Комментарий к Швии́т 9:15

הפיגם (the herb rue – with leaves that a re wide below and narrow on top) – a grass that is called RUTA in the foreign language.

Introduction Our mishnah teaches that there are certain types of produce that grow in the field which are not subject to the laws of sheviit. There are two such categories in our mishnah. The first are wild plants that people do not cultivate and store. The assumption automatically made with regard to these plants is that they are ownerless. The second category is plants that grow without being cultivated. If something grows on its own, it should be permitted to eat it on sheviit. However, we shall see that some rabbis were stricter on this matter.

והירבוזין (asparagus, strawberry-blite) – ASPARGEE in the foreign language, and the wild ASPARGEE of the fields that are not of the gardens.

Rue, goosefoot, purslane, hill coriander, celery, and meadow-berries, are exempt from tithes. Plants that are ownerless such as those in this section need not be tithed. Since these things grow wildly and people don’t gather them in order to store them, they are not subject to tithes.

והחלגלוגות (purslane)- in Arabic RAGLA and in he foreign language VIRDOLAGESH.

And they may be purchased from anyone during the sabbatical year, since such produce is not usually stored. Generally speaking it is prohibited to purchase sheviit produce from an “am haaretz” a person who is not scrupulous in observance of these laws. The reason for this prohibition is that the sanctity of the sheviit produce is transferred to the money when one uses it to buy the produce. Henceforth, that money can only be used to buy food, drink or oil for anointing. Since we can assume that the am haaretz will not observe these laws, one should not buy sheviit produce from an am haaretz. However, since these things grew on their own without being cultivated the laws of sheviit do not apply and one may buy them from anyone, even an am haaretz.

וכוסבר (coriander) – COLIANDER in the foreign language. And especially of the mountains, but they of the gardens they are highly regarded. . And similarly, and parsley of the rivers especially but not of the garden.

Rabbi Judah says: aftergrowths of mustard are permitted, since transgressors are not suspected concerning them. The second half of the mishnah deals with things that grew on their own on Sheviit. The problem with such produce is that it is impossible to tell whether something grew on its own on sheviit or was planted and cultivated on sheviit. Rabbi Judah holds that mustard is permitted, because it is unlikely that someone had planted this mustard and grew it intentionally on the sabbatical year.

כרפס – APIYU in the foreign language.

Rabbi Shimon says: all aftergrowths are permitted, with the exception of the aftergrowths of cabbage, since such cannot be placed within the category of field-vegetables. Rabbi Shimon is even more lenient and holds that it is permitted to purchase all vegetable aftergrowths except for cabbage which is clearly not an aftergrowth because it grows only in a garden and only if it is specifically planted.

גרגיר (garden rocket) – ORIGA in the foreign language.

But the sages say: all aftergrowths are forbidden. The other rabbis hold that it is forbidden to eat any aftergrowths because they may have come from produce planted on sheviit. I should note that I have explained the mishnah according to Albeck. Others explain it differently.

שבאפר – that grows in the reed-grass. But of the garden it is highly regarded.

פטורים מן המעשר – in all of the years, as it (i.e., the Mishnah) explains the reason, that there are not in a similar manner guarded and are not highly regarded in the eyes of their owners and they make them ownerless, and that which is ownerless is exempt from the tithes, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:29): “Then the Levite, who has no hereditary portion as you have,” with a a matter that he does not have a hereditary portion as you have, he takes his tithes, excluding that which is ownerless, gleanings, the forgotten sheaf and the corner [of the field] that he does have a portion as you have.

ונלקחים מכל אדם בשביעית – (and are brought from anyone during the Sabbatical Year) – because there is no way to guard them, for every thing that has a way to guard it is prohibited to acquire it from an illiterate individual (i.e., a person who does not know/observe the laws of Levitical purity and the tithes) in the Seventh Year , for he is suspect to guard the produce, and not to make them ownerless, and a person who acquires it from that which guarded, even like one-half an Issar’s worth is prohibited. And all of these of our Mishnah whose legal presumption is that they don’t guard them are permitted to purchase them for an illiterate individual in order to have food for the three meals [of the Sabbath or Festival day] alone and not more, for we don’t transfer the monies of the produce of the Seventh Year to an illiterate individual, even though that this produce is from that which is ownerless, more than food for three meals, because he is suspect to store the monies and don’t practice with them the Sanctity of the Seventh Year.

