Un champ nécessitant une irrigation (beth hashlachin) [terre «faible» et assoiffée d'eau. (Le targum de (Deutéronome 25:18): "faible et fatigué" est "meshalhei ul'ei.")] Peut être arrosé sur Chol Hamoed et sur shevi'ith. [Pour le travail essentiel est autorisé sur Chol Hamoed. Et beth hashlachin, à partir du moment où on commence à l'arroser, s'il n'est pas régulièrement arrosé, il est immédiatement «perdu». Comme nous l'apprendrons ci-dessous (1: 3): "Les graines qui n'ont pas été arrosées avant Chol Hamoed ne peuvent pas être arrosées sur Chol Hamoed", car elles ne se perdent pas. Mais s'ils ont été arrosés avant Chol Hamoed, ils peuvent être arrosés sur Chol Hamoed. Et ce n'est qu'un champ de céréales irrigué qui peut être arrosé sur Chol Hamoed, mais pas un champ d'arbres irrigué, car il ne subira pas de perte. Et sur shevi'ith, il est permis d'arroser Beth hashlachin et Beth Haba'al (un champ naturellement arrosé), "Beth hashlachin" étant déclaré vis-à-vis de Chol Hamoed seul.] (Il peut être arrosé) à la fois d'un juste a commencé le printemps, et à partir d'un ancien [et nous ne craignons pas que, comme il vient de commencer, peut-être que ses rives tomberont et qu'il viendra le consolider sur Chol Hamoed et s'exercer indûment.] Mais il ne peut être arrosé ni de l'eau de pluie, [un décret en raison du kilo d'eau] ni de l'eau du kilo ["kilon" est l'eau d'une fosse profonde dans laquelle l'eau de pluie est recueillie, dont le prélèvement implique beaucoup d'efforts.], et ugioth ne peut pas être fait pour les vignes. [Les "ugioth" sont des ornières creusées à la racine des oliviers ou des vignes pour être remplies d'eau.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
משקין בית השלחין – a weary land and thirsty for water. The Aramaic translation of “tired and weary,” is thirstiness and tired.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
Introduction
The first mishnah of Moed Katan deals with watering a field during the festival. Watering a field is sometimes necessary or the crops will be lost. Therefore, watering in these types of situations tends to be permitted. However, watering is also quite laborious and hence some types of watering are prohibited.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
משקין במועד – for it is a business that cannot be postponed without irretrievable loss is permissible on the Festival (i.e., the Intermediate Days of the Festival). For a field which needs irrigation from the time when one begins to water it, if one does not water it frequently, it immediately becomes lost, as is taught at the end of Mishnah [3 – of this chapter, seeds which have not been watered before the Festival should not be watered on the Festival, for they will not suffer loss, but if they “drank” before the Festival, he should water them during the Festival. And specifically, a bright, shade-less field (i.e., vegetable or grain field) of grain which needs irrigation, we water them on the Festival, but fields which are moist of a tree, it is not permitted on the Festival, for they don’t suffer loss. And in the Seventh Year, it is permitted to water whether it is a field that needs irrigation or whether it is a field sufficiently watered by rain [and not needing irrigation], and because of the Festival alone, our Mishnah took this.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
They may water an irrigated field during the festival [week] or in the sabbatical year, both from a newly-emerging spring and from a spring that is not just emerged. “An irrigated field” refers to a field that cannot subsist on rainwater alone. Therefore, the mishnah allows one to water it on the festival. During the sabbatical year it is forbidden to work the land. However, irrigating a field is not considered to be working the field, as is plowing or planting. Nevertheless, the rabbis did prohibit watering during the sabbatical year, but they did not prohibit watering a field that needed to be irrigated. Certainly the field may be watered through an old spring, whose water has already been directed at the field. The mishnah says that it may be watered even from a new spring, despite the extra work of directing the water to the field.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
שיצא בתחילה – that goes out now from the start, and we don’t suspect for since it is new, lest its banks overflow and people come to repair them on the Festival and there is great trouble/labor.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
But they may not water the field with water from stored rain, and not with a swipe and bucket. Carrying water to the field from a cistern of stored rain water is a lot of work. Therefore they are not allowed to water the field in this way. They are also not allowed to water using a method called “swipe and bucket,” which was a type of sweeping pump used to get water out of deep cisterns. This was also considered too laborious. We can see that first the mishnah allows watering these types of fields because otherwise the crops will be lost. It then limits that by saying that some labors are prohibited because one shouldn’t be doing so much work on the festival.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
שלא יצא בתחלה – when it is sleeping.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Moed Katan
And they may not make small ditches around the vines. Finally, one may not make water ditches around vines. These ditches were made so that they would fill up and the water would seep into the roots. Again, digging these ditches was considered too much work for it to be permitted on the festival.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
אבל לא ממי גשמים – a decree because of water from a swipe well.קילון are water of a deep pit/cistern and in it is collected rain water, and from it there is greater trouble to draw it out.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Moed Katan
עוגיות – trenches that they would make in the roots of olives and in the roots of vines in order that they would fill up with water.
