פירוש על פסחים 4:2

המוליך פירות שביעית ממקום שכלו – to a beast from the field and the people of his place are liable to remove it from the house. And they bring this to a place where they had not yet come to an end, and the people of that place are still eating them from that which were brought into the house, and they are liable to remove them because of the stringencies of the place from which they left.

Introduction It is permissible to eat produce which was reaped during the sabbatical year so long as that type of produce is still growing in the fields. Once it no longer grows in the fields it is forbidden to eat it. Our mishnah deals with a person who goes from a place where a certain produce grows in the field to a place where that produce does not grow in the field, or vice versa.

רבי יהודה אומר אומרים לו צא והבא לך אף אתה – There is a dispute between Rabbi Yehuda and the First Teacher [of the Mishnah] (Pesahim 52a) where one pickles/preserves three kinds of greens in vinegar or in brine to preserve and two of them came to an end for the beast from the field and the third had not yet come to an end. The First Tanna holds that one eats from those which had come to an end with the support of that which had not yet come to an end, since they are in one barrel. And this is astonishing for this thing, from a place where they did not come to an end to a place where they completely came to an end, one is obligated to remove them. But, if all of them did not come to an end, but part of them, one can eat even from the species that had come to an end all the while that all of them had not coe to an end. And one eats on support of the final ones. But Rabbi Yehuda states: We say to him: Go and bring some for yourself – even you, from that species that was completed, like this person brought and it would not be found. Therefore, one does not eat other than from the species that has not yet completed, for we don’t eat from those species that were completed through the support of the species that was not yet completed. And one is obligated to remove those species that were completed. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda that refers to the approach of Rabban Gamaliel where the Halakha is according to him in the Tractate Sheviit (chapter 9), the “Chapter of Rue.”

Similarly, he who transports sabbatical year produce from a place where it has ceased [to exist in the field] to a place where it has not ceased or from a place where it has not ceased to a place where it has ceased, he is bound to remove it. Again, the mishnah rules that one who travels from one place to another follows the stricter rule. If for instance he is traveling from Hebron where bananas are still in the field, to Bet El, where they are no longer in the field, he must remove the bananas he brings with him. Similarly, if he travels from Bet El which has no bananas in the field (yes, they have no bananas) to Hebron, where the bananas are still thriving, he must still get rid of his bananas because in his home town he can’t have them.

Rabbi Judah says: he can say to them “You can go out too and bring [produce] for yourself.” Rabbi Judah says that if he goes from a place that has a certain bananas in the field to a place that doesn’t he can still eat the bananas because he can say to the people of the other place, you can go back to my place where you can eat them as well as I can. According to Rabbi Judah this is not an issue of following the local custom, as was the issue in yesterday’s mishnah. Rather he understands that the prohibition is to eat produce from a field when that produce no longer grows in that area. Therefore, in our example above, it is only forbidden to eat Bet El bananas because Bet El has no bananas in the field. To eat Hebron bananas is okay, even in Bet El. [Note, I have explained this section according to Albeck’s commentary. The Talmud contains different interpretations.]