שלא נחשדו עליהם עוברי עבירה – because to bring them from that which is guarded. But the Halakha is not according to Rabi Yehuda.

כל הספיחין מותרין – to acquire from all persons, for we legally presume that they are not from that which was guarded.

חוץ מספיחי כרוב – that their legal presumption is that they are from that which is guarded.

Because there is nothing of a similar manner among vegetables of the field that do not grow like them in the wilderness, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

שלש ארצות – in the Land of Israel separated one from the other for the matter of removal [from the house]. And the removal that is mentioned in each place in the Seventh Year is that whenever it is not found in the field from the same species that he collected for himself in the house, he is obligated to remove that species from the house immediately. As for example, if he gathered figs and made of them dry figs, he cannot eat from those dry figs, even during the Seventh Year, but rather, whenever they are found as figs attached to the tree, when the figs were used up from the trees, one is required to remove the dry-figs that are in his house, or to eat all of them immediately, or to make them ownerless until there not remain any of them in house, as it is written (Leviticus 25:7): “and your cattle and the beasts [in your land may eat all its yield],” whenever the beasts eat in the field, the food for the cattle is from the house; when it ceased for the beasts from the field, it ceased to your cattle from the house. And each individual section from it is divided into three parts.

Introduction Sheviit produce may be stored in one’s house as long as that same type of produce can be found in the field. The question is where must this produce be found in the field? Anywhere in the world? In the same town? Same country? Our mishnah divides the land of Israel into three territories and then three sub-territories such that if a certain produce can be found in the field in that territory it may be stored in one’s house in that territory.

כל שאינו מגדל שקמים גליל העליון – for the sycamore [trees] do not gorw other than in the lowlands, and a sign for the matter, (I Kings 10:27 – there is a printer’s error in the text – as the “yud” was lengtnened to look like a “vav”): “[The King made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones,] and cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the Shephelah.”

There are three territories in respect to the law of removal [of sheviit produce]: [these are]: Judea, Transjordan, and Galilee, and there are three territories in each one. If a certain type of produce can be found in the field in Judea, then that produce can be stored in one’s home in Judea, but not in the Galilee or Transjordan, if that produce is no longer found in the field there. Once that type of produce is no longer in a certain region, everyone from that region must remove that produce from their homes.

ותחום טבריה – it is the valley, these three are from the Galilee.

Upper Galilee, lower Galilee, and the valley. From Kefar Hananiah upwards, the region where sycamores do not grow, is Upper Galilee. From Kefar Hananiah downwards, where the sycamores do grow, is Lower Galilee. The borders of Tiberias are the valley. Each land is subdivided into three other lands, which the Mishnah now proceeds to list. This section divides the Galilee into three sections, which by the way are still used as reference points to this day.

ההר והשפלה והעמק these are the three sections of the land of Judah/Judea.

Those of Judea are: the mountain region, the plains [of the south], and the valley. This section divides the region of Judea into three. The mountain region is also called, “The King’s Mountain.” The valley goes from Ein Gedi in the south to Jericho in the north.

שפלת לוד. והר [שלה] לוד. ומבית חורון עד הים – these are the three sections of the Transjordan, and the lowlands of Lod are like the southern lowlands , and whenever one eats in the [southern] lowlands, one eats in the lowland [of Lod]. And the mountain of the lowland of Lod they eat there whenever they eat on the Mountain of the King.

The plains of Lod are like the plains of the south, and its mountain region is like the king's hill-country. The plains of Lod are considered to be part of the plains of the south, even though they are geographically somewhat separate.

