Introduction
In today’s mishnah Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva argue over a vineyard where all of the clusters of grapes are defective (olelot).
Mishnah Yomit
Set a fixed time to learn Torah (Avot 1:15). Fulfill this important precept by learning one Mishnah each day with the Conservative Yeshiva's Mishnah Yomit, prepared by faculty member Dr. Joshua Kulp. The Mishnah is a collection of Jewish laws dealing with nearly every subject imaginable, from the laws of Shabbat and holidays, to marriage laws, to civil laws to laws concerning the Temple in Jerusalem.
21 February 2012
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Introduction
For the first three years’ of a vine’s growth, its grapes are “orlah” and cannot be eaten. In the fourth year of its growth, they are like second tithe and must either be eaten inJerusalemor redeemed and brought toJerusalemwhere the proceeds are to be used to buy food. Our mishnah deals with these laws and in the second half of the mishnah it deals with the impact that these laws have on some of the agricultural gifts.
20 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah deals with whether when one thins out the grapes from a grapevine so that the other grapes will have more room to grow one can also thin away the defective clusters that are supposed to go to the poor.
19 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah introduces the rules of the “defective cluster,” called in Hebrew the “olelet.” Leviticus 19:10 states, “You shall not pick your vineyard bare,” the word for bare is “teolel” from which the rabbis derive the word olelet. They interpret the halakhah to mean—don’t pick defective clusters of grapes, rather leave them for the poor.
18 February 2012
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Introduction
Our mishnah defines peret, a word found in Leviticus 19:10, “The peret of your vineyard you shall not gather, for the poor and the stranger you shall leave them.”
17 February 2012
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Mishnah Two
1) An olive tree found standing between three rows [of olive trees] which have two plots separating them, and he forgot it, it is deemed, “forgotten.”
16 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah deals with the laws of forgotten as they apply to olive trees.
15 February 2012
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Mishnah Eleven
1) One who harvests by night and binds sheaves [by night] or one who is blind [that which he leaves] is subject to the law of the “forgotten.”
2) If he intends to remove large leaves first, then the law of “forgotten” does not apply.
3) If he said: “Behold, I am reaping on the condition that I take afterwards that which I have forgotten,” the law of “forgotten” still applies.
Explanation
Section one: The laws of “forgotten” still apply to one who can’t see, either because he was harvesting or binding sheaves at night, or because he is blind. We don’t say that because he couldn’t see what he was doing he can’t forget anything.
Section two: If a person intends to remove the large sheaves first, and then leaves some of them in the field mixed in with the smaller sheaves, none of the sheaves, neither the small ones nor the large ones, are deemed “forgotten.” The smaller sheaves are not forgotten because he was not intending to collect them. The larger sheaves are also not forgotten because we assume that since he left the smaller sheaves, his intention was to go back to the field and collect the larger ones later.
Section three: A person cannot make a blanket statement before he starts harvesting that anything that he leaves in the field he will come back and collect. This does not prevent that which he actually forgets from being considered “forgotten.” Such a person would be trying to make a stipulation to get around the Torah’s laws and such stipulations are usually invalid.
14 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah continues to define what things the “laws of forgotten” apply to.
13 February 2012
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Introduction
Above in mishnah seven we learned that if a stalk of grain has two seahs it is not considered forgotten. Our mishnah asks what happens if he forgets a stalk that has one seah and doesn’t forget some already harvested grain that is also one seah? Do the two add up causing the two-seah rule to still apply?
12 February 2012
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Mishnah Eight
1) A standing stalk of grain can save a sheaf and another standing stalk [from being regarded as “forgotten”].
2) A sheaf cannot save either another sheaf or a standing stalk.
3) What is the standing stalk of grain that can save at sheaf? Anything which has not been forgotten, even though it is a single stalk.
11 February 2012
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Introduction
In today’s mishnah we see that the rabbis extended the laws of forgotten sheaves to standing stalks of grain as well. The question then is, when is a stalk considered to have been forgotten?
10 February 2012
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Introduction
Our mishnah talks about the how big a sheaf can be and still be considered “forgotten.”
09 February 2012
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Introduction
The general rule of this mishnah is if that two things left lying together are considered to have been forgotten but three things left lying together are assumed to have been left there intentionally so that the owner could come back and collect them later. Hence they are not considered forgotten. This rule applies to two different types of gifts to the poor: “forgotten” and “gleanings.” The category of gleanings can be divided into two different types, each with its own Hebrew term: grain (leket) and grapes (peret).
08 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah is a continuation of yesterday’s mishnah, which said that something that was left at the end of a row was not considered “forgotten.”
07 February 2012
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Introduction
This mishnah continues to define when something is considered to be a forgotten sheaf.
06 February 2012
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Introduction
The status of a sheaf as “forgotten” is determined at the time when the processing of the sheaf is completed and it is ready to be threshed. Our mishnah comes to teach that the laws of the forgotten sheaf do not apply when he makes small piles of sheaves in order to later make them into a bigger stack or to bring them to the threshing floor. They only apply either when he makes the smaller bundles of sheaves into a large stack, or when he brings them to the threshing floor.
06 February 2012
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Introduction
Our mishnah deals with a sheaf that was left lying near something specific. The question is, might the field owner have left it there intentionally so that he would know where to find it later? If he did, then the rules of the forgotten sheaf do not apply and the sheaf does not belong to the poor. This would mean that only a sheaf left lying in the middle of the field, or at least not near anything specific, would be considered to be forgotten.
05 February 2012
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Introduction
In this mishnah there are two debates between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel. Only the second one has to do with the laws of the forgotten sheaf.
04 February 2012
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Introduction
Our mishnah begins to deal with the topic of forgotten sheaves. Deuteronomy 24:19 states, “When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow—in order that the Lord you God may bless you in all your undertakings.”
Today’s mishnah teaches what it means for a sheaf to be considered “forgotten.”
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