Pisqa’ 282¹

1

“When you are reaping your harvest in your field” (Dt.24:19).

[This verse] excludes

crops harvested by field-robbers,

a crop felled by nibbling ants,

or one damaged by wind or cattle—

[the field must be reaped intentionally by the owner]. ²

 

“Your harvest” (Dt.24:19)—

the verse excludes the harvest of gentiles.

On this basis they taught:

A foreigner who harvested his field,

and afterward became a proselyte—

he is free of obligation to leave

Gleanings, the Forgotten-sheaf,

and the Corner-offering

[since, as a foreigner, he was not obligated

to leave them at the time of the harvest].³

R. Judah obligates him for the Forgotten-sheaf,

since the obligation to leave the Forgotten-sheaf

begins only at the time of

binding the sheaves,

[by which time, as a proselyte,

the farmer was obligated by the Torah].⁴

2

“Your harvest” (Dt.24:19)—

[this case] excludes the harvest of outsiders.

“Your harvest” (Dt.24:19)—

[this case] excludes the harvest of consecrated produce.

And about this we find:

If [an Israelite] harvested consecrated produce

and an Israelite purchased it—

the harvest is exempt

[from all three offerings].⁵

If a gentile harvested the field,

and an Israelite purchased it—

the harvest is exempt

[from all three offerings].⁶

3

R. Yose the Galilean says:

inferring from what is stated:

“When you are reaping your harvest in your field

and you forget a sheaf” (Dt.24:19)—

[I conclude that]

as long as he is harvesting, he is also binding sheaves,

and, therefore, he is under obligation

for the Forgotten-sheaf;

but as long as he is not harvesting,

he is not binding sheaves,

and, therefore, he is under no obligation

for the Forgotten-sheaf.

And about this we find:

if [an Israelite] harvested consecrated produce

and an Israelite purchased it—

the harvest is exempt

[from all three offerings].

If a gentile harvested the field,

and an Israelite purchased it—

the harvest is exempt

[from all three offerings].⁷

4

“In your field” (Dt.24:19)—

this excludes [from obligation]

one binding sheaves in his companion’s field

[for his obligation only covers

sheaves from his own field]:

Words of R. Meir.

But sages oblige him

[to abandon those sheaves if they are forgotten].

On this basis you can teach:

A sheaf forgotten by workers,

yet which the householder did not forget;

or one forgotten by the householder,

yet which the workers did not forget—

if the poor stood up to conceal it,

or they covered it with straw,

this, indeed, is not a Forgotten-sheaf

[for, while lost, it has not been forgotten,

and the poor have no claim to the sheaf].⁸

1. H:272-273;JN2:230-231.
2. Cf. M.Pe’ah 2:7
3. = M. Pe’ah 4:6.
4. //Sifra, qadoshim, per.1:6.
5. At the time appropriate to leave the offerings it was already consecrated, the property of Heaven and not that of the farmer who sold it.
6. See Pisqa’ 282.3 immediately below.
7. See Pisqa’ 282.2 immediately above.
8. =M. Pe’ah 5:7.