Mishnah
1 Wheat and zěwānîn are not kilaim with each other. Barley and foxtail, spelt and oats, beans and Indian peas and grass peas and chickpeas and fava beans and green beans are not kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
It is written: “you should not sow your field kilaim.”Leviticus 19:19 I might think this includes even two kinds of wheat or two kinds of barley. “You should not breed your animals kilaim.” I might think this includes even black on white cattle, or white on black cattle. “And kilaim cloth, שעטנז, should not be worn by you;” I might think this includes even two kinds of wool or two kinds of linen. For garments, it was stated explicitly, “do not wear שעטנז, wool and linen together.”Deuteronomy 22:11 For garments, I forbade you two kinds that belong to different genera. The same applies wherever I forbade you kilaim: the two kinds belong to different genera.
“Wheat and zĕwānîn are not kilaim with each other.” So they would constitute kilaim with barley. “Wheat and zĕwānîn are not kilaim with each other;” Could anyone mistakenly classify something that is not food as kilaim? Rabbi Abba bar Zavda said, because there are places where they are collected as food for pigeons. Rabbi Abba bar Zavda said, this follows Rabbi Eliezer, as we have stated there: “If somebody lets thorns grow in his vineyard, they become ‘sanctified,’ the words of Rabbi Eliezer. But the Sages say, they do not become ‘sanctified.’” Rabbi Abbahu said, Rabbi Eliezer’s reason is that in some places in Arabia one stores them for camels. Does this imply that the Sages think that there are no places in Arabia where one stores them for the camels? Let them check it out! The Sages say, where one stores them they are forbidden, but at places where one does not store them they are permitted. But Rabbi Abba bar Zavda cannot follow Rabbi Eliezer! There, people do not transport thorns from place to place. But here, people do transport zewānîn from place to place.
If so, should they not be kilaim with wheat? Rabbi Jonah said, they are a kind of wheat but the fruits went astray. As it was stated: “The land must not turn to prostitution,”Leviticus 19:29 This shows that produce may go astray.
Rabbi Jacob bar Zavdi asked Rabbi Jeremiah: Does our Mishnah follow Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose? As it was stated: “Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose says in the name of his father that one may take heave from wine on vinegar but not from vinegar on wine. If somebody transgressed, his heave is heave. Rabbi says that wine and vinegar are two distinct kinds and one does not give heave or tithes from one for the other.” He was looking at him. He said to him, Why are you staring at me? Bring a lash for yourself; there it concerns tithing, while here it concerns kilaim. Rabbi Jonah said, he should not have stared at him since the earlier rabbis wanted to understand this matter and understood that there it refers to tithing but here to kilaim.
Rabbi Yosa in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: All of these form pairs. Has that been said for the entire chapter, or only for this halakhah? From what Rav said, that the five vegetables with which one may satisfy one’s obligation at Passover time can all be sown in one vegetable bed, and one says that the statement of Rav disagrees with Rabbi Joḥanan, it follows that it has been said for the entire chapter. Rav Abba in the name of Rav: All of these were stated in pairs. Rav’s reasoning seems contradictory; there he says that they all constitute one kind, and here he says this? No, Rav did not say that they all constitute one kind, but rather that they all are kinds of vegetables that may be sown in one vegetable bed.
Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, they found written in the notebook of Rabbi Hillel ben Rabbi Vales; Rabbi Jonah in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, they found written on the wall of Rabbi Hillel ben Rabbi Vales: Beans, πίσον, chickpeas, mlwtʾ, krpwnh, climbing beans.
This is how the Mishnah reads: Fava beans and string beans. Rabbi Jonah said, why is it called שעוּעית? Because it makes the heart happy and gets the intestines moving.
Mishnah
2 Green melon and sweet melon are not kilaim with each other. Rabbi Judah says, they are kilaim. Lettuce and garden lettuce, endives and field endives, leeks and field leeks, coriander and field coriander, mustard and Egyptian mustard, Egyptian pumpkin and ash-gourd, Egyptian beans and carob beans are not kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
Rabbi Yudan bar Menasheh said: The opinion of the Sages is that one takes a small piece from the pericarp of a green melon and plants it and it grows to a watermelon. One takes a small piece from the pericarp of a watermelon and plants it and it grows to a sweet melon. Rabbi Judah says, this itself is kilaim. One takes a small piece from the pericarp of a watermelon and a small piece from the pericarp of an apple and puts them into one cavity where they unite and become kilaim. Therefore it is called “apple melon” in the Greek language.
What does Rabbi Judah say about green melon and watermelon? Let us learn from the following: “Green melon, watermelon, and sweet melon are not kilaim if combined with each other; Rabbi Judah says, they are kilaim.” It has been said that green melon and watermelon are not kilaim with each other, and watermelon and sweet melon are not kilaim with each other; Rabbi Judah says they are kilaim. Green melon and watermelon are questionable.
“Lettuce and garden lettuce.” Rabbi Ḥananiah said, roof lettuce. Simeon, the son of Rabbi Avi, said, Antiochian lettuce. Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, sweet yase. Endives may be eaten raw, field endives are ʿulthin. Leeks. Field leeks are κεφαλωτόν.
“Egyptian gourd.” Our Mishnah does not follow Rabbi Neḥemiah. In the name of Rabbi Neḥemiah: Aramean gourd is Egyptian gourd; it is kilaim with Greek gourd, kilaim with ash-gourd.
“Ash gourd.” Rabbi Ḥinenah said, it is a kind of bitter gourd and they sweeten it in hot ashes.
“And carob beans.” Rabbi Jonah said, they are a kind of Egyptian-Persian beans and their pods look like carob.
Mishnah
3 Turnips and naphew, cabbage and cauliflower, beets and orach, are not kilaim with each other. Rabbi Aqiba added that garlic and dwarf garlic, onion and dwarf onion, lupine and wild lupine are not kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
“Turnips and naphew, cabbage and cauliflower,” thin cabbage. “Beets and orach,” orach. “Rabbi Aqiba added garlic and dwarf garlic,” little garlic. “Onion and dwarf onion,” little “radish.” “Lupine and wild lupine,” pdmwʿh, are not kilaim with each other.
