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.” 

Mishnah Three

1)      What is peret? [Grapes] which fall down during the harvesting.

2)      If while he was harvesting [the grapes], he cut off an entire cluster by its stalk, and it got tangled up in the [grape] leaves, and then it fell from his hand to the ground and the single berries were separated, it belongs to the owner.  

3)      One who places a basket under the vine when he is harvesting [the grapes], behold he is a robber of the poor.   Concerning him it is said: “Do not remove the landmark of those that come up (olim)” (Proverbs 22:28).

Explanation

Section one:  Peret is a grape or a few grapes that fall to the ground when being harvested. Once the grapes hit the ground they belong to the poor. 

Section two:  In this case an entire cluster is cut off by its stalk and then it gets tangled up in the leaves, falls to the ground and the grapes split off from the cluster. These grapes are not considered peret because they didn’t separate from the cluster and fall to the ground as a direct result of their being harvested, but rather as a result of their contact with the grape leaves.  In order for grapes to be peret it must be the harvesting that causes them to separate from the cluster and fall to the ground.

Section three:  By putting the basket under the vine when harvesting, he is preventing anything from becoming peret. The mishnah calls one who does such a thing a “robber of the poor.” This is the same words with which mishnah 5:6 ended.  I will copy here what I wrote there:

The final midrash on Proverbs 22:28 is based on a variant reading of the text of Proverbs.  The Masoretic (traditional Jewish) text reads, “Do not remove the ancient (olam) landmark stone.”  Our text reads the word “olam” as if it was written “olim.”  “Olim” usually means “those who go up” and therefore it may be being used euphemistically here for the poor who could be called “those who are going down,” meaning they have lost their money.