Yerushalmi Peah 7:3 ירושלמי פאה ז׳:ג׳

MISHNAH: What are dropped berries⁴⁸Here starts the discussion of the duty to give single berries to the poor, Lev. 19:10.? Anything that drops during vintage. If he was gathering grapes, cut off the bunch, it got mixed up in the leaves, fell to the ground and scattered⁴⁹By accident., that belongs to the proprietor. He who puts a basket under the vine while he is gathering grapes robs the poor, and about him it was said⁵⁰Cf. Mishnah 5:5. (Prov. 22:28, 23:10): “Do not displace an eternal boundary.”
What is a gleaning⁵⁵In the Torah, עלל is used exclusively for vines (Lev. 19:10, Deut.24:21). In Arabic, the root means “going over the harvest a second time” in general. of grapes? Anything that has no shoulder and no dropping⁵⁶The Halakhah explains these terms.. If it has either shoulder or dropping it belongs to the proprietor, in case of doubt it belongs to the poor. A gleaning on a cut branch, if it can be cut off together with a bunch it belongs to the proprietor, otherwise to the poor. An isolated berry, Rebbi Jehudah says, it is considered a bunch⁵⁷According to the Halakhah more than three isolated berries together form a bunch for R. Jehudah., but the sages say, a gleaning.

HALAKHAH: This means that dropped berries become sanctified⁵¹As food of the poor for which they do not have to give heave or tithes. If the berries were not the property of the poor while falling down, the vintner could not be accused of actively robbing the poor by putting a basket under the vine. in the act of falling down. Does this not simply answer Hilfai⁵²In the Babylonian Talmud, he is called Ilfa. He studied together with R. Joḥanan, was as great as R. Joḥanan in learning but preferred to earn a living in trade. He objected to the use of baraitot and toseftot and maintained that all necessary information could be obtained from the Mishnah.’s question, since Hilfai asked: Do gleanings become sanctified in the act of falling down? Rebbi Samuel ben Eudaimon said: There is a difference, because he prevented them from reaching the ground⁵³Even if dropped berries become exempt from heave and tithes only when they touch the ground, still the vintner is guilty of robbery since without his intervention the berries would have touched the ground. However, it is reasonable to say that the berries do not become sanctified in falling and that the vintner, in addition to being a robber of the poor, is still under the obligation of giving heave and tithes from what he collected..

(Tosephta Peah 3:11): “What are gleanings? Anything that has no shoulder and no dropping. If it has shoulder but no dropping, dropping but no shoulder, it belongs to the proprietor, if it is doubtful it belongs to the poor. What is a shoulder? Spread out⁵⁸The etymology and meaning of פסיגין is not very clear. I am comparing it with Arabic פסג “to spread one’s legs.” The meaning of the sentence is that grapes must also grow upward from the spine. one on top of the other. What is a dropping? They hand downward on the spine.”

Rebbi Abba in the name of Rav Jehudah: Only if they all touch the palm of his hand⁵⁹A rudimentary bunch qualifies only as gleanings if it is so small that it fits into one hand.. But did not Rebbi Ḥiyya say, it happened that they weighed a gleaning in Sepphoris and it was seven pounds⁶⁰Greek λίτρα, Latin libra, “a pound” of 12 oz.? Rebbi Ḥinena said, if they put it on a board, every grape must touch the board⁶¹Latin tabula “board, plank”; also “plot in a vineyard.”.

A Levite who received unprepared tithes⁶²First Tithes of which the heave of the tithe was not given to the Cohen. Tithe may not be eaten before the heave of the tithe is separated (Num.18:26). The heave of the farmer has no minimum spelled out from the Torah, but it must be given from the harvest itself. The heave of the tithe is fixed at 10% but it may be given from anywhere (Terumot 2:1); hence, the Levite may use any fruit he has for that tithe. and found in them gleanings may use them for the heave of the tithes even on other places. But do not gleanings belong to the poor? Rebbi Avin in the name of the rabbis from there⁶³Babylonia.: I say that they are gleanings cut with the bunches⁶⁴As spelled out in the Mishnah. The Levite does not commit a sin since he is not using property acquired illegally to satisfy a religious duty. The Tosephta (Peah 3:14) simply states: “A Levite to whom grapes were given, among which he found gleanings, does not have to worry whether they might belong to the poor.”.

