Yerushalmi Peah 4:3 ירושלמי פאה ד׳:ג׳

MISHNAH: One does not harvest peah with sickles and one does not uproot it with axes so that they should not injure one another. Three investigation periods⁵⁹Periods when the poor will go to the fields to see where they may collect peah. According to the interpretation of Maimonides (Mattenot Aniïm 2:17), the poor are not permitted to collect at other times. The root of the word is בעי “to question”. (The Halakhah reads אבעיות). The Halakhah will clarify the meaning of the three periods. are there during the day, in the morning, at noontime, and in the evening. Rabban Gamliel says, they decreed this only to say that one may not do less. Rebbi Aqiba says, they decreed this only to say that one may not do more⁶⁰The farmer is not allowed to declare peah at any other time, when not all poor have the opportunity to be present.. In Bet Namer⁶¹Identified with Biblical Bet Nimrah (Num. 32:2) on the Jordanian side of the Jordan, a tell called Nymreïn. they insisted on collecting⁶²The hiph‘il form, given by the overwhelming majority of manuscript sources, is a causative: The farmer made his farmhands cut the grain along ropes stretched lengthwise along the field. In this way, the entire end-strip of the field became peah, given piecemeal during the harvest. along a rope and were giving peah from every strip⁶³Greek ὄγμος, Byzantine pronunciation oymos, “furrow in plowing, swathe in reaping,” also ὤγμος, “strip of cultivated land.”.

HALAKHAH: What are אֹבָּעְיוֹת? Rebbi Abun said, just as you say (Ob. 6): “How was Esau searched out, his hidden places investigated⁶⁴The root בעה in Obadiah has a meaning close to Rabbinic Aramaic בעי..”

“In the morning, at noontime, and in the evening.” In the morning because of nursing women. At noontime because of the children. In the evening, because of the decrepit⁶⁵The old people; from the root משש “to totter.”.

“Rabban Gamliel says, they decreed this only to say that one may not do less;” if he wants to add, he may add. “Rebbi Aqiba says, they decreed this only to say that one may not do more;” does this mean that if he wants to give less frequently he may not do so?

“Those of Bet Namer insisted on collecting along a rope and were giving peah from every strip.” It was stated: Abba Shaul says, one mentions them disapprovingly and one mentions them approvingly. One mentions them disapprovingly because they only gave peah of one percent⁶⁷And not 1⅔% as required by rabbinical ordinance.. And one mentions them approvingly because they insisted on collecting along a rope and were giving peah from every strip.

It was stated⁶⁹There are parallels in Tosephta Peah 1:6, Sifra Qedošim 1:10, Babli Šabbat 23a. In all these parallels, there are four reasons given, meaning that R. Simeon explains the reason of the Biblical law. In the Babli, R. Simeon is reputed to deduce laws from the reasoning behind Biblical precepts; the Yerushalmi does not seem to accept this but gives reasons separate from the verse. (The Tosephta in our hands is essentially a Babylonian compilation; Sifra is Palestinian material edited in Babylonia.) It is clear that R. Simeon supports here his argument in Mishnah 1:3 that peah must be given at the end, because of Biblical precept and rabbinical ordinance. in the name of Rebbi Simeon: For five reasons one should give peah only at the end of one’s field, because of robbing the poor, because of idling the poor, because of cheats, because of bad impression, and because the Torah said (Lev. 19:9): “Do not finish off the corner of your field.” Because of robbing the poor, that no man should see a free hour and say to his poor relative: Come, and take this peah for yourself. Because of idling the poor, that the poor should not sit around, watch the entire day, and say: Now he is giving peah, now he is giving peah, but rather they should go, collect on another field, and come at the moment of finishing. Because of the cheats, that one should not say: I already gave, and then he chooses the good and brings out the bad⁷⁰We are not concerned here with people who willingly transgress the ordinances of the Torah. Rather, we speak about so-called pious people who find ways to minimize their obligations. In this case, the farmer harvests the entire field without giving peah. Then he is obligated to give peah from the cut grain but here he has the possibility to select stalks with small kernels for the poor, whereas he has no such control if he refrains from cutting the last corner.. Because of bad impression, that the passers-by should not say: Look, this man harvested his field and did not leave peah for the poor. And because the Torah said: “Do not finish off the corner of your field.”