מבית חורון ועד הים מדינה אחת – and whenever it did not cease for the beasts from one of these places that are between them, the people of this border are able to eat through the one place that it (i.e.,) food) did not cease there for the beasts from the field.

From Bet Horon to the sea is considered as one land. From Bet Horon, which is in the northwestern side of Judea (near Modiin where I live) to the sea is one region for matters of sheviit. It is considered part of Judea. The mishnah does not explain how the Transjordan is divided, although this is explained elsewhere.

ולמה אמרו ג' ארצות – since there are three lands in each one, that makes here nine lands, for what Halakha did they say that there are three lands for removal [from the house] and not more?

Introduction This mishnah is a continuation of yesterday’s mishnah, which dealt with the division of the land of Israel into three territories.

שיהיו אוכלים בכל אחת ואחת עד שיכלה האחרון שבה – they eat in Judea/Yehuda until the last [of the Seventh Year produce] runs out in its three lands, and similarly in the Galilee and similarly in the Transjordan. But if they don’t eat in Judea through that which is in the Galilee, nor in the Galilee through that which is in Judea, and we learn/derive that no beast that is in Judea distances itself to leave from Judea to the Galilee, or from the Galilee to Judea, but they leave from [one part of] Galilee to [another part of] Galilee and from [one part of] Judea to another [part of] Judea.

Why did they speak of three territories? So that they may eat in each country until the last of the seventh year produce in that country is ended. This is the same explanation that we provided in the introduction to yesterday’s mishnah. The reason that they divided the land of Israel into three territories was to allow one to eat produce as long as that produce was found somewhere else in that specific sub-territory, for instance, the Lower Galilee.

ושאר כל הארצות כהר המלך – the rest of all the lands that are in the Land of Israel eat through the produce/fruit that are found in the Mountain of the King and they were the majority of the produce and last from all the est of the lands in the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Shimon says: they have spoken of three countries only in the case of Judea, but all other territories are to be regarded as King’s mountain (Har. Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the entire meaning of the division of the land into three territories. The only land divided into three territories is Judea, but the rest of the land of Israel follows the King’s Mountain, the mountainous region in Judea. In other words, people in the Galilee and in Transjordan can eat a certain produce as long as that produce is found in the region of the King’s Mountain.

וכל הארצות כאחת לזיתים ולתמרים – all the lands that are in the Land o Israel eat olives and dates through one land that didn’t cease in it the olives and dates for beasts from the field, whether they are in this land in Judea or in Transjordan or in the Galilee. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

It is unclear whether this section is Rabbi Shimon’s opinion, or that of the anonymous author of section one. In either case, someone holds that when it comes to olives and dates, as long as they can be found on the trees anywhere in the land of Israel, one can store them in one’s home. In other words, there is no division of the land of Israel when it comes to olives and dates.

אוכלין על המפקר – they eat from what is in the house through that which is found from the same species in the field in an ownerless place. But if it that species stopped and ceased from the place that is ownerless, even though it is found of it in a guarded place in the houses or in the gardens, he is liable to remove them [from the house] as we say that it ceased for the beasts from the field, it ceased for the cattle from the house.

Introduction Our mishnah defines what type of produce must be found in the field such that that type of produce may continue to be stored and eaten in one’s home.

ר' יוסי מתיר אף על השמור – but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yossi.

One may eat by virtue of similar produce regarded as ownerless [still found in the fields], but not when it was stored [and declared ownerless]. This is an important clarification. All produce that grows in the field on Sheviit is considered ownerless anyone may come and pick it. One can store that produce and eat it at home as long as ownerless produce of the same kind is found in the field. Once the ownerless produce in the field is gone, one can no longer eat it at home. However, if someone stored that produce and then made it ownerless later so that anyone (including animals) could come and eat it, this doesn’t count as “found in the field.” This will not allow one to eat such produce at home.

אוכלים על הטפיחים (they eat the stinted/poor grains or the growth between the grass) – on what the birds place in the stinted poor/stinted grains, that are earthenware jugs that are built into the wall where there birds that build a nest. And they eat from what is in the house all the while that it is found from that species in the poor/stinted-grains.

