פירוש על מנחות 10:9

קוצרים – prior to the Omer.

Introduction The final mishnah of chapter ten concludes with a few more rules governing the prohibition of harvesting grain before the 16th of Nissan and a few last rules with regard to the omer.

מפני בנטיעות – that they will lose them. Because that grain is not appropriate for the Omer, as we stated in the chapter “All of the Sacrifices/כל הקרבנות” (Tractate Menahot, Chapter 8, Mishnah 2), we do not bring either from an arid irrigated field nor from a field containing at least three tees within a distance of a Seah, and above we stated (quoting from Tractate Menahot 71a), that from a place that you don’t bring [the Omer] you reap. Another explanation: “Because of the seedlings/מפני הנטיעות,” because of mixed seeds, because sometimes a person sows grain and there are no seedlings there, and after a time seedlings rise up there on their own between them, and one must reap he seeds because of mixed seeds/Kilyaim.

One may reap on account of the saplings or in order to make a house for mourners or in order not to interrupt the bet hamidrash. Generally, it is prohibited to harvest grain before the harvesting of the omer on the 16th of Nissan. This section provides a few exceptions to this rule, cases where the person is harvesting the grain not in order to use the grain but in order to clear the area. If he needs to make room in the field for the saplings to grow, he may clear the grain. He need not suffer the loss of the saplings, due to the prohibition of harvesting before the omer. He may also clear the grain in order to make room for either a place for mourners to gather or for sages to gather in order to study in a bet midrash. It is interesting to note that according to this source, study seems to have taken place in open fields. It is unclear whether a structure would have been built in the fields or not.

מפני בית האבל – that they lack the free space rto sit and to recite the blessing of comfort that we say in the House of Mourning.

One may not bind them in bundles but one may leave them in small heaps. When a person is allowed to harvest grain before the omer, he may not bind the stalks into bundles as is normally done. This would make it seem like he was harvesting them for food, which is prohibited. Rather, he may leave them in small heaps on the ground and collect them later when the omer has already been harvested.

ומפני בית המדרש – for there is no place for the students to sit. And the reason of all of these, is because reaping is a Commandment, and the Scriptural verse states (Leviticus 23:10): “the first sheaf of your harvest,” that the Omer will be the fist of your optional harvest and not the first of the command of reaping.

The mitzvah of the omer is that it should be brought from the standing grain. If this cannot be found he may bring it from the sheaves. It is a mitzvah, meaning it is preferable to bring the omer from freshly harvested grain. It is preferable that on the 16th at night they should go out and harvest grain in order to bring it as the omer sacrifice. If this is impossible because there is no grain to harvest, it can be brought from already harvested grain, that has already been put into bundles.

כריכות – bound large sheaves.

The mitvah is that it should be brought from moist ( grain. If this cannot be found he may bring it from dry grain. It is best that if one bring bundles, they still be fresh (moist). However, if there are no moist bundles, he can bring the omer offering even from already dry grain.

צבתים – bundles without tying. Another interpretation: bundles of bound large sheaves, heaps are small bundles

The mitzvah is that it should be reaped at night. If it was reaped at day it is valid. The omer should be offered at night on the 16th of Nissan (see mishnah three), but if they wait until the day, it is still valid.

מן הקמח – that he would reap for its sake.

And it overrides the Shabbat. This polemical chapter ends by reminding us what we learned in the beginning of the chapter harvesting the omer overrides the Sabbath. As a reminder, non-Pharisaic sects during the Second Temple period seem to have shaped their calendar so as to avoid, as much as possible, conflicts between holidays and Shabbat. The Pharisees and later the rabbis took an opposite route and demonstratively declared that if there is such a conflict, the holiday sacrifices nearly always override the Sabbath. The editors of the Mishnah end this chapter by emphasizing exactly this point one can harvest the omer even on Friday night.

לא מצא – that everything was already reaped.

מן הלח – as it is written (Leviticus 23:14): “You shall eat no [bread or parched grain] or fresh ears,” that it is soft and brittle (see Tractate Menahot 66b).