Les hommes de Jéricho avaient coutume de faire six choses; Contre trois, ils (les sages) ont protesté, et contre trois ils n'ont pas protesté. Ceux contre lesquels ils ne protestaient pas: Ils faisaient le sexe des dattiers toute la journée (du quatorzième de Nissan). [Ils grefferaient une pousse molle d'un palmier mâle avec un palmier femelle, le mâle donnant le sexe au fruit et non la femelle]; ils "sandwich" le Shema [Ils ne diraient pas: "Baruch shem kevod malchutho leolam va'ed" en récitant le Shema. Une autre interprétation. Ils ne feraient pas de pause entre «echad» et «ve'ahavta», bien qu'il soit nécessaire de tirer «echad» et de faire une pause entre «le royaume des cieux» et d'autres choses.]; et ils moissonnaient et amassaient des tas [de nouveau grain] avant (d'offrir) l'omer, [ne craignant pas de venir en manger.]—et ils (les sages) n'ont pas protesté. [Toutes les six choses qu'ils ont faites n'ont pas été favorisées par les sages. C'est juste qu'ils n'ont pas protesté contre ces trois et ils ont protesté contre les autres.] Et ce sont ceux contre lesquels ils ont protesté: Ils (les hommes de Jéricho ont permis [de manger] des excroissances de hekdesh [c.-à-d., Des excroissances de un arbre dédié au Temple, sentant que le fruit seul était interdit. Certaines versions ont des «boutures d'hekdesh», c'est-à-dire qu'elles coupaient à leur profit les branches d'arbres d'hekdesh, qui poussaient après que l'arbre eut été dédié]; ils mangeaient des fruits trouvés sous un arbre un jour de sabbat, [bien qu'ils ne sachent pas s'ils étaient tombés la veille du sabbat et étaient autorisés, ou s'ils étaient tombés le jour du sabbat et étaient interdits.]; et ils donnaient du poisson pour les verts , [alors que la décision est que tout ce que l'on n'apporte pas pour le stockage n'est pas soumis au peah, et les verts ne sont pas apportés pour le stockage. Les sages ont protesté, car ils ont ainsi exclu les verts de ma'aser, les pauvres les mangeant dans leur état sans dîme (tevel), cul uming qu'ils étaient peah, qui n'est pas soumis à ma'aser, c'est hefker (propriété renoncée)]— et les sages ont protesté.
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
עשו אנשי יריחו – it was the practice of the people of Jericho to do.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Introduction
This mishnah relates to six practices observed by the inhabitants of Jericho three against which the sages protested and three against which they did not. The reason that the mishnah is here in this chapter is that the first thing that these people did is connected to the issue of work on the eve of Pesah, the main topic of our chapter.
We should note that we hear in this mishnah of groups of Jews who did not necessarily listen to the rabbis (this shouldn’t really be surprising). The rabbis protest against some of their practices, and live with other ones. We have no idea whether the rabbis’ protests caused the people of Jericho to change their behavior. We should always remember that when we read Mishnah we are learning how the rabbis envisioned the Jewish world to be we are not learning what it was really like.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
מרכיבין דקלים – a soft branch of a male palm tree they graft it with a female palm tree, since the male makes fruit and the female does not make fruit.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
Six things the inhabitants of Jericho did: against three they [the sages] protested, and against three [they] did not protest. And these are those against which they did not protest: They grafted palm trees all day [on the eve of Pesah]; They ‘wrapped up’ the Shema; And they harvested and stacked [their produce] before [the bringing of] the ‘omer. And [for these] they did not protest. In this section the mishnah lists practices that the sages did not protest. 1) Jericho is a region in which many date-trees grow. In the spring they would graft these trees in order to improve them. Even though they did this work all day, the sages did not protest because there is a lot of pressure to get this work done in the correct season. 2) There are two interpretations for what it means to “wrap the Shema”. According to one interpretation it means that they would not pause between words, and according to another interpretation they would not say “barukh shem kevod malkhuto leolam vaed” a line normally recited after the first line of the Shema. Although one should not do either of these practices, the sages still did not feel the need to protest against them. 3) According to the sages, the omer (first grains) are brought on the second day of Pesah. Until this time it is forbidden to harvest the wheat (see Leviticus 23:10). Nevertheless, the people of Jericho would harvest the wheat and stack it, before the omer was brought. The Talmud explains that it is indeed permissible to harvest the type of wheat which grows in the Jericho region, so the sages did not protest the harvesting itself. However, stacking the harvested wheat is prohibited and it is against the stacking that they did protest.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