Mishnah
4 Among trees, pears and golden apples, quince and sorbs are not kilaim with each other. Apple and ḥizrar, peaches and almonds, jujubes and lotus fruit, even though they resemble one another, they are kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
“Quince.” Rabbi Jonah said, quince. Why are they called “prepared”? Because this is the only kind of tree whose fruit is produced solely for cooking.
Salman the Levite, the brother of Zavdi the Levite, in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: All the statements refer to pairs. Rav said, all are one kind. A baraitha disagrees with Rav, for we have stated: also the baka-bush. Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun objected, Did we not also state oregano?
“They used to graft quince onto pears in the markets of Sepphoris. A student saw them and said to them, You are forbidden to do so. They went and cut them down. Then they went and asked at Yavneh. They said to them, The one who struck you was one of the students of the House of Shammai.” It says only, quince on a pear tree. So it does not refer to a pear tree on a ḥizrar.
“In the region of Ariaḥ they grafted apple on ḥizrar. A student came and told them, This is forbidden to you. They went, cut them down, and came to ask at Yavneh. They said to them, That student spoke correctly.” He said only, apple on ḥizrar. So it does not refer to ḥizrar on a pear tree? The circumstances were what they were.
It was stated: If a Gentile grafted walnut on a peach stump, a Jew, even though he is not permitted to do this, may take a shoot and go and plant it at another location. What results from them? Persian qdryh. If he crosses beet and purslane, a Jew, even though he is not permitted to do this, may take a seed and go and plant it at another location. What results from them? Groundsel. Zargun and turnips, what results from them? Parsley. Almonds and terebinths, what results from them? Pistachios. Olive trees and pomegranate trees, what results from them? Zizyphus.
Mishnah
5 Radish and naphew, mustard and horehound, Greek gourd with the Egyptian and ash ones, even though they look similar, are kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
Rabbi Jonathan said, there are some where they considered the fruit, and there are some where they considered the leaves. Turnips and radish, they classified them by the fruit. Turnips and naphew, they classified them by the leaves. They objected: But radish and naphew have similar fruits and similar leaves, and you say, they are kilaim? Rabbi Jonah said, in that case, they considered the taste of the produce.
Mishnah
6 Wolf and dog, rural dog and fox, goat and deer, mountain goats and sheep, horse and mule, mule and donkey, donkey and wild donkey, even though they look similar, they are kilaim with each other.
Halakhah
So, dog and rural dog are not kilaim. This does not follow Rabbi Meïr, since Rabbi Meïr says that they are kilaim. Even though Rabbi Meïr says that the dog is a domesticated animal, he agrees that the rural dog is a wild animal. So, according to Rabbi Meïr, dog and rural dog are kilaim.
Birds are not mentioned in the Mishnah. Rabbi Joḥanan said, it is inferred from the statement of Bar Dalaiah: “Chicken with pheasant, chicken with peacock, even though they look similar, are kilaim with each other.” Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said that Rabbi stated for us a complete Mishnah: “The same applies to wild animals and birds.” Rabbi Jonah said, We need Rabbi Joḥanan’s statement, we state here “wild animal” and explain it there. We state here “domesticated animal” and explain it there. Birds, we stated there and explain it here. Rabbi Jose said, is that correct? It comes to tell you that birds are forbidden in kilaim!
Rabbi Jeremiah said, Cahana asked Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: What is the rule for someone who mates sea animals? He said to him, it is written about them : “By their kinds.”Genesis 1:21 Rabbi Aḥa did not say so, but Rabbi Aḥa used to say in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, wherever “by their kinds” is written, kilaim applies to it. Rabbi Cahana objected, it is written about the animals of the sea “by their kinds.” Kilaim should apply to them! Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, Here Cahana spread his net over Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish and caught him. Rabbi Jonah said, I can explain it, because of one who leads. He takes a string and ties it to the gills of a white fish and a green fish; they rub one another and spawn.
Mishnah
7 One must not graft a tree onto a tree, a vegetable onto a vegetable, a tree onto a vegetable, or a vegetable onto a tree. Rabbi Judah permits grafting a vegetable onto a tree.
Halakhah
The opinion of Rabbi Judah seems contradictory. There, he says that a man takes a small piece from the pericarp of a watermelon and a small piece from the pericarp of an apple, places them into one cavity where they unite and become kilaim, and here he says this? There, because he places them so that they touch one another, unite and become kilaim, but here it is vegetable on tree.
It was stated: What is the source that one may not graft a tree bearing no edible fruit onto a fruit-bearing tree, or a fruit-bearing tree onto another fruit-bearing tree of a different kind? The verse says : “You must keep My basic laws.”Leviticus 19:19 Rabbi Jonah, Rabbi Eleazar, in the name of Cahana: This is Rabbi Eleazar’s, “because of the basic laws I gave.” If this is so, it was forbidden to Adam, the first man! Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi La, it is the opinion of everybody, because of the basic laws that I gave to My world. If this is so, it should be forbidden to graft a black fig tree on a white fig tree. Rabbi Avin said, did you not infer the rules from kilaim of textiles? Just as for kilaim of textiles two kinds, not one from this kind and the other from the other kind, also any other kilaim that I forbade you, not one from this kind and the other from the other kind.
It was stated in the name of Rabbi Eleazar: “The Gentile may sow and wear kilaim, but he may not mate his animals as kilaim or graft his tree kilaim.” Why? Because about these, it is written “by their kinds.” But is it not also written for grasses “by their kinds?” It is not written for the commandment, only in the account of its fulfillment. If this is so, why was Earth cursed? Rabbi Judan bar Shalom said, because it transgressed the orders of the Holy One, praise be to Him! “The earth should produce lawns, grasses producing seed,”Genesis 1:11 but it produced only “lawns, grasses producing seed by their kinds.”Genesis 1:12 Rabbi Phineas said, it enjoyed the commandment and added shade trees. In the opinion of Rabbi Yudan bar Shalom, Earth was justly cursed. In the opinion of Rabbi Phineas, why was Earth cursed? Like someone who said: The nipples should be cursed that this one suckled from. This follows Rabbi Nathan: Three stood in judgment and four went out cursed, “Earth is cursed because of you.”Genesis 3:17
So far it only is written, “do not mate your animals kilaim.” What is the source for birds? Some Tannaim state from : “You must keep My basic laws,”Leviticus 19:19 some state from: “your animals you shall not mate kilaim.” If somebody grafted a tree and mated birds, according to the one who says “you must keep My basic laws,” he is guilty of two offenses, according to the one who says, “your animals you shall not mate kilaim,” he is guilty only of one offense. When he mated animals and birds, according to the one who says “you must keep My basic laws,” he is guilty only of one offense; according to the one who says, “your animals you shall not mate kilaim,” he is guilty of two offenses.
