תלמוד על שביעית 1:4

MISHNAH: A vineyard that is planted less that four cubits apart²⁶This violates standard agricultural practice., Rebbi Simeon says that it is no vineyard. But the Sages say that it is a vineyard and one disregards the ones in the middle as if nonexistent²⁷If every second vine is disregarded the remaining vines still are less than eight cubits apart and, hence, still form a vineyard. The argument of the Sages (made explicit in Babli Baba Batra 102b) is that vines planted too close to one another will not bear the best or the most fruit; hence, the vintner might plant too many vines at the start and then, when it becomes clear which vines grow best, he will take out the rest and use as wood and replant the best ones as a regular vineyard. Rebbi Simeon is of the opinion that a vineyard is planted for its yield, so he waits until the vineyard is thinned before he imposes the restrictions of a vineyard. (In the Babli, R. Simeon is interpreted to mean that nobody plants a vineyard with the intention of thinning.) The Sages think that planting for a vineyard makes a vineyard from the start.
It is not quite clear what the minimum distance is; cf. Chapter 4, Note 2. The cubit of 52.6 cm would give 210.4 cm as minimal distance of two vines. R. A. H. Nach defines the hand-breadth as 8.5 cm, which implies that 4 cubits of five hand-breadths each are 170 cm. Modern viticulture works with distances of 135 to 150 cm; one is best off by adopting the minimal interpretation of cubits..

HALAKHAH: Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman, Rebbi Jonathan, in the name of Rebbi Eliezer²²This is R. Eliezer ben Jacob, as in the next statement, the parallel in Ševi‘it, and the corresponding text in Babli Soṭah 43b. The traditions of the Babli are in the name of R. Joḥanan, not R. Jonathan, and are not identical with the statements here.: He who prunes his vineyard down to less than a hand-breadth subjects it to orlah because of the bad appearance²³The person who sees vine stumps less than a hand-breadth high might think of them as new growth whose yield is forbidden as orlah the first three years after planting (cf. Chapter 5, Note 93). The Sages apply orlah only if all growth above ground is cut off, and not as a matter of bad impressions. The Babli deals with a minimal vineyard of dwarf vines that never grow a hand-breadth tall and declares them to be permanent orlah.. The Sages say, only if he prunes down to the ground. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan, in the name of Rebbi Eliezer ben Jacob: He who forms a heap from gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and peah, is subject to the Great Heave²⁴This is the regular heave, called “great” in contrast to the heave of the tithe (cf. Peah Chapter 1, Note 127). The Babli requires full tithing once a heap is formed on the field from exempt gifts to the poor (but the townspeople know the poor who have no land). because of the bad appearance. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan, Rebbi Eliezer ben Jacob in the name of the House of Shammai: A corpse in the public domain induces impurity four cubits around it, to sustain its dignity²⁵A person standing over a corpse is forming a “tent” by his body and becomes impure (Num. 19). The House of Shammai extend this impurity by rabbinic decree to anybody within four cubits of the corpse, so that only those occupied with the burial will come near the corpse.. Rebbi Mana said, this last statement is in the name of the House of Shammai; Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, all are in the name of the House of Shammai²⁶None of the statements in this paragraph are practice to be followed.. Rebbi Jonah said, also that which we stated here²⁷The statement of R. Eliezer ben Jacob in the Mishnah. If vines growing on two different levels did form a vineyard or a trellis in any Biblical sense, the rabbis could not make the definition dependent on whether all grapes can be harvested from the lower level. The other statements of R. Eliezer ben Jacob in this paragraph were introduced as background for R. Jonah’s statement. is because of the bad appearance. If it were not so, what would be the difference whether one stands on the ground or on the terrace?

MISHNAH: One distances a tree 25 cubits from a cistern, but carob tree and sycamore 50 cubits, whether on top or level⁹⁸In order to avoid damage to the walls of the cistern by the roots. The required distance applies if the tree is planted on a level with the cistern or above it on a hillside. In the Babylonian sources, Babli 25b and Tosephta 1:12, it is emphasized that this also applies if the tree is planted on a hillside below the level of the cistern. In Ševi‘it 1:2 (Notes 28–34), R. Yose ben Rebbi Abun characterizes the Babli’s opinion as R. Simeon’s and holds that R. Yose, who is the higher authority, allows a tree to be planted below the cistern. He will require that the cistern’s bottom not be below its owner’s property line on the hill. (It is not obvious that the opinions of the editors of the other parts of the Yerushalmi are accepted in Neziqin.). If the cistern existed before, he shall cut it down and pay for it⁹⁹He (the tree’s owner) shall cut his tree down if he (the cistern’s owner) pays for it.; if the tree existed before, one shall not cut it down. Rebbi Yose said, even if the cistern existed before, one shall not cut it down since the one digs on his property and the other plants on his property¹⁰⁰Since the owner of the tree legally may plant a tree on his property, the provident owner of the neighboring plot will build his cistern at 25 cubits’ distance from his property line..
A person should not plant a tree next to another’s field unless he distanced himself from it by four cubits¹⁰¹This is good advice rather than a legal requirement. A person planting a fruit tree on his property needs a circle with a radius of 4 cubits around it for servicing the tree; he has to avoid trespassing on other people’s property., whether vines or any other tree. If there was a wall between them, each one goes close to the wall¹⁰²Since then there is no danger of trespassing. גָּדֵר, like Arabic جَدُر, is a rural stone wall made without mortar, not a fence as in modern Hebrew.. If its roots extended to another’s field, he lowers the roots three handbreadths in order not to hinder the plough¹⁰³I. e., the field’s owner is free to remove any roots in his soil down to a depth of 3 handbreadths (about 30 cm) without asking or paying anybody.. If one was digging a cistern, or a ditch, or a cavern, he cuts and excavates and the wood is his.