Rebbi Simon said, the reason of Rebbi Jehudah (Is. 17:6): “There will remain in it gleanings as when one plucks olives, two or three kernels⁶⁵Meaning that one, two, or three berries on one branch really belong to the poor even according to Rebbi Jehudah, but four or more, even though they grow out right from the stem and do not form bunches, are not called “berries” but “grape.”.” More than that is a grape.

Clarification⁶⁶The following digressions are induced by the story told before of a few grapes in Sepphoris weighing together seven pounds. Most of these stories are also quoted, in changed form, in Babli Ketubot 111b–112a; the first ones also, very much changed, in Baba Batra 91b.
כרם usually means “vineyard,” but in Jud. 15:5 כרם זית is a plantation of olive trees.. Rebbi Abbahu, Rebbi Yose ben Ḥanina, and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish passed by the orchard of Doron⁶⁷It is not clear whether this is a personal or topographical name.. The sharecropper brought them one peach⁶⁸Greek περσικὸν μῆλον, τὸ, also περσικός, ὁ, “Persian apple.”; they and their donkeys ate from it and left some over. They estimated it to be like a dish⁶⁹Greek λοπάς, -άδος, ἡ, “plate.” from Kefar Ḥananiah⁷⁰A place in Galilee famous for its pottery, possibly Kafr Anan. that contains a seah of lentils. After a time they passed by there, he brought them two or three peaches in one hand. They said to him, we would like some from that tree. He said to them, they are from it. On that, they quoted (Ps. 107:34): “A fruit-bearing land into salt flats, because of the evil of its inhabitants.”

Rebbi Ḥanina said, when I immigrated here, I took my belt, my son’s belt, and the belt of my donkey to measure around a young carob tree of the Land of Israel and it was not enough. I cut one carob pod and it filled my hand with honey⁷¹Carob syrup. In general, “honey” may mean both bee’s honey or syrup. In Arabic, דִבשׂ denotes only “sugary matter produced from a fruit, syrup, molasses”..

Rebbi Joḥanan said, the second quality fruit⁷²Cf. Arabic ספסאף “rejects, bad quality, junk.” we ate in our youth tasted better that the peaches we ate in our old age, because during his lifetime the world changed⁷³He was born under the Principate, lived through the hyperinflation and the shrinking economy of the Military Anarchy, and died under Diocletian’s military absolutism. (Cf. Babli Baba batra 91b.).

Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, one seah of Arbel⁷⁴On the high plain above Tiberias. grain did yield one seah of fine flour, one seah of white flour, one seah of dark flour, one seah of bran, one seah of coarse bran, and one seah of wheat germ. But today, we do not even get one for one⁷⁵A seah of grain contains empty space between grains. In milling, by necessity something is lost. One seah of grain yields much less than a seah of flour. Cf. Babli Ketubot 112a, Sotah17b..

Rebbi Ḥuna in the name of Rebbi Avin: Cinnamon was goat feed when the Jews were growing it. Rebbi Ḥuna in the name of Rebbi Abin: The two daily offerings⁷⁶Two yearling sheep. which were sacrificed every day used to be carried by a camel and their legs touched the ground. Rebbi Ḥuna in the name of Rebbi Idi: It happened that someone tied his goat to a fig tree; when he returned, he found honey⁷¹Carob syrup. In general, “honey” may mean both bee’s honey or syrup. In Arabic, דִבשׂ denotes only “sugary matter produced from a fruit, syrup, molasses”. and milk mixed⁷⁷Babli Ketubot 111b, in the name of Rami bar Ezechiel, brother of Rav Jehudah, a wanderer between Galilee and Babylonia..

Rebbi said to Rav Periri⁷⁸He appears only here and the title “Rav” is impossible for anybody in the Yeshivah of Rebbi except Rav himself. R. S. Cirillo changes the name to Rebbi Pedat (who however lived long after Rebbi), R. Eliahu Fulda and R. Moses Margalit use “Rebbi Peridah,” a mythical figure from the Babylonian Talmud who is reputed to have lived for over 400 years. He would fit into the story but one might doubt that Rebbi would hurt him. I wonder whether the person in question is not Rav himself and פרירי is an (Aramaic-Arabic فورار) address of endearment “my lamb”. In that case, one has to translate: Rebbi said to Rav: My lamb, will you not show me.… Since Rav was a relative of the Heads of the Diaspora and rich, he could have owned real estate whose yield would sustain him during his years of study.: Would you show me the bunch of grapes in your vineyard? He said to him, if you come out, I will show it. When he was still far away, he spied something like an ox. He said to him, does not the ox destroy the vineyard? He said to him, what you take for an ox is the bunch of grapes. He quoted for it (Cant. 1:12): “As long as the King was at his round table, my nard gave its fragrance79;” the Temple is destroyed and you persist in your obstinacy? Immediately, they looked for it and it was never found again.