It was stated: “One does not graft olives on the stem of a date palm because that would be tree on tree.” Rabbi Yudan asked, does that not disagree with Rabbi Levi? “ ‘May your wife be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your sons like saplings of olive trees around your table.’Psalms 128:3 Just as olive trees are not subject to grafting, so may no flaws be found in your sons.” But here it follows that there are flaws in them. There is a difference here, because in the end it will sweeten its fruit. Similar to that, Rabbi Simeon, the son of Rabbi, used to water his peach tree with cooked wine to sweeten its fruit.
Mishnah
8 One does not plant vegetables in the stump of a sycamore tree, one does not graft rue on white cassia, because that would be vegetable on tree. One does not plant a fig tree shoot into rue so that the rue will cool it; one does not put a shoot of a vine into a watermelon so that it will supply the shoot with its fluid, because that would be tree on vegetable. One does not put a pumpkin seed into a mallow so that it will protect it, because that would be vegetable on vegetable.
Halakhah
Rabbi Zachariah, son-in-law of Rabbi Levi, asked: Apart from that, is it not forbidden because of seeds under a vine? Rabbi Yose said, Explain it as a case where he sets its root more than three handbreadths, more than six handbreadths from the vine, following what was stated: “roots of madder that enter within four cubits of a vineyard are permitted below three handbreadths.”
Mishnah
9 If someone hides turnips and radishes under a vine and some of the leaves are showing, he does not have to worry either because of kilaim, or because of the Sabbatical year, or because of tithes, and they may be removed on the Sabbath. If someone sows wheat and barley together, that is kilaim. Rabbi Judah says, it is not kilaim unless there are two wheat kernels and a barley kernel, or a wheat kernel and two barley kernels, or one each of wheat, barley, and spelt.
Halakhah
Ḥizqiah said, they stated only turnips and radishes, nothing else. Rabbi Joḥanan said, there is no difference whether turnips, radishes, or any other plants. What case are we discussing? If because of the rules of vegetables and trees, Why specify a vine and radishes? Wouldn’t this apply to any other plants? If because he does not want them to take root, Why specify turnips and radishes? Wouldn’t this also apply to any other species? From what Rabbi Ḥiyya stated, “for example bunches of turnips and bunches of radishes,” it follows that the reason is only because he does not want them to take root.
It was stated: “If unripe figs that one hid in ṭevel or a flat pita that one hid in glowing charcoal were partially uncovered they may be taken on the Sabbath, otherwise they may not be taken on the Sabbath. Rabbi Eleazar ben Taddeus said, In either case he pushes in a spear or a knife and lifts them out.” The statement of Rabbi Eleazar ben Taddeus turns out to follow Rabbi Simeon, as we have stated: “One should not drag a chair, or a bed, or an easy chair because one makes a groove, but Rabbi Simeon permits it.” Rabbi Abba in the name of Rav Huna, Rabbi Ḥaggai in the name of Rabbi Zeïra, Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi Illaï: The Sages admit to Rabbi Simeon that one may move a chair whose legs are stuck in mud. And just as you say that one is permitted to move it, one is permitted to bring it back. Rabbi Yose said, we also have stated: “They may be taken on the Sabbath.” Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, that is from Rabbi Simeon. But we have stated: “The Sabbatical year!” Can you say that “the Sabbatical year” follows Rabbi Simeon? Explain “the Sabbatical year!” For Rabbi Simeon permits the aftergrowth of the Sabbatical year, and here he says so? Even though Rabbi Simeon permits aftergrowth of the Sabbatical year, he still holds it subject to the holiness of the Sabbatical year. Here also, he worries neither about the Sabbatical year nor about the holiness of the Sabbatical year!
One sowed two kinds in a valley, two kinds in a dry spot, or two kinds that he separated by a fence. Rabbi Joḥanan said, he is exempt from punishment, Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, he is guilty. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish agrees that one who sows on the sea, on a stone, on a rock, on hard stones cannot be sanctioned. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish agrees that one who sows with the intention of erecting a fence cannot be sanctioned. Rabbi Abba from Carthage said, Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish agrees that on the Sabbath it must come to rest. Our Mishnah disagrees with Rabbi Joḥanan: “If someone sows wheat and barley together, that is kilaim.” He explains it, as a case where they are put inside a six handbreadths by six handbreadths spot, since Rabbi Joḥanan said, he is not guilty unless there is a bare spot of six by six inside a grain field or enclosed by a fence.
Does Rabbi Judah say that in this case it is not kilaim? Rabbi Zeïra said, Rabbi Judah follows his own opinion, since Rabbi Judah said, in the case of a vegetable field one handbreadth. Rabbi Yose said, anyone who wants to question this statement of Rabbi Zeïra might deduce the opinion of Rabbi Judah from the rabbis’ opinion. Just as the rabbis say, in the case of the prohibition of bet rovaʿ flogging requires an area of six by six, so Rabbi Judah said in the case of the prohibition of six-by-six that flogging requires an area of a handbreadth. But did we not state, Rabbi Judah permits it? Then it is difficult: what is the reason of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish? Since he threw it out from his hand as seed, he is guilty. But did we not state that “Rabbi Judah says, it is not kilaim?” Explain it, until the moment that it comes to rest. But was it not stated that Rabbi Judah permits it? Even if it came to rest, Rabbi Judah permits it. Rabbi Illaï said, Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish follows his own opinion, since Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said in the name of Ḥizqiah: A vertex from a dry spot is permitted. Then the same should also apply in the case of two wheat grains and one of barley? That is correct. But did we not state, “unless there are two wheat kernels and one barley kernel, or one wheat kernel and two barley kernels, or one each of wheat, barley, and spelt?” Explain it if there is a grain of wheat on each side, a fence on each side, and the grain of barley caught in the middle. Rabbi Mattaniah said, that is only if there is no dry spot, but if there is a dry spot there, it is permitted.
