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Week 125 - Thursday - 18 April 2002

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 4

A sheaf which is close to an uncemented wall, or to a grain stack, or to cattle, or to implements and he forgot it - the School of Shammai says, It is not shikhehah; but the School of Hillel says, It is shikhehah.

Kehati

This mishnah continues the laws of the sheaf forgotten in the field, and it, too, is in Peah (6:2).

A sheaf which is close to an uncemented wall - A wall in which the stones are simply stacked on top of one another, or to a grain stack - or which is close to a stack of sheaves or to cattle - or is near a place where work-animals (Heb. bakar) stand. Some read beker instead of bakar, in which case it means, a cattle-shed; (Melekhet Shelomo) or to implements - or is close to plowing implements, and he forgot it - When he gathered the sheaves into his barn, he forgot this sheaf, the School of Shammai says, It is not shikhehah - The farmer may go back and take the sheaf. Since it is lying next to a distinguishing mark the owner will eventually remember it, and it is therefore not shikhehah; but the School of Hillel says, It is shikhehah - now that he has forgotten it, it is shikhehah and belongs to the poor. In the Jerusalem Talmud we learn (Peah 6:2), that R. Yehoshua interpreted the mishnah as we have explained it, but R. Eliezer said: "The School of Shammai and the School of Hillel did not disagree about a forgotten sheaf which is close to an uncemented wall or to a grain stack, or to cattle, or to implements that it is shikhehah. About what did they disagree? About a sheaf that he took (with the intention of bringing it to the city) and he placed it next to an uncemented wall, next to a grain stack, next to cattle, next to implements, and he forgot it that the School of Shammai says, It is not shikhehah because it had become his (and not the poor's), but the School of Hillel says, It is shikhehah." R. Eleazar b. Azariah agrees with R. Eliezer (Tosefta Peah 3:6 also interprets thus, with a slight change in wording, and various commentators discuss the meaning of this mishnah at length. See Mishneh Lemelekh on Rambam, Hil. Matnot Aniyim 5:3.)

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 5

A vineyard of the fourth year - the School of Shammai says, It does not have a fifth and has no removal; but the School of Hillel says, It has a fifth and has removal. The School of Shammai says, It has fallen grapes and defective clusters, and the poor redeem for themselves; but the School of Hillel says, All of it to the winepress.

Kehati

The Torah states (Lev. 19:23,24), "And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food ... three years shall it be as forbidden (orlah) unto you: it shall not be eaten of. And in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy forgiving praise unto the Lord." Our Sages called a fruit tree in the fourth year after planting neta reva’ai. Similarly, a vineyard in its fourth year after planting is called a kerem reva’ai. The Torah teaches us that neta reva’ai or kerem reva'ai are treated as ma’aser sheni and they can be eaten only in Jerusalem. If it is hard to transport the fruit to Jerusalem their owner may redeem its value with coins. I.e., through redemption the fruit becomes hullin instead of sacred. The coins must then be brought to Jerusalem, where they may only be spent on food and drink, as is done with the money of ma'aser sheni. The Talmud (Berakhot 35a) quotes a dispute between R. Hiyye and R. Shimon b. Rabbi (R. Yehudah HaNasi): according to one authority, the law governing the "fourth year" crop applies only to grapes, and whenever the topic is mentioned he reads the text as kerem reva'ai; while the other applies it to all trees, and whenever the topic is mentioned he reads the text as neta reva'ai. According to Rambam (Hil. Ma’aser Sheni 9), the laws of the fourth year apply to all trees to which orlah applies, his text is neta reva'ai. Hence, the kerem reva'ai of our mishnah refers not only to a vineyard, but also to neta reva'ai - the produce of all trees. The reason the mishnah used the term kerem - a vineyard - is because of its second part, which deals with fallen loose grapes and defective clusters of grapes. In any event, kerem reva'ai is treated as ma'aser sheni. The fruit is either brought to Jerusalem and eaten there or it is redeemed with coins, which are eventually brought to Jerusalem. In the present mishnah, the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel disagree as to whether or not kerem reva'ai is treated like ma'aser sheni also in regard to the extra "fifth" and "removal." When redeeming ma'aser sheni one must add a fifth as it states (Lev. 27:31), "And if a man will redeem any of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof." From this our Sages learned (Ma'aser Sheni 4:3) that one who redeems his ma'aser sheni must add a fifth - (i.e., that the added part must be a fifth of the new total, so that the added part is actually a quarter of the original value). Similarly, the two schools argue as to whether the law of "removal" which applies to ma'aser sheni also applies to kerem reva'ai. The law of "removal" is stated in the Torah (Deut. 14:28), "At the end of every three years…you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase..." From this, we learn that one may not keep tithes in one's home indefinitely, but must remove them. Thus we learn (Ma'aser Sheni 5:6): "The day before the first day of Pesach of the fourth year and of the seventh year, is the removal. How is the removal performed? One gives the terumah and terumat ma'aser to its owners (i.e., the kohanim), and the ma'aser rishon to its owners (i.e., the levi'im), and the ma'aser ani to its owners (i.e., the poor); and the ma'aser sheni and bikkurim are removed regardless (i.e., they must be removed and destroyed)." Our mishnah is found in Pe'ah (7:6) and also in Ma'aser Sheni (5:3).

A vineyard of the fourth year - A vineyard in the fourth year after it was planted, as well as any other fruit-bearing tree, as explained above, the School of Shammai says, It does not have a fifth - One who wishes to redeem the fruit and to bring the redemption money to Jerusalem, need not add a fifth of its value, as must be done when redeeming ma'aser sheni, and has no removal - One need not remove it from one's home on the day before Pesach of the fourth and seventh years of the shemitah cycle, for, according to the School of Shammai, kerem reva'ai is not treated in every way as ma'aser sheni; but the School of Hillel says, It has a fifth and has removal - The School of Hillel learns the laws of kerem reva'ai from ma'aser sheni by a gezerah shavah. The Torah uses the word kadosh, ("holy") in connection with both. "And in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy" (Lev. 19:24), "And all the tithe of the land... is holy unto the Lord" (Lev. 27:30), teaching that just as ma'aser sheni has a fifth and removal, so too does kerem reva'ai have a fifth and removal. The School of Shammai, though, does not learn this gezerah shavah (Kiddushin 54b).

The School of Shammai says, It has fallen grapes and defective clusters - The Torah states (Lev. 19:10), "And you shall not glean your vineyard of defective clusters, neither shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard (i.e., individual grapes which fall); you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger." The School of Shammai holds that this law applies to kerem reva'ai just as it applies to the crop of any other year, for though the crop must be redeemed, it is nevertheless the property of the owner, and the poor redeem for themselves - The poor collect the defective clusters and gleanings of kerem reva’ai, redeem their value, and then bring the money to Jerusalem; but the School of Hillel says, All of it to the winepress - The owners bring all the grapes, including the defective clusters and loose grapes, to the winepress for treading, and bring the wine or its redemption money to Jerusalem. The School of Hillel thus holds that kerem reva'ai is like ma'aser sheni, in that it belongs to G-d and not man, and therefore the poor have no part in it.

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