Commentaire sur Shabbat 9:2

שהיא טהורה – that it is not susceptible to ritual defilement.

Introduction There are two more midrashim in this mishnah which are both based on passages that are not from the Torah.

בלב ים – for it is obvious that a ship is in the heart of the sea, but rather, it comes to inform us that a ship is a receptacle/pouch; just as the see is ritually pure, so too the ship is pure, and even it if is of earthenware, and even if it is laden on the dry land and they lowered it into the sea.

How do we know that a ship is clean? Because it is said, “The way of a ship is in the midst of the sea” (Proverbs 30:19). A ship cannot contract ritual impurity (uncleanness). This is derived from Proverbs 30:19: just as the sea cannot become impure, so too a ship cannot become impure.

שזורעים בה חמשה זרעונים – and there is within it in order to set aside between them the appropriate difference so there will not be any confusion/mixture.

How do we know that if a furrow is six handbreadths by six handbreadths, they may sow in it five kinds of seeds, four on the four sides, and one in the middle? Because it is said, “For as the earth brings forth her growth, and as the garden causes its seeds to spring forth” (Isaiah 61:11) not its seed, but its seeds is stated. This section has to do with the laws of forbidden mixtures of seeds. The mishnah teaches a way that five different species can be planted in a six by six handbreadth furrow. This would look like the table below (this is my first graphic, so here goes): Since no seeds are actually next to each other, this is not considered “kilayim” a forbidden mixture of seeds. Eventually when we learn tractate Kilayim we will learn more about this halakhah. The mishnah derives this halakhah from the plural use of the word “seeds” in Isaiah. The verse implies that one garden can make five different kinds of seeds come up at the same time. We should note, however, that the verse does not teach that five is possible and that six is not.

ארבעה בארבע רוחות להערוגה – they fill each direction until near the corner and in the middle, they don’t sow other than one globule in order that the globule that is in the center will be distant three handbreadths from what is sown in each direction, for the measure of absorption of each sown area is one-and-one-half handbreadths , and even though that nearest the corners in the directions of the seeds that are closest to each other, and there isn’t between them a distance of three handbreadths, and they absorb from each other, and in this case there is no room for doubt, for the Biblical verse was strict only about Kilayim/mixed seeds, and there was no confusion, and we don’t concern ourselves about absorption as it is taught in the Mishnah (Tractate Bava Batra, Chapter 2, Mishnah 12): “If there was a fence between them, this one relies on the fence from this direction and the other relies on the fence from that direction” and even though they absorb from underneath , and here there is a large recognition that the the this direction is sown to the north and the south and that direction is sown to the east and the west, but between the intermediate seed to the seeds of the directions, there is no recognition, and if they were brought close, there would be confusion; therefore, there is a need for distance in order to absorb.

שנאמר כי כארץ תוציא צמחה – (through the analysis of words in the verse – Isaiah 61:11: “For just as the earth brings forth her growth, and a garden makes the seed shoot up, (So the LORD God will make victory and renown shoot up in the presence of the nations”]) – "תוציא" /bring forth – is one; "צמחה"/her growth – is one; "זרועיה"/the seed – is two; "תצמיח"/shoot up – is one – that makes five. But the six handbreadths cannot be derived from Biblical verse but rather it is established by the Rabbis that the five rows of plants in six handbreadths, the four corners will not absorb from the middle and the middle will not [absorb] from the corners, for the measurement of absorption of each seed is a handbreadth and a half; therefore, Scripture hints that five rows of plants in one bed that is six handbreadths, is as stated. And in Tractate Kilayim, I explained the laws of a a bed and its details and its specifications, but here I shortened it.