Mishnah
1 Every seah that contains a quarter of seeds from another kind must be reduced; Rabbi Yose says, he must pick it out, whether it is from one kind or from two kinds. Rabbi Simeon said, they said it only for one kind, but the Sages say, everything that is kilaim with the seah counts together for a quarter. When is this said? Grain with grain, legumes with legumes, grain with legumes, legumes with grain. In fact, they said that garden seeds which are not eaten add up together for one in 24 when they fall on a bet seah. Rabbi Simeon said, What they said as a restriction, they also said as a leniency. Flax seeds in grain add up together for one in 24 when they fall on a bet seah.
Halakhah
We have stated, “which contains.” Some Tannaïm state, “into which fell.” Rabbi Mana said, the one who says “which contains” means one in 24, the one who says “into which fell” means one in 25. Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, both for the one who says “which contains” and for the one who says “into which fell,” it means one in 24. How is that? “Which contains,” if it is cut, “into which fell,” if it is standing.
What case are we discussing? If he intended it for seed then even one grain of wheat is forbidden. If to mix in, it is forbidden to mix. Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Abba bar Ḥiyya in the name of Rav: Anyone who removes impurities from his neighbor’s heap has to give him good grain in their place. Rabbi Yose said, this implies that one is forbidden to mix in; if you say that one is permitted to mix them back in, why require good grain instead?
If one sold wheat as standard good quality and it turned out to be sifted, may he take out the value of that quarter? The words of the rabbis say that he cannot take out the value of that quarter, for Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Abba bar Ḥiyya said in the name of Rav: Anyone who removes impurities from his neighbor’s grain has to give him good grain in their place. If he removed one and a half quarters, may he take out the value of that quarter? Rabbi Ḥinena and Rabbi Mana. Rabbi Ḥinena said, he takes it out. Rabbi Mana said, he does not take it out, because he can say to him, if you had returned it to me, I would have bundled it for the Saracens who would have bought it; what that buyer sees is what he buys.
But this applies when they were mixed during transport. But did we not state: “In fact, they said that garden seeds which are not eaten add up together for one in 24 when they fall on a bet seah.” And we stated on that, this is a qab or half a qab. What could one do with the twenty-fourth part of half a qab? For that, they are worried because of the bad impression. They were not concerned about the bad impression created by a smaller amount.
“Must be reduced.” How does he reduce it? Either he removes from the quarter or he adds to the seah. But did not Rabbi Joḥanan say Rabbi Abbahu in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan, For all prohibitions, if one added something by mistake, it is permitted. If one added it intentionally, it is forbidden. There you add to annul a Torah prohibition, but here you add because of the bad impression.
“Rabbi Yose says, he must pick it out.” What is Rabbi Yose’s reason? Because he started with the quarter, he must finish the entire quarter. Rabbi Yose agrees that if there was less than a quarter when he started, he does not need to deal with it. How is that done? If there was a quarter composed of two kinds, does he pick out one kind and that is sufficient, or does he have to pick out everything?
“Rabbi Simeon said, they said it only for one kind,” not two kinds. How far? Up to the greater part of the seah. If he added afterward, the grain returned to its permitted status. Just as Rabbi Simeon said, two kinds do not combine for prohibition, so he says that they do not combine for permission. How is that done? If there were twenty-three and a half quarters of wheat and half a quarter of barley, and into that fell less than a quarter of lentils, even so the two kinds would not combine for permission.
We have stated about this, “three or four qab,” so two qab go by one in 24. “In fact.” Rabbi Eleazar said that every place where they stated “in truth,” it is practice going back to Moses on Mount Sinai. And we stated about this, for example a qab or half a qab. So, two qab go by a quarter. Here you say, two qab by a quarter, and there you say, two qab by one in 24. Rabbi Zeïra and Rabbi Abun in the name of Rav Huna; one says, nine qab, the other says, eight qab.
Do nine and ten join together? Come and see, nine and three come together, how much more so nine and ten!
Rabbi Abin and Rabbi Ḥanina both say that a split seah is between them. A quarter seah may prohibit three qab, and a quarter of three qab may prohibit a seah. A quarter seah may prohibit nine qab, and a quarter of nine qab may prohibit a seah. Three quarters of flax seed prohibit a seah. How is this? On a plot on which one sows one quarter of wheat, one sows three quarters of flax seed.
Mishnah
2 If his field was sown with wheat and he changes his mind to sow it with barley, he should wait until it gets wormy, then he turns it over and after that he may sow. If it is sprouting, he should not say, I am going to sow and then turn it over, but he turns it over and then he sows. How deep does he have to plow? Like furrows for the rainy season. Abba Shaul says, so that less than a quarter remains for a bet seah.
Halakhah
“How long can it remain sprouting? It should remain in the ground for three days in a muddy place, but in a dry place it needs more time.” We have stated on that: Part of the day is like an entire day in a muddy place, and if it started growing but he brought his animals and they grazed it bare, it is permitted.
What is the rabbis’ reason? Because he intended to plow, even if it is not covering. It was stated: Abba Shaul said, “one does not oblige him to plow finely, only like the furrows of the rainy season. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel says, it used to be called ‘horsetail,’ so that the loose earth at the end of each furrow touches that of the next one.” What is Abba Shaul’s reason? Since he started, it is enough up to a quarter. Does Abba Shaul hold with Rabbi Yose? He is with the rabbis, for the rabbis said, because he intended to plow, even if it is not covering. Abba Shaul says, because he started intentionally to plow, it is enough up to a quarter. Rabbi Yose said, he must finish that entire quarter.
Mishnah
3 If the field was sown and he decided to plant, he should not say, I will plant and then turn the soil over, but he must turn the soil over and then plant. If it was planted and he decided to sow, he should not say, I will sow and then uproot, but he should uproot and then sow. If he wishes, he cuts down to less than a handbreadth, plants, and then takes out the roots. If his field was sown with hemp or arum, one should not sow on it because they keep producing for three full years. One does not have to weed grain among which indigo has grown on its own, or the threshing floor on which many kinds are appearing, or fenugreek in which grasses appeared. But if he weeded or cut, one says to him, uproot everything except one kind.