Rabbi Yose permits even when it was stored [and then declared ownerless]. Rabbi Yose allows one to continue to eat produce even if the only other type of produce of this nature that is “found in the field” is something that a person once stored and only then made ownerless so that others or animals could come and eat it.

ועל הדופרא (a species that bears a species of figs twice a year) a tree that makes fruit twice in a year, they eat the first until the last runs out that is in their species.

One may continue to eat by virtue of the poor grains [that grow between the grass], or by virtue of the trees that yield bi-annually, but one must not eat by virtue of winter-grapes. The produce that is found in the field can be a low quality version of the same kind that is stored in one’s house. So if there are poor grains that grow among the grasses in the field, then one can continue to eat similar type of grains, but of higher quality, in one’s home. The same is true of a tree that produces two yields, one in the spring and one in the summer. If the summer yield is still in the tree then one can continue to eat that which is stored at home. However, when it comes to grapes, “winter-grapes” do not count. Grapes in Israel are harvested in the fall and once the fall-grapes are no longer on the vines, one cannot store the grapes (or their by-products) at home.

אבל א על הסתווניות – they don’t eat the grapes through the grapes that grow in the days of the autumn (i.e., winter fruit).

Rabbi Judah permits provided they began to ripen before the summer [of the seventh year] had ended. Rabbi Judah says that these winter-grapes do count if they started to ripen before summer was over. In such a case they are considered close enough to fall-grapes that one can eat other stored fall-grapes (and their by-products) when these winter-grapes are found in the field.

רבי יהודה מתיר – [Rabbi Yehuda permits] to eat grapes through the winter fruit/that grow in the autumn all the while that they produce first fruits prior to the end of he summer. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

הכובש ג' כבשים (he who puts three sorts of pressed vegetables into a jar) – three kinds of vegetables.

Introduction Most of our mishnah deals with a case where someone preserved three different types of vegetable in one jar does he eat these vegetables until the first of them can no longer be found in the field, the last or must he eat each individual vegetable up until the time that vegetable is no longer found in the field.

בחבית אחת – of vinegar or of brine, in order that they will preserve/maintain the three kinds of vegetables together.

One who preserved three kinds of vegetables in one jar: Rabbi Eliezer says they may be eaten only so long as the first still remains [in the field]. But Rabbi Joshua says: even so long as the last remains. Rabban Gamaliel says: when the like kind is no longer to be found in the field, the same kind in the jar must be removed, [and the halachah agrees with him.] There are three different opinions as to what to do in such a case. Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion is that he can eat all of the vegetables until one of them is no longer found in the field. This is the most stringent opinion. Rabbi Joshua holds that as long as one of them remains he may eat all three of them. This is the most lenient. Rabban Gamaliel’s opinion is somewhat of a compromise. Each vegetable can be eaten as long as that vegetable is found in the field. There is an additional line to the mishnah that notes that the halakhah is in accordance with Rabban Gamaliel. However, these words are missing from better manuscripts of the mishnah.

רבי אליעזר אומר אוכלים ע הראשון – and since the first species of them was completed from the field, all of them wer forbidden, and even those that were not completed, for that species that completed provided a flavor to those that had not been completed and forbade them, and it is taught in the Mishnah above in Chapter 7 of [Tractate] Sheviit (Mishnah 7), that the Seventh Year prohibits its species, however small, and not of its own species through its imparting a flavor.

Rabbi Shimon says: all vegetables are regarded as one [kind] in respect of the law of removal. Rabbi Shimon is even more lenient than Rabbi Joshua. He says that all vegetables may be eaten as long as any vegetables are found in the field. In other words, “vegetable” is a species; so as long as vegetables are in the field, vegetables may be stored and eaten at home.

