Commentaire sur Péa 4:5
שָׁלשׁ אַבְעָיוֹת בַּיּוֹם, בַּשַּׁחַר וּבַחֲצוֹת וּבַמִּנְחָה. רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל אוֹמֵר, לֹא אָמְרוּ אֶלָּא כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִפְחֲתוּ. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, לֹא אָמְרוּ אֶלָּא כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יוֹסִיפוּ. שֶׁל בֵּית נָמֵר הָיוּ מְלַקְּטִין עַל הַחֶבֶל, וְנוֹתְנִים פֵּאָה מִכָּל אֻמָּן וְאֻמָּן:
[Il y a] trois «mendicité» [c.-à-d. L'accès aux champs] fois par jour: à l'aube, à midi et en fin d'après-midi. Rabban Gamliel dit: Ils ont seulement dit [c'est-à-dire, spécifié ce nombre] pour que [les temps de mendicité] ne soient pas réduits. Rabbi Akiva dit: Ils ont seulement dit que [les temps de mendicité] ne devraient pas être augmentés. Les habitants de Beit Nameir rassemblaient ce qui était sur [marqué par] la corde et donnaient Peah de chaque rangée.
Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
שלש אבעיות ביום – three times the owner revealed/exposed and appeared in his field in order that the poor could take Peah. The word אבעיות – means revealing (Obadiah 1:6): “[How thoroughly rifled is Esau,] How ransacked his hoards!” We translate this [in Aramaic] as revealing a hidden object.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Peah
Introduction This mishnah deals with how many times a day the field owner must or should let the poor into his field to harvest the peah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
בשחר – because of those nursing among them who are sleeping in the morning, and then they have the free time to glean.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Peah
There are three times a day [the poor] make a search [in the field for peah]: morning, noon, and sunset. According to the standard position outlined here, the owner of a field must make his field available to the poor three times a day. This seems to be a way to make sure that if they are working somewhere else, or perhaps trying to find work, their collection of peah won’t be endangered.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
ובחצות – because of the young children who are accustomed to go out at noon and walk to glean Peah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Peah
Rabban Gamaliel says: these [times] were only set lest they reduce them. Rabban Gamaliel says that the rabbis set a number of times at which a field owner must open his field so that field owners won’t reduce the number, thereby making it more difficult for the poor to come and collect.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
ובמנחה – because of the elderly who walk with their crutches and they don’t arrive to the field until the afternoon.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Peah
Rabbi Akiva says: these were set lest they add to them. On the contrary, says Rabbi Akiva to Rabban Gamaliel. According to Rabbi Akiva, the reason that the fields have to be open three times a day is so that owners won’t open the field more frequently, thereby making the poor check the fields almost constantly. Having the fields open too much might also lead to owners opening them up at odd times and only letting selective poor people know when they come and collect. This might corrupt the entire system, especially if poor people end up having to bribe the field owners to tell them when to come and collect. With set times, this is less of a problem. However, Rabbi Akiva does hold that if the owner wants to open the field only once or twice a day, he may.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
שלא יפחתו – from these three times. And the Halakha is that we don’t distribute Peah other than at these three times; we don’t make it any less or any more than this.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Peah
[The men] of Bet Namer used to have the poor harvest [the peah] with the aid of a rope, and they left peah at the end of each furrow. This section describes a special way that the people of Bet Namer, either the name of a family or the name of a place, gave peah. They would use a rope to mark off the ends of rows and beyond the rope the poor could collect their peah. Some commentators explain that the Mishnah praises this because the poor would know exactly where the peah was coming from and they wouldn’t have the mental anguish of waiting in anticipation. It seems in general that this is one of the problems with peah it is somewhat subjective, often leaving the poor unsure of their future and also open to potential abuse among field owners.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Peah
של בית נמר – It is the name of a place, as it is written (Numbers 32:36): “Beth-nimrah, [and Beth-haran as fortified towns or as enclosures for flocks].” They tie a rope at the same of the standing corn and continue reaping until the rope runs out and place the Peah the entire rope, and they go back and tie and place the Peah, that is from each and every artisan, that is to say, from each and every row and for this reason they mention these for praise.
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