They brought before him two radishes from between New Year’s Day and the Great Fast⁸⁰Yom Kippur, the Tenth of Tishre. The radishes probably were offered for sale on Yom Kippur Eve.. It was the year after a Sabbatical, and they were a full camel’s load. He said to them, are they not forbidden as aftergrowth⁸¹One may not use any plant grown in the Sabbatical year for commercial purposes (and one may not use any produce if nothing of the same kind is left on the fields for wildlife.) Hence, the free growth of the Sabbatical is forbidden in commercial transactions even after the end of the Sabbatical year.? He said to him, they were sown at the end of New Year’s Day. At that moment did Rebbi permit to buy vegetables immediately after the end of the Sabbatical year.

They asked before him, what is that which is written (Joel 1:17): “Dried figs became mouldy under their shovels.” He said to them, we were raking honey, now we are raking rotten things instead. It happened that somebody had a row of fig trees; when he came, he found them surrounded by a fence of honey.

One person sowed turnips on his field; he used to cut them off and sell them⁸²It is still possible to replant the top of a large radish with a small part of the root and it will regrow a root, but not more than once.. It happened that a fox made his nest in a turnip’s head. It happened in Shihin⁸³A village near Sepphoris renowned for its pottery. This story also appears in Ketubot. that one stalk of mustard plant had three leaves; one leaf was split off to cover a potter’s hut and they found on it three qab⁸⁴About 7 quarts. of mustard seed. Rebbi Simeon ben Ḥalaphta said, I had a stem of mustard plant on my property and I climbed on it the way one climbs a fig tree.

It happened that someone sowed a seah of peas and it produced 300 seah. They said to him, the Holy One, praise to Him, has started to bless you. He answered, get away from here, if bad dew had not descended on it, it would have produced twice as much.

Rebbi Simeon ben Ḥalaphta said, it happened that Rebbi Jehudah said to his son in Sikhnin⁸⁵A town in Galilee, birthplace of R. Joshua.: Go and bring us dried figs from the barrel. He went and put his hand into the barrel, found it full of honey and said: Father, it is a barrel of honey. He said to him, put your hands deep into it and you will bring up the dried figs. It happened that Rebbi Yose said to his son in Sepphoris: Go and bring us dried figs from the upper floor. He went and found that honey was floating on the upper floor. Rebbi Ḥananiah was a dealer in bee’s honey; he also had honey obtained by roasting⁸⁶Following Levy, all the dictionaries identify ẓeli as a kind of dates, since vegetable honey is made from dates. However, the previous stories were all about the fact that earlier (before the war of Bar Kokhba but long after the destruction of the Temple) even figs produced sap so rich in sugar that it could be used as honey substitute. So one possible translation would be “of ẓeli figs”; it is unclear what kind they are. The translation assumes that it was bee’s honey, which may be obtained from the honey combs by heating. Then the “roasted” honey was lower quality honey obtained by roasting honey combs from which the first quality had been extracted by moderate heat, and honesty required that the customer be informed that the honey sold was of second quality only. “To roast” is Hebrew צלה, Arabic צלי. The word could also be derived from Arabic צוול “to clean out by washing”, צולה “chaff”, giving a similar meaning.. After a time they passed by him. He said to them, in order not to trick you, you should know that the honey that I gave you was from roasting. They said, from that one we want more because it is good for our purposes. He set aside its value⁸⁷Greek τιμή, “value.” He set aside the difference in value between premium bee’s honey and ẓeli honey. and built with it the House of Study of Sepphoris.

Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Simeon went to a place where they brought him shrunk cabbage⁸⁸Either dried in the air or roasted over a fire.. He said to them, you put a lot of honey into it. They said to him, we did not put anything in, it is in its natural state.