רבי יהושע אומר עף על האחרון – with the support of the species that was completed last an be eaten from the three of them, even though the two had ceased for the beasts that are in the field, and the reason of Rabbi Yehoshua is since that these that were completed were absorbed from the the taste of that which had not completed, as the Biblical verse states (Leviticus 25:12): “you may onl eat the growth direct from the field,” all the while that ou eat from the field, you eat from the house, and this Biblical verse is extra, for we expound it from (Leviticus 25:7): “and your cattle and the beasts in your land may eat all its yield,” all the while that beasts eat in the field, your cattle eats from the house, etc. But, the Biblical verse comes for that which si pressed/pickled and this is what he said (Leviticus 25:12): “you may only eat the growth directly from the field,” if there is in the field a bit from what is pressed in the house, that the taste is absorbed in the the thing that is pressed, there is of its species still in the field that still was not completed, even though that the essence of the fruit/produce was completed, nevertheless, “you may eat the growth directl from the field,” and there is no need to remove it [from the house].

Purslane may be eaten until there is no more wild purslane in the valley of Bet Netopha. Purslane can be eaten as long as wild purslane is found in the valley of Bet Netopha in the lower Galilee. Evidently, this is the last place in the season where one could find purslane in the land of Israel.

כל ירק אחד הוא – the Sages did not provide a measurement for each vegetable and every vegetable on its own, but rather, even though the three of them were completed from the field, but since there are the rest of the vegetables that did not cease, he eats through the other vegetables and does not remove them from the jar until all of the vegetables have run out from the field. And the Halakha is according to Rabban Gamaliel that all that its species have ceased from the field, he can remove its species from the jar and eat the rest.

המלקט עשבים לחים – he eats them [in the Seventh Year] without removal until the moistness of the land dries up that sweetens the produce and fruit; from then and onward, he is liable to remove them from the house.

Introduction This mishnah deals with how long one may continue to eat certain types of produce that can either be gathered while still moist or when already dry.

המנגב ביבש – the person who gathers dry grasses, eats them without removal [from the house].

If one gathered moist herbs, he may eat them until the sweet [herbs in the field] have dried up. After the sweet herbs are no longer found in the field, he must remove the moist herbs that he has gathered into his house. This is Albeck’s explanation of the term “sweet”. Other commentators explain that the word “sweet” refers to the ground water which “sweetens” the herbs growing in the field. Once this water has dried up, he may no longer keep the moist herbs at home, because they can no longer be found moist in the field.

עד שתרד רביעה שניה – which in an average/intermediate year is the twenty-third of Mar Heshvan; from then on, he is required to remove them [from the hosue].

And if he gathered dry [herbs], [he may eat them] until the second rainfall. However, if he gathered the herbs while they were dry he may keep them in his home until the second rain of the eighth year, because it is only at this late stage that the dry herbs in the field from the seventh year will no longer be fit for animal consumption. Again, as we have learned, if there is such a type of plant in the field that an animal can eat, then a person can eat it in his home. There are three different opinions as to when the second rainfall is the 7, the 17th or the 23rd of Heshvan, the second month of the Jewish year.

מגבב (gathers dry plants/leaves) – the Aramaic translation of (Exodus 5:12): “[Then the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt] to gather stubble for straw,” for rakings.

Leaves of reeds and of leaves of the vine [may be eaten] until they fall from the stems. If he is eating leaves of reeds or vines he can eat them as long as they are still found moist on the stems of the reeds or vines. If they are so dry that when one touches them they fall from the stem, then he must remove them from his house.

רביעה – because the rain fructifies the ground and bears living brood like this male that copulates the female. Another interpretation: that it sprinkles the dust and causes it to lie down. The Aramaic translation of (Genesis 29:2) (the Biblical text referred to does not have the requested verb in the singular tense – but it does appear in the plural): “three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it,” -lying.

But if he gathered them dry, they may be eaten until the second rainfall. However, if he is eating them when they are already dry then he can continue to do so until the second rainfall of the eighth year.

ועלי גפנים – moist [leaves of vines]. They eat them all the while that the are found in their early stage of ripening, meaning to say, when they are attached to the tree.

Rabbi Akiba says: in all these cases, [they may be eaten] until the second rainfall. Rabbi Akiva disagrees with the halakhot in sections one and three and holds that even when it comes to moist herbs or leaves, he can continue to eat them and store them until the second rainfall.

שישורו – that they will fall.

והמגבב ביבש – owners of dry reeds and vines, he consumes them until the second rainfall occurs, and after that he should remove it [from the house].

בכולן – whether grasses or reeds and vines whether moist or dry, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.

עניים נכנסים לפרדסאות – in the rest of the years of the Seven Year [cycle], [the poor] gather gleanings and the forgotten sheaves and the corner of the field, and similarly, they enter to the gardens in the aftermath of the Seventh Year

Similarly, if one rents a house to someone “until the rains,” he means until the second rainfall.
Or if one had vowed not to derive any benefit from his friend “until the rains” [he is prohibited] until the second rainfall.
Until when may the poor enter the orchards? Until the second rainfall.
And when may one begin to enjoy or burn the straw and stubble of sabbatical produce? After the second rainfall.
This mishnah deals with various other halakhot that have to do with “the second rainfall.”
Sections one and two: The meaning of “until the rains” is established by our mishnah as being until the second rainfall.
Section three: In non-sabbatical years the poor can enter the orchards to collect various types of produce that are given to the poor (forgotten foods, corners of the fields, dropped food all of this was discussed at length in Peah). They can enter the orchard after the second rains have fallen.
Section four: Straw and stubble that are animal food cannot be burned during the sabbatical year. However, once the second rainfall has come and ruined the straw and stubble which is still found in the field, one can burn that which remains in his home and even derive benefit from such burning.

until the second rainfall occurs, because the fruits/produce of the Seventh Year that remained from it are permitted.

בתבן ובקש של שביעית – for mere straw and stubble are fit for consumption by animals and they have the sanctity of the Seventh Year, and it is prohibited to burn it and to derive the benefit of [destruction], because we expound (see Mishnah Sheviit, Chapter 8, Mishnah 1 – and Leviticus 25:6): “But you may eat whatever he land during its sabbath will produce,” and not for loss. But when it is abolished, what was in the field from the food for live beasts, it released the Sanctity of the Seventh Year from what is in the house.

והגיע שעת הביעור – the time of removal of he produce/produce according to their place, as is taught in the Mishnah above (Tractate Sheviit, Chapter 9, Mishnah 2): “Three regions with respect [to the laws] of removal, and in the Baraita (Tractate Pesahim 53a), we taught, that one consumes grapes until Passover, olives until Shavuot and dried figs until Hanukkah, dates until Purim and all of them of the Eighth Year. And these periods with mere [produce], if it was used up for the beasts of the field or not, but if it is known, everything is according to what had been used up.

Introduction Our mishnah deals with what one does with sabbatical year produce at the time of removal.

מחלקן מזון שלש סעודות לכל אחד ואחד – from the men of the house, and afterwards, he distributes to his neighbors, to his relatives and to his acquaintances; and he removes and places it on the entrance of his house and states: “Our brethren of the House of Israel: He who needs to take should take.”

If one had sabbatical produce [at home] and the time of removal had come, he may give out food for three meals to every one. The first thing that one may do with the sabbatical produce when it is time to remove it from one’s home is to give enough of it for three meals to any person he knows. Anything he can’t give away to people that he knows he must take out of his house and publicly declare, “My fellow Jews, anyone who needs to take should come and take.”

ועניים אוכלים אחר הביעור אבל לא עשירים – as it is written (Exodus 23:11): “[but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow.] Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave let the wild beasts eat.”

Rabbi Judah says: the poor may eat from it even after the removal, but not the rich. According to Rabbi Judah, only poor people may come and take from this food. This is derived from Exodus 23:11, “Let the needy among your people eat of it.” Some interpret this to mean that the owner of the field who produced this food may not reclaim it for himself but all others may.

