En ce qui concerne une ruche, le rabbin Eliezer dit: c'est comme une terre, et on peut y écrire un Pruzbul [une exemption par le tribunal de l'annulation de l'année sabbatique d'un prêt personnel] sur elle [c'est-à-dire qu'elle compte comme une terre aux fins de l'exigence. que l'emprunteur possède une terre pour qu'un Pruzbul soit écrit], et il ne peut pas être rendu impur à sa place [c'est-à-dire tant qu'il n'est pas déplacé], et celui qui en retire [le miel] le Shabbat est passible [de apporter] une offrande pour le péché. Mais les Sages disent: ce n'est pas comme la terre, et beaucoup n'écrivent pas un Pruzbul dessus, et il peut être rendu impur à sa place, et celui qui en retire [le miel] le Chabbat est dispensé [d'apporter un péché- offre].
Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
כוורת דברים וכו' – if it (i.e., the beehive) is attached with plaster, everyone admits/agrees that it is like land/real estate (i.e., the ground) for all things, but if it was placed on pegs, everyone admits that is like vessels. But they didn’t disagree other than when it is placed on the ground and is not attached with plaster.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with the halakhic status of a bee-hive. Specifically, the sages debate whether it is considered to have the status of land because it is attached to the land.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ר' אליעזר אומר הרי היא כקרקע – and it is acquired by money, a document or a claim of undisturbed possession like land/real estate (i.e., the ground) .
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
A bee-hive: Rabbi Eliezer says: it is treated as if it were land; and one can write a prozbul on it security, it is also not susceptible to uncleanness as long as it remains in its own place, and the one who scrapes honey from it on Shabbat is liable to a sin-offering. According to Rabbi Eliezer, the beehive has the status of land. The mishnah lists three consequences to this determination. a) If the debtor owns a beehive, a prozbul may be written using just the beehive as security, even though he owns no actual land. This is a topic that we covered in yesterday’s mishnah. A prozbul was a document written by the creditor to avoid loan remission in the Sabbatical year (see chapter 10 of Tractate Sheviit). In order to write a prozbul one must own land (see Sheviit 10:6-7). b) Land and anything that is considered attached to it (such as plants or houses) is not susceptible to impurity. Thus, according to Rabbi Eliezer, the beehive cannot become impure. However, this is only true while it remains in its place. If the beehive was picked up and moved elsewhere, it can become susceptible to impurity. c) One who plucks something from the land is liable for having transgressed Shabbat. Hence, according to Rabbi Eliezer, one who removes honey from a beehive on Shabbat is liable.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
וכותבין עליה פרוזבול – a document that the Jewish court writes to the lender/creditor that transferred to them every debt that he has [to collect’ – so that the Seventh Year would not cause a cancellation of the debt, and we don’t write a Prozbul (i.e., a declaration made in court, before the execution of a loan, to the effect that the law of limitation by the entrance to the Sabbatical Year shall not apply to the loan to be transacted) other than on land/real estate, meaning to say, that when the borrower has real estate/land and he has a beehive, it is similar to land/real estate, and we write upon it a Prozbul [document] to the creditor.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Oktzin
But the sages say: it is not to be treated as if it were land, and one many not write a prozbul on its security; it is susceptible even if it remains in its own place; and the one who scrapes honey from it on Shabbat is exempt [from a sin-offering]. The rabbis do not consider the beehive to be “land” and therefore, in all three of these halakhot, they rule opposite of Rabbi Eliezer.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
ואינה מקבלת טומאה במקומה – for it is like it would be attached and is not susceptible to receive ritual defilement.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Oktzin
והרודה – from the honeycombs that are within it on the Sabbath, he is liable for a sin-offering, like someone who detaches something from the place where it is attached, as it is written (I Samuel 14:27): “And he (I.e., Jonathan) dipped it into the beehive of honey [and brought his hand back to his mouth and his eyes lit up], but what connection has the forest with honey, but rather just as the forest, he who plucks/detaches from it on the Sabbath is liable for a sin-offering, even honey that one removes [from the beehive]] on the Sabbath is liable for a sin-offering. (This Bartenura to Tractate Shevi’it, Chapter 10, Mishnah 7 adds that the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer).