Halakhah
It was stated: One may put sheaves next to dried-up vines. Rabbi Yose said, that means that one may not plant a dry vine next to dry standing grain. May one sow next to dry vines? Let us learn from the following: “A dried-up vine is forbidden but does not sanctify.” Rabbi Eleazar said, this is the opinion of Rabbi Meïr, since Rabbi Meïr said, even cotton is forbidden but does not sanctify.
That means that one may sow next to dry vines and “when they produce leaves again, the past is permitted and the future prohibited.” Like the case of Rabbi Simeon ben Judah who cut down his vines and told his sharecropper, go and sow! After he had sown, they started to grow leaves. He said to him, go and cut! After he had cut, they rotted. He said to him, go and sow close to them. Rabbi Zeīra asked: Is that only for Rabbi Simeon ben Judah, for he said it in full knowledge; what about common people who do not have full knowledge? He returned and said, even Rabbi Simeon ben Judah said it only because of the bad appearance.
It is a condition of Joshua that one may collect grasses everywhere except in a field of fenugreek. Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Isaac bar Naḥman: The Mishnah deals with someone who sowed for sheaves. But did we not state: “One is not required to weed ... fenugreek in which grasses appeared?” Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa in his own name: “When it grew for seeds.” Rabbi Yose said, did Joshua come only to help sinners? If he committed a sin, it is forbidden as robbery. If he did not commit a sin it is permitted with respect to robbery. Hence, there is no difference whether he sowed for seeds or for sheaves. But did we not state: “One is not required to weed ... fenugreek in which grasses appeared?” If he intends to use the grasses, one should oblige him to weed! Rabbi Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Miasha: He would be happy if they were torn out and lying before him. Rabbi Yose did not say so, but in the end he approves that they should be torn out and lying before him. But then, if somebody found kilaim in a vineyard, they should be forbidden as robbery since in the end he desires that they should be torn out and lie before him! There, he has the means to bring it in, here he does not have the means to bring it in. Rav Naḥman said that Rabbi Mana asked: Think about it, if he had another field of fenugreek close by, then he has the means to bring it in! The words of the rabbis disagree, since Rabbi Zeriqan said in the name of the House of Yannai: All aftergrowth is forbidden except for that which appears on a fallow field, a field ready to be plowed under, and a vineyard. He should have added, except for a field of fenugreek sown for the production of seeds! Rabbi Yose said, the words of Rabbi Joḥanan support me. It happened that somebody bought a garden plot of vegetables from a Gentile. He came and asked Rabbi Joḥanan, who said to him, go, harvest and sell at the going rate. Rabbi Abbahu objected to Rabbi Joḥanan: Did we not state: “or the threshing place on which many kinds are appearing?” He said to him, that place proves that he does not want them to exist. Could he not have answered, the one is like robbery, the other is permitted with respect to robbery? How can you object based on a scenario where it is forbidden as robbery to a decision in a case which is permitted with respect to robbery? It is as Rabbi Immi said, they were rich in answers. Or it is as Rabbi Nasa said, like a person who has two reasons but he answers only with one of them.
Mishnah
4 If someone wants to make his field into separate garden beds of different kinds, the House of Shammai say, three furrows of the plowshare, and the House of Hillel say, the width of a Sharon yoke. Both criteria are close to one another.
Halakhah
Rabbi Zeïra, Rabbi Eleazar, in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya the Elder: He makes it two by two cubits, but decreases continuously to an arbitrarily small distance. Rabbi Jonah said, that is, if it is subdivided into garden beds, but if all is one bed, it does not apply. This parallels what Rabbi Yannai said: I may sow my field with fifty kinds, twenty-five here and twenty-five there; this is in two rows. If that is so, Would it be permitted even between his field and his neighbor’s? Or in a dry spot? Then it parallels what Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said in the name of Ḥizqiah: A vertex from a dry spot is permitted! Rabbi said, he starts with an area of bet rovaʿ and narrows it down to three furrows of the plowshare. Does Rabbi not accept that between grains one needs a bet rovaʿ? That is for a square field, here for a garden bed. Do the rabbis not recognize garden beds? Rabbi Yudan said, the minimal distance for Rabbi is the maximal distance for the rabbis.
Rabbi Eleazar asked: What are the rules for a small field? Let us learn from the following: “Rabbi Eleazar ben Simeon: Abba Yose ben Joḥanan from Yanoaḥ said for a large field 50 cubits, for a small field along most of it.” Since those who specified a measure for a large field did not do so for a small one, the Sages who did not specify a measure for a large field certainly would not specify a measure for a small field.
Mishnah
5 A vertex of wheat coming close to a field of barley is permitted since it visibly is the end of its field. If someone’s field was sown with wheat and that of his neighbor with another kind, he may plant some of that kind next to it. If both his and his neighbor’s fields were growing wheat, he may have one row of flax next to his neighbor’s field, but no other kind. Rabbi Simeon says, either flax or any other kind. Rabbi Yose says, even in the middle of his field he may test a row for flax.
Halakhah
Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Ḥizqiah: A vertex from a dry spot is permitted! Rabbi Joḥanan said, they stated only: “A vertex of wheat.” Hence, a vertex that comes from a dry spot is forbidden.
Ḥizqiah said, if somebody has slightly more than a bet rovaʿ, then in that excess he may sow anything he likes. Rabbi Joḥanan said, he may sow in it only one kind. Rabbi Zeïra said, Rabbi Joḥanan agrees that if he had a bet rovaʿ and a half, he may sow half a bet rovaʿ from either side and the last half bet rovaʿ is valid for both sides. A baraita disagrees with Rabbi Joḥanan: “If he had fields, one sown with wheat and the other sown with barley, he may bring straw in between and sow one side with wheat and the other with barley because the wheat looks like the end of the wheat field, and the barley like the end of the barley field.” What does Rabbi Joḥanan do with that? He explains it according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob, for Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said: “Even if wheat after wheat comes close to barley, barley after barley comes close to wheat, it is permitted.” For wheat after wheat only comes close to barley wheat, barley after barley comes close to barley wheat, but if only one wheat stalk is absorbed into the barley, or one stalk of barley is absorbed into the wheat, then that is forbidden.