אחד עניים ואחד עשירים – they call concerning him (Exodus 23:11): “Let the needy” and also your people. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.

But Rabbi Yose says: both the poor and the rich may eat after the removal. Rabbi Yose holds that not only the poor but also the rich may eat of this produce after the removal. According to this reading of Rabbi Yose’s words, the removal is somewhat of a formality, because after he removes it from his home and makes the declaration he may go back and reclaim it. The Rambam seems to have a different reading altogether. He holds that neither the poor nor the rich may eat of it. According to the Rambam removal means giving three meals worth of the food to any relatives, friends or acquaintances and then actually destroying whatever is left over.

רבי אליעזר אומר ינתנו לאוכליהן – even though these fruits/produce were gathered with permission to eat them in the Sanctity of the Seventh Year, nevertheless, Rabbi Eliezer holds that it is forbidden to the one who gave him these fruit/produce to eat them alone, but rather, they would give them that they should consume it, he with the others, for Rabbi Eliezer, according to his reasoning who holds like the School of Shammai, as they stated (above, Chapter 4, Mishnah 2), that it is forbidden to eat the produce/fruit of the Seventh Year as a favor, meaning to say, to attach merit to whom that he gives him the Seventh Year produce that the All-Merciful made ownerless, therefore, the one who gave him Seventh Year produce as a gift, or that it fell to him inheritance, it is forbidden that he should eat them alone, and not to attach merit to whomever has bequeathed them to him, or that gave them to him as a gift, but rather, he should eat them with others in order that he not eat Seventh Year produce as a favor.

Introduction This mishnah deals with a person who has inherited or received as a gift seventh year produce after the time when that produce should have been removed.

וחכ"א אין החוטא נשכר – The Sages, according to the words of Rabbi Eliezer stated this to hi, for us, it is permitted to eat the Seventh Year produce, whether as a favor or not as a favor, but rather, to you, who stated that it is prohibited to eat Seventh Year produce as a favor, how that you say that they should be given to o those who would eat it and that you permitted to whomever that they gave him Seventh Year produce as a gift to eat them with others, for haven’t we found that the sinner is benefits/is rewareded when he eats them with other people, and the law gives an account according to you woulds that they should be sold to those who eat it that he pay his debt to them what they are worth in order that the sinner not benefit [by being given such produce to eat] and the money would be ivided to all people. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.

If one had inherited seventh year produce or had received them as a gift: Rabbi Eliezer says: they must be given to anyone who eats them. But the sages say: the sinner must not benefit, rather it should be sold to anyone who eats it, and its price divided among everyone. According to Rabbi Eliezer he should give the seventh year produce away to those who will eat it, even though it is forbidden for them to do so. He shouldn’t sell it to them because then the sanctity of the produce would be transferred to the proceeds. The other sages say that the problem with just giving it to such people is that they benefit by getting free produce. They are sinners because they eat sabbatical year produce why should they benefit from their sins? Therefore, he should sell it to them and then divide the money among the poor. I should note that I have explained this mishnah according to Albeck there are several other explanations.

האוכל מעיסת שביעית עד שלא הורמה לתה חייב מיתה – that you should not say that there is no Hallah in the Seventh year, as it is written (Leviticus 25:6): “for eating it” but not for burning it and Hallah, if it is defiled, requires burning, it comes to tell us that the Torah stated (Numbers 15:20) that: “as the first yield of your baking,” from whatever dough that will become Hallah you should offer as a heave offering.

If one eats dough of seventh year [produce] before the hallah was taken from it, he has incurred thereby the death penalty [at the hands of heaven]. The final section of this chapter teaches that one must separate “hallah” from dough made of seventh year produce. “Hallah” is separated from dough and given to the priest and any non-priest who eats from it is liable for death at the hands of heaven. Although tithes do not need to be taken from seventh year produce, hallah does. Therefore if one eats dough of sabbatical year produce before the hallah is removed, he is punished in the same way he would be if he had eaten dough before the hallah was removed in any other year.