כל היום – that is to say, on the fourteenth [of Nisan].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Pesachim
And these are those against which they did protest: They permitted [for use] the small branches [of sycamore trees] belonging to sacred property, And they ate the fallen fruit from beneath [trees] on Shabbat, and they gave pe’ah from vegetables; And [for these] they did protest. In this section we learn of three practices against which the sages did protest. 1) The people of Jericho would use the small branches of sycamore trees which had been dedicated to the Temple. They reasoned that when these trees were dedicated by their forefathers it was only their trunks which were dedicated because people don’t usually use the branches. This is how Rashi explains the mishnah. The Rambam explains that they would use that which grew from the tree, reasoning that when the tree was dedicated to the Temple, only the parts that existed at the time of the dedication were sanctified. In any case, the sages felt that once the tree was sanctified none of its parts could be used. 2) Fruit that falls off a tree on Shabbat is muktzeh (forbidden to touch) since it could not be eaten when Shabbat began (reaping is prohibited). The people of Jericho would eat the fruit which they found under the tree even though they didn’t know whether the fruit fell on Shabbat, in which case it is forbidden, or before Shabbat, in which case it is permitted. 3) One is not obligated to leave the corners (pe’ah) of vegetable fields for poor people. The problem with leaving them is that pe’ah is exempt from tithes. When the poor people would eat these vegetables, they would eat them untithed which is prohibited. Against all three of these practices the sages protested.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
וכורכין את שמע – that they would not say: “Praised be the Name of God’s glorious Kingdom forever and ever,” during the recitation of the Shema. Another interpretation. They would not stop between [the word God is] “one” and “you shall love” (Deuteronomy 6:4 and 6:5), for one must lengthen [the word] “one” and to interrupt/stop between the Kingship of Heaven and other things.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
וקוצרין וגודשין – they make a heap [of a stack of grain] from the new grain before the Omer, and we are not troubled that perhaps they might come to eat from it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
ולא מיחו בידם – all these six things that they did, all of them were not done with the Sages’ willingness, but on these they did not reprove them, and on the latter three they reproved them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
מתירין לאכול גמזיות של הקדש – growth that grew on trees dedicated to the Temple treasury, as they hold that there is no prohibition other than on the fruit itself that had been dedicated to the Temple treasury, and there are books that have the reading, MATZIR (see Melekhet Shlomo, who states that this reading is in error – and should be M’TIZIN/to chop off, cause to fly off), that is to say, they dissect and cut off branches of the trees belonging to the Temple treasury that grew after they had dedicated the tree to the Temple treasury, to benefit from them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
ואוכלין – on Shabbat and Holy Days/Yom Tov [they eat] fruit that were found under the tree and it was not known if they fell from last night and they are permitted, or they fell today and are prohibited.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
ונותנים פאה לירק – and we hold for ourselves that every thing where a person does not bring them in for storage (not for immediate use) is not obligated [for the commandment] of [leaving] the corner. And vegetables are a thing that one does not bring them in for storage (not for immediate use).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Pesachim
ומיחו בידם חכמים – because they exclude it from the tithes, and the poor eat it while they are eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts, thinking that it is “Peah”/corner of the field and the corner of the field is exempt from tithes because it is ownerless.
