Yerushalmi Peah 5:3 ירושלמי פאה ה׳:ג׳

MISHNAH: One does not use a waterwheel with buckets⁷²After the harvest, before the poor had cleaned out vineyard (or field), to avoid hurting the vines (or to prepare the field for the next season.), the words of Rebbi Meïr. But the Sages do permit it, because it is impossible⁷³To do otherwise, since the vineyard would dry up. [This translation follows תוספתא כפשוטה p. 155; it is not much different from the explanation of Arukh (s. v. טפח) in the name of R. Daniel Gaon.]. A householder wandering from one place to another who was in need of taking gleanings, forgotten sheaves, peah, and tithes of the poor⁷⁴Since his money had run out. should repay them once he comes home, the words of Rebbi Eliezer⁷⁵Taking into account his property at his place of residence, at no time was he eligible for public assistance.. But the Sages say, he was poor at that moment⁷⁶Having no money with him and unable to get credit..

HALAKHAH: It was stated⁷⁷Tosephta Peah 2:20. There, the reading is: “R. Jehudah says, he collects (the part of the poor) and deposits it on the fence.”: He who waters his field before a poor person had entered it, if his potential loss is greater than the poor man’s, it is permitted, but if the poor man’s loss is greater than his, it is prohibited. Rebbi Jehudah says, in both cases he deposits them on the fence and the poor man comes and takes what is his.

The reasoning of Rebbi Jehudah is inverted: There⁷⁸Mishnah 7:5: “If somebody is pruning vines, just as he is pruning his, he may prune the poor’s, the words of Rebbi Jehudah. Rebbi Meïr says, he is empowered to do it on his own vines, but not on the poor’s.” One prunes new shoots of vines at the start of the growing season; at that moment, the poor have rights only to the grapes growing singly, not in bunches, directly on the branch., he says that just as he prunes for himself, so he prunes for the poor; but here he says thus⁷⁹He collects and puts the poor’s part aside.! There, they caused it for themselves since they did not come⁸⁰Nobody is wasting time to pluck budding single grape berries. In Halakhah 7:5, there is an another answer given: Since by pruning one makes the vine grow more grape bunches, the poor’s part also will be increased in the future., but here they came.

The reasoning of the rabbis is inverted: There⁸¹In Mishnah 7:5, R. Meïr, who disagrees with R. Jehudah, is identified with the anonymous opponent of Rebbi Jehudah in the Tosephta quoted at the start of this Halakhah., they say if his potential loss is greater than the poor’s, and here they say thus⁸²In our Mishnah, they permit using the water wheel to mechanically water the vineyard.! There, it is possible⁸³To prune only after the poor collected their share., but here it is impossible.

Now Rebbi Meïr says, one does not use the water wheel, and one estimates the loss to the owner. Now the rabbis say, one uses the water wheel and estimates the loss to the poor⁸⁴So why does R. Meïr insist on not watering, if all accounts can be satisfied with money?. To whom does he pay? Rebbi Jonah said, to the poor of his place, because otherwise, what could we say⁸⁵There is no individual claimant; hence, there would be no payment unless the head of the local charity institution brings action in the name of all local, potentially empowered, poor.? Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Ada said, it is needed for the measure of justice⁸⁶Even the administrator of charity could not bring action unless specifically empowered to do so. It is therefore not superfluous to restrict the potential claimants to those represented by the administrator of charity..