What are we dealing with? If he wants only to test, even in the middle of his field it should be permitted. If he does not intend only to test, why just linseed, and not any other kinds? We are discussing a case where he wants to test. Rabbi Yose does not worry about bad appearances; the rabbis worry about bad appearances.
Rabbi Samuel said in the name of Rabbi Zeïra, it is Rabbi Simeon’s, for Rabbi Simeon said, nobody can sanctify property that is not his own. Rav said, nobody can enclose property that is not his own. Rabbi Jonah said, Rav agrees with Rabbi Simeon; just as Rabbi Simeon said, nobody can sanctify property that is not his own; so Rav said, nobody can enclose property that is not his own. But it cannot be explained following the Sages.
Mishnah
6 One does not sow mustard or saffron close to a grain field, but one may sow mustard or saffron close to a vegetable field. One does sow close to a fallow field, a plowed field, a closure, a footpath, a fence ten handbreadths high, a ditch ten deep and four wide, a tree giving shade on the ground, and a rock ten high and four wide.
Halakhah
What is חריע? Yellow dye.
This is how the Mishnah reads: “One does not surround,” hence one may sow close up. Our Mishnah is Rabbi Judah’s, as it was stated: “One may surround only bulbous vegetables with mustard or saffron, the words of Rabbi Meïr. Rabbi Judah said, One may surround any field except a grain field with mustard or saffron. Rabbi Simeon said, One may surround any field with mustard or saffron. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, one may surround small vegetable beds with mustard or saffron.”
It was stated: “One may sow a row of mustard or saffron in the middle of one’s field provided that he makes the row long, a length of 10.5 cubits the entire width.” Rabbi Eleazar said, that applies only to a small field, not to a large one. What is large and what is small? If there is between the two ends a bet rovaʿ, that is large, otherwise it is small. Does this not disagree with Rabbi Joḥanan, for Rabbi Joḥanan said that a vertex that comes from a dry spot is forbidden? There it is for grain, here for vegetables. Even though Rabbi Joḥanan disagrees for grain, he will agree here with respect to vegetables.
On dry soil one may sow any kind he desires. Rabbi Joḥanan said, only if he uses three of six handbreadths. Three that are close to a fence are like dry land. If there were three inside six and one outside six, since the former ones were saved, that one also is saved. If only two were inside six and one outside six, since the first ones were not saved, neither is that one. If there was one row dry, one row fence, and another row, one encloses the row next to the fence in the fields. Two fields, one above the other, the upper one is close to a ditch, the lower one close to a fence.
The House of Yannai said, on the fence one may sow all kinds of mixtures. A fence implies leniencies and stringencies. How is this? Less than a bet rovaʿ cleared in a grain field may not be sown; if surrounded with a fence it may be sown. A bet rovaʿ in open country may be sown with two kinds; if surrounded with a fence this is forbidden.
Does a fence save grains? Does sown dry land save vegetables? Rabbi Samuel in the name of Rabbi Zeïra understood it from the following: “One sows close to dried-up tree roots.” This mentions only dry ones; hence, if they are moist, it is forbidden. Rabbi Yose understood it from the following: “One does sow close to a fallow field, a plowed field, a closure, a footpath, a fence ten handbreadths high.” That implies that a sown fence saves grains! Even if you accept “fence ten handbreadths high,” a sown fence does not have to save grains. There is a difference here because the fence is sown and no sown fence saves grains.
Rabbi Judan asked: Do dry land and length add together? How is that? If there was space ten and a half cubits long and six handbreadths wide, one does not have to have dry land. If dry land was added on both sides, one may sow close on both sides.
It was stated: Rabbi Jonathan ben Yose said, one may sow close to a rock ten handbreadths long and four handbreadths wide on both of its sides. If it was ten by ten handbreadths, one may sow close to it on all four sides.
Mishnah
7 Anyone who wants to turn his field into patches for all different kinds makes 24 patches per bet seah, each patch one bet rovaʿ, and sows in each one any kind that he desires. If there were one or two patches, he may sow them with mustard; three he should not sow because that would look like a mustard field, the words of Rabbi Meïr. But the Sages say, nine patches are permitted, ten are forbidden. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says, even if his field is a bet kor, he should not make more than one patch in it.
Halakhah
Rabbi Ḥizqiah, Rabbi Yasa, in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: For the first part, Rabbi Meïr says, even enclosed, even adjacent, but the rabbis say, on condition that they were neither enclosed nor adjacent. How is that done? 3, 2, 1, 2, 1.
Mishnah
8 Anything that is inside the bet rovaʿ counts for the measurement of bet rovaʿ. The surroundings of a vine, a grave, or a rock count for the measurement of bet rovaʿ. Grain and grain need a bet rovaʿ, vegetable and vegetable six handbreadths. Grain and vegetables, vegetables and grain need a bet rovaʿ. Rabbi Eliezer says, vegetable and grain six handbreadths. Grain leaning over grain, vegetable over vegetable, grain over vegetable, vegetable over grain, all is permitted except Greek gourd. Rabbi says, also green melon and Egyptian beans, but I prefer their words over my words.
Halakhah
Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Zeïra: They taught only the surroundings of the vine, hence, not the vine itself. Why? Because it is forbidden for benefit. But is not the grave also forbidden for benefit? A grave is not recognizable as forbidden. And is the working space of a vine forbidden for benefit? This follows Rabbi Ishmael, since Rabbi Ishmael said that a single vine does not have working space. But is not the grave forbidden for benefit? A grave is not recognizable as forbidden.
“Grain and grain need a bet rovaʿ.” But only if it is not enclosed on all four sides. Rabbi Zeïra asked Rabbi Yasa: Does this mean that we say that in the ravine of Simonia one may sow only one kind?
