תלמוד על פאה 3:1

Rav said³⁰Here starts the discussion of how large the interruption between two crops of the same kind must be so that two separate peot are due.: Fallow land and ploughed land of a bet rova‘³¹In general, surface area measurements are given in the Talmudim by the amount of seed grain needed for the area in cultivation. The measurements are standardized by the tradition that the courtyard of the Tabernacle, which was 50 by 100 cubits (Ex. 27:18), defined the area covered by two seah. One seah are six qab. Hence, the area covered by a quarter qab, the bet rova‘, is an area of 5000:48 = 104 1/6 square cubits. A cubit was at least 45 and at most 61 cm, probably 54.6 cm., other produce³²For example, if two fields of wheat are separated by a strip of barley. even the tiniest amount. Rebbi Joḥanan said: Fallow land, ploughed land, and other produce at three preliminary furrows³³Three wide parallel furrows. According to Rashi (Is. 28:24), in ploughing an uncultivated field one first ploughs wide and coarse “starter” furrows; for sowing one then ploughs narrow ones adapted to the particular seed. According to Maimonides (Kilaim 3:2), the coarse furrows serve to cover breaks in the soil which developed during the heat of summer. There is no practical difference between the two explanations. In any case, the total width of the three furrows cannot be larger than two cubits.. Do they disagree³⁴Is it necessary to assume that Rav and R. Joḥanan present different traditions? One tries to avoid disagreements over basic measurements as much as possible.? What Rav said³⁵In matters of the separating produce only. refers to produce subject to peah, what Rebbi Joḥanan said refers to produce not subject to peah³⁶In the next paragraph it will be explained that, at least for Rebbis Meïr and Jehudah, plots subject to the obligation of peah are more powerful to interrupt between fields of the same kind than those not subject to it.. But did we not state that fallow or ploughed land is subject to peah³⁷At least for the Sages who disagree with R. Meïr in the Mishnah. Since here Rav and R. Joḥanan give different measurements for identical situations, they seem to disagree.? What Rav said refers to an average field, what Rebbi Joḥanan said refers to a plot 50 by 2³⁸If the entire field, in this example 100 square cubits, is smaller than a bet rova‘, the rule of Rav becomes inapplicable and must be replaced by a smaller limit..

Rebbi Zeïra said: Rebbi Eleazar¹⁰⁰The Amora. (about one’s friend), Rebbi Joḥanan, and Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said the same thing. Rebbi Eleazar, as Rebbi Zeïra said in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: A man may acquire a find for his friend¹⁰¹If a man finds abandoned or lost property, he may pick it up to acquire it for another person. This essentially is giving a gift of something that is not his property while it was lying in the street, and he picked it up with the intention of not acquiring it himself. It is enough that he could have picked it up for himself to empower him to give it directly to the beneficiary. This is the exact parallel to the poor farmer collecting peah, not to give later to somebody else, but so that the other should be the immediate owner of every collected stalk. [Later in this Halakhah and in the Babli (Baba Meẓi‘a 10a), this appears as a statement of R. Joḥanan. Since a statement X in the name of Y usually means that X did not hear the statement directly from Y, it is to be assumed that R. Zeïra heard the statement of R. Eleazar in the yeshivah of R. Joḥanan.]. Rebbi Joḥanan, as we have stated there (Mishnah Baba Meẓiah 1:5): “The finds of his minor sons and daughters¹⁰²They have no independent legal status but can act for their father. The same holds for slaves and their master., of his Gentile slaves and slave girls, and of his wife¹⁰³It is a rabbinic ordinance that the wife’s finds and earnings belong to the husband, in exchange for his obligation to totally support his wife. If the wife is an earner, that clause may be abrogated by mutual consent., belong to him. The finds of his adult sons and daughters¹⁰⁴Who are legal persons in their own right., of his Jewish slaves and slave girls¹⁰⁵They are not really slaves but indentured servants for at most 6 years and do not lose their legal status. (The institution of Jewish slavery ended with the deportation of the first of the 10 tribes, since it was valid only as long as the distribution of land under Joshua was in force.), and of his divorced wife in case that he had not yet paid her ketubah¹⁰⁶Cf. Chapter 3, Note 151. As long as the ketubah is not paid, the ex-husband has to support his ex-wife, but her earnings and finds are hers to keep., belong to them. Rebbi Joḥanan said, if they¹⁰⁷The adult children. If they live in the father’s house and are supported by him, their earnings go to the father. Hence, if they find something, it is automatically assumed that they acquire the found property for their father. are not dependents. But if they are dependent on their father, their finds belong to him. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi, as Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said: They disagree about a rich owner. But if the owner is poor, since he has the right to take it, the other person acquired it.

MISHNAH: He who owns 200 zuz¹⁰⁹This is the usual name for the silver denar. [According to the definition of Shulḥan Arukh that a pĕruṭah, 1/192 of a denar, is one-half grain of sterling silver, 200 zuz would be 80 oz. of sterling silver. Its buying power would be much more since in Antiquity the ratio of silver to gold was at most 1:12; it was an amount on which a person could live comfortably for one full year.] should not take gleanings, forgotten sheaves, peah, and tithes of the poor. If he had 199, even if a thousand people gave him at the same time, he should take. If they were mortgaged for his wife’s ketubah¹¹⁰Cf. Chapter 3, Note 151. The ketubah is a general lien on all his property. The Mishnah supposes that specific money is set aside for the satisfaction of the ketubah. This is permitted only in special cases such as an impending divorce or death. In the same way, the surety for a loan here is not a general mortgaging of property but a definite lien attached to cash. or for a creditor, he may take. One does not require him to sell his house or the vessels of daily use¹¹¹The rules of this Mishnah apply only to one who takes gleanings, forgotten sheaves, peah, and tithes of the poor. The protection does not apply to people asking for public assistance..