Commentary for Sheviit 9:4
אוֹכְלִין עַל הַמֻּפְקָר, אֲבָל לֹא עַל הַשָּׁמוּר. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי מַתִּיר אַף עַל הַשָּׁמוּר. אוֹכְלִין עַל הַטְּפִיחִין וְעַל הַדּוּפְרָא, אֲבָל לֹא עַל הַסִּתְוָנִיּוֹת. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַתִּיר כָּל זְמַן שֶׁבִּכְּרוּ עַד שֶׁלֹּא יִכְלֶה הַקָּיִץ:
One may continue to eat [Sabbatical produce] on the basis of ownerless [produce not having yet been finished], but not on the basis of guarded produce. Rabbi Yosi permits even on the basis of guarded produce. One may eat on the basis of poor quality grain or on the basis of the second crop, but not on the basis of winter fruits. Rabbi Yehudah permits so long as the winter fruit began to ripen before the end of the summer [of the Sabbatical year].
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
אוכלין על המפקר – they eat from what is in the house through that which is found from the same species in the field in an ownerless place. But if it that species stopped and ceased from the place that is ownerless, even though it is found of it in a guarded place in the houses or in the gardens, he is liable to remove them [from the house] as we say that it ceased for the beasts from the field, it ceased for the cattle from the house.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Sheviit
Introduction
Our mishnah defines what type of produce must be found in the field such that that type of produce may continue to be stored and eaten in one’s home.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
ר' יוסי מתיר אף על השמור – but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Sheviit
One may eat by virtue of similar produce regarded as ownerless [still found in the fields], but not when it was stored [and declared ownerless]. This is an important clarification. All produce that grows in the field on Sheviit is considered ownerless anyone may come and pick it. One can store that produce and eat it at home as long as ownerless produce of the same kind is found in the field. Once the ownerless produce in the field is gone, one can no longer eat it at home. However, if someone stored that produce and then made it ownerless later so that anyone (including animals) could come and eat it, this doesn’t count as “found in the field.” This will not allow one to eat such produce at home.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
אוכלים על הטפיחים (they eat the stinted/poor grains or the growth between the grass) – on what the birds place in the stinted poor/stinted grains, that are earthenware jugs that are built into the wall where there birds that build a nest. And they eat from what is in the house all the while that it is found from that species in the poor/stinted-grains.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Sheviit
Rabbi Yose permits even when it was stored [and then declared ownerless]. Rabbi Yose allows one to continue to eat produce even if the only other type of produce of this nature that is “found in the field” is something that a person once stored and only then made ownerless so that others or animals could come and eat it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
ועל הדופרא (a species that bears a species of figs twice a year) a tree that makes fruit twice in a year, they eat the first until the last runs out that is in their species.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Sheviit
One may continue to eat by virtue of the poor grains [that grow between the grass], or by virtue of the trees that yield bi-annually, but one must not eat by virtue of winter-grapes. The produce that is found in the field can be a low quality version of the same kind that is stored in one’s house. So if there are poor grains that grow among the grasses in the field, then one can continue to eat similar type of grains, but of higher quality, in one’s home. The same is true of a tree that produces two yields, one in the spring and one in the summer. If the summer yield is still in the tree then one can continue to eat that which is stored at home. However, when it comes to grapes, “winter-grapes” do not count. Grapes in Israel are harvested in the fall and once the fall-grapes are no longer on the vines, one cannot store the grapes (or their by-products) at home.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
אבל א על הסתווניות – they don’t eat the grapes through the grapes that grow in the days of the autumn (i.e., winter fruit).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Sheviit
Rabbi Judah permits provided they began to ripen before the summer [of the seventh year] had ended. Rabbi Judah says that these winter-grapes do count if they started to ripen before summer was over. In such a case they are considered close enough to fall-grapes that one can eat other stored fall-grapes (and their by-products) when these winter-grapes are found in the field.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Sheviit
רבי יהודה מתיר – [Rabbi Yehuda permits] to eat grapes through the winter fruit/that grow in the autumn all the while that they produce first fruits prior to the end of he summer. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy