is forbidden [two sow underneath]. In this case, he does plan to use the canes as part of the aris. Hence, even before he does use them, it is forbidden to sow seeds underneath.

Introduction The final mishnah of chapter six continues to deal with things that extend from the aris.

A blossom which protruded from the aris, it is regarded as if a plumb line were suspended from it, directly beneath it, it is prohibited [to sow]. If a blossom of a new vine sticks out from an aris it is forbidden to plant only directly beneath the blossom. “Directly beneath” is determined by the use of a plumb line, which is dropped directly from the blossom.

Similarly, in the case of [a blossom protruding from] a hanging branch [of a single vine.] The same halakhah holds true for a blossom of a vine which protrudes from a single vine. It is forbidden to sow seeds only directly beneath this vine.

One who has stretched a vine-shoot from tree to tree, it is forbidden to sow beneath it. The following three sections deal with cases where a person extended a vine hung over one tree to hang it over another. If he simply extended the vine itself, it is prohibited to sow seeds underneath the vine.

If he made an extension [to the vine] by means of rope or reed, it is permitted under the extension. If the vine was too short to be extended to the other tree and he used a rope or a reed to extend it, then it is permitted to plant seeds underneath the reed.

If he made the extension so that the new [growth] might spread along it, it is forbidden. However, if he intends to train the vine to continue to grow onto the rope or reed, then it is prohibited to plant seeds directly underneath.