Rabbi Eliezer objected to the rabbis: Are you not lenient for one row and restrictive for rectangles? It is so, we find that the rabbis are lenient for one row and restrictive for rectangles, as it was stated: Anyone who wants to make one row of vegetables in a grain field makes a row 10½ cubits long and six handbreadths wide. Rabbi Joḥanan said, he sows there only one kind. Rabbi Zeïra said, Rabbi Joḥanan agrees that if it is seven wide he sows one handbreadth on one side, one on the other side, and the remaining five count for both sides, just as Rabbi Zeïra had explained Rabbi Joḥanan’s opinion there.
Somebody planted half a row, stopped, and wanted to start a second row. Rav Ḥisda said, this is forbidden. One tells him, either tear out that row or finish it.
Rabbi Judan said: Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba and Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac disagree. One says, even three in a width of six, the other said, one on one side, the other on the other side, and the third in the middle. We do not know who said what. Since Rabbi Yose said, Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan, only if there is no dry patch, that means that Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac said: One on one side, the other on the other side, and the third in the middle. If the sides were more than the dry patch, it is permitted.
It was stated: “Five things were said about Greek gourd: One may not allow it to cover grains, it brings impurity and stops impurity, its stalk is one handbreadth, the tiniest amount of it makes the mixture forbidden, and for someone who vows not to use pumpkins, only Greek gourd is forbidden.” Rabbi Jonah asked, why do we not count “it brings impurity and stops impurity” as two? Bar Qappara stated seven: “One may not allow it to cover grains, it brings impurity, it stops impurity, its stalk is one handbreadth, one gives it its working space, it is kilaim with Aramean pumpkin, and kilaim with ash pumpkin.” He did not state that it makes the mixture forbidden or anything about making a vow.
Rabbi Yose said, Rabbi Gamliel, the son of Rabbi, went to the market. They came and asked him whether the roofing they mentioned referred to touching. He went and asked his father, who told him that the roofing they mentioned referred to touching. Rabbi Jonah said, Rabbi Hillel ben Rabbi Vales went to the market. They came and asked him whether the roofing they mentioned referred to touching. He went and asked his father, who told him that the roofing they mentioned referred to touching.
What does this mean: “but I prefer their words over my words”? Rabbi Ḥinena said, if Egyptian pumpkin whose leaves form roofs is permitted, green melon and Egyptian beans how much more so. Rabbi Abba Mari said, Rabbi Mana did not say so. Rabbi said, all those about which we did state “green melon and Egyptian beans,” also include Egyptian pumpkin. What does this mean: “but I prefer their words over my words”? That none of these form roofs like Greek gourd.
Mishnah
1 In a garden bed that is six by six handbreadths one may sow five kinds of seeds, four at its four sides and one in the middle. If it has a wall around it at least one handbreadth high, one may sow in it thirteen kinds: three on each of the four sides of the wall, and one in the middle. One should not plant a head of turnip in that wall because it fills it. Rabbi Judah says, six kinds may be in the middle.
Halakhah
“Its sown seeds,”Isaiah 61:11 The minimum number of seeds is two. Rabbi Samuel bar Sisarṭa said, From two you infer four. Just as for two you start at the beginning of six and reduce continuously, so for four you start at the beginning of six and reduce continuously. It is impossible that there should not be a free space to plant in the middle. Rabbi Jonah said, working space joins working space but a kind does not meet another kind to enclose it. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: “Its seed, its seeds, its sown seeds.” That follows Rabbi Judah, since Rabbi Judah said six, “seed, its seed, its seeds, its sown seeds.” Rabbi Ḥaggai said, זרעיה has five letters; everywhere I find ו,י I delete them. This was asked of Rav Huna, the scribe of the assembly, and he said, זרועיה is written plene. Rabbi Joḥanan in the name of Rabbi Yannai: All inside of six. Cahana in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: All at the outside of six. Then we should state “nine!” Rabbi Tanḥum from Bostra said, that is true. But our Mishnah speaks of a garden bed in the middle of garden beds.
Rabbi Isaac and Rabbi Immi were sitting and asking, did we not state: “If it had a wall around it at least one handbreadth high, one may sow in it thirteen kinds: three at each of the four sides of the wall, and one in the middle.” Shouldn’t we state, ‘six in the middle’? Explain it as a case where the walls reduce the six-handbreadth space. If the walls reduce the six-handbreadth space, is it that about which we stated: “Rabbi Judah says, six kinds may be in the middle?” We upheld it, but we do not know whether the colleagues upheld it or Rabbi Immi did; it refers to the beginning. And if it refers to the beginning, it is that about which Rabbi Ḥiyya stated: Rabbi Judah says, 18.
May one clear a bet rovaʿ and sow in it five different kinds of grain? If about a six-by-six, for whose infringement one is whipped by biblical decree, you say it is permitted, then how much more so here where you are not whipped by biblical decree. May one clear at the corners of a six-by-six to make a continuously narrowing patch? If in a case where working space does meet working space, you say that it is permitted, then how much more so in this case where working space does not meet working space. That was unnecessary. May one clear at the corners of a bet rovaʿ to make a continuously narrowing patch? If about a six-by-six, for whose infringement one is whipped by biblical decree, you say it is permitted, then how much more so here where you are not whipped by biblical decree.
Rabbi Nassa asked: Is it not reasonable that, if the top of the surrounding wall is two handbreadths wide, one is permitted to sow on it two kinds? Rabbi Nassa asked: If he drew a string in the middle, sowed in half of it, how far can he draw it? From what Rabbi Isaac and Rabbi Immi said, “explain it as a case where the walls reduce the six-handbreadth space,” that means that it may be even less than that. Let us learn from the following: “In depressions that are one handbreadth deep one may sow three seeds, one on each side and one in the middle.” That means, down to one handbreadth. Rabbi Abba bar Cahana, Simeon from Nerash in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: They taught “leaning toward a dry spot.”
Rabbi Zeïra said, they made every single handbreadth on the border wall a separate domain. Then there should be 25, six on each side of the border wall and one in the middle! Is that so? Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac objected: Did we not state that “in a furrow or a water canal one handbreadth deep one may sow two kinds of seeds, one on each side and one in the middle.” Should one not state five, two on each side and one in the middle? That is impossible; the two sides enclose the middle one.
Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac asked: Does the border wall save vegetables from melons? If the border wall does not save different kinds of grains that are saved by 10.5 cubits, does this not apply with even greater force to melons that are saved only by twelve cubits? Does planting melon save on top of the border wall? If different kinds of grains that are saved by 10.5 cubits are not saved on top of the border wall, does this not apply with even greater force to melons that are saved by eight cubits? Rabbi Judan, the father of Rabbi Mattaniah, said, Does that argument follow with even greater force? It must be as follows: If different kinds of grains that are saved by 12.5 cubits are not saved on top of the border wall, does this not apply with even greater force to melons that are saved only by twelve cubits?
Mishnah
2 One does not sow any kind of seed-plants in a garden bed; but one may sow any kind of vegetables in a garden bed. Mustard and smooth peas are counted as seed-plants, large peas are vegetables. A border wall that was one handbreadth high and shrank is valid because it was valid at the start. In a furrow or a water canal one handbreadth deep one may sow three kinds of seeds, one on each side and one in the middle.
Halakhah
“Any kind of seeds, etc.” Mustard and smooth peas are counted as seed-plants; if one sowed them for use as vegetables he may not put them in a garden bed. One may not put large peas and Egyptian beans sown to produce seeds in a garden bed. If one sowed them for use as vegetables he may put them in a garden bed. All other garden seeds that are not eaten, even though one sowed to produce seeds, he may put them in a garden bed.
“If it shrank it is valid.” Rabbi Immi said, that means for the seeds that were already on it; hence, it is forbidden to sow again. If one transgressed and sowed, since the earlier ones are permitted, so are the new ones. Rabbi Jeremiah asked: It is acceptable that if the later ones were uprooted, the earlier ones are permitted. If the earlier ones were uprooted, what is the status of the later ones? Let us learn from the following: “If the two long boards of a bed were removed and one made two new ones in their place but did not change the holes, if the new boards were broken, it is impure, if the old ones, it is pure, since everything follows its earlier status.” That means, if the later ones were uprooted, the earlier ones are permitted. If the earlier ones were uprooted, the later ones are forbidden.
Rabbi Jonah said, Rabbi Zeïra and Rabbi Immi, both in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan, one said one plants near a fence but not near a border wall, and the other said, a border wall which lost height is valid, hence a fence which lost height is invalid. But we do not know who said what. Since Rabbi Yose said, Rabbi Zeïra in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: One plants near a fence but not near a border wall, this means Rabbi Immi is the one who said that a border wall that lost height is valid, hence a fence which lost height is invalid. Rabbi Yose said, we also did make both statements, that a border wall that lost height is valid, hence a fence that lost height is invalid. One plants near a fence, as we have stated “One does sow close to a fallow field, a plowed field, a stone wall, a footpath, a fence ten handbreadths high.”Mishnah Kilayim 2:8 One does not plant near a border wall, as we have stated “In a furrow or a water canal that are one handbreadth deep one may sow three kinds of seeds, one on each side and one in the middle.”Mishnah Kilayim 3:2 If you say that one may sow close to a border wall, he should sow several rows down in the ditch. The colleagues said to Rabbi Samuel bar Abin: Explain it if the top of the border wall was sown. He said to them, If this is so, let him uproot that stem and sow several rows down in the ditch. Is it not better to uproot one stem and sow several rows down in the ditch?
Mishnah
3 A corner of a vegetable bed may extend into a field of other vegetables, since it is visibly the end of its field. If one’s field was sown with vegetables and he wants to plant in it a row of a different vegetable, Rabbi Ishmael says, not unless he has an open furrow from one end of the field to the other. Rabbi Aqiba says, a length of six handbreadths for a full width. Rabbi Judah says, the width must be the width of the sole of a foot.
Halakhah
“A vertex, etc.” Bar Qappara stated: He sows in it only one kind.
What did Rabbi Ishmael say about the width? Now if Rabbi Aqiba, who encloses it from three sides, requires a full width, Rabbi Ishmael who encloses it by two rows, doesn’t this apply with even greater force? What does Rabbi Ishmael say about a row of vegetables in a grain field? Now if Rabbi Aqiba, who is more lenient here, is restrictive there, Rabbi Ishmael, who is more restrictive here, certainly will be restrictive there! No, this is not necessarily so. What does Rabbi Ishmael say there about width? As we say there, there is no difference between Rabbi Aqiba and Rabbi Ishmael in matters of width.
Samuel said, they taught only one row, hence two are forbidden. Rabbi Joḥanan and Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish both say that there is no difference between one and two rows.
Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, it is permitted to split four rows in an open field. Rabbi Joḥanan said, only if the two outer rows are treated as garden beds. Rabbi Zeïra said, only if three are within six.
Rabbi Ḥuna said, What is Rabbi Judah’s reason? “That you irrigated with your feet as in a vegetable garden.”Deuteronomy 11:10 What is the measure of a sole of a foot? A handbreadth.
We have stated the opinion of Rabbi Judah here, and we have stated it there. If it had been stated here but not there, we would have said that just as Rabbi Judah who is restrictive here is permissive there, the rabbis who are permissive here certainly will be permissive there. Hence, it is necessary to state it there. Or if it was stated there but not here, we would have said that just as the rabbis who are restrictive there are permissive here, Rabbi Judah who is permissive there certainly will be permissive here. Hence, it is necessary to state it both here and there.
Mishnah
4 If someone plants two rows of green melons, two rows of pumpkin, two rows of Egyptian beans, this is permitted. One row of melons, one row of pumpkin, one row of Egyptian beans is forbidden. One row each of melons, pumpkin, Egyptian beans, and one row of melons, Rabbi Eliezer permits but the Sages forbid. One may plant melon and pumpkin in the same hole provided that one of them points to one side, the other to the other side. One plants so that the foliage of one is here and the foliage of the other is there, for what the Sages forbade is only because of the misleading impression.
Halakhah
“If one plants two rows,” etc. Ḥizqiah said, there is disagreement. The one who says twelve cubits there also says twelve cubits here. The one who says eight there also says eight here. Rabbi Joḥanan said, this Mishnah is according to everybody. A strip of melon is good enough among strips of melons to be saved by eight.
How long does it have to be to enclose? Rabbi Zeïra said, let us infer it from a vineyard. Just as you say in regard to a vineyard that there is no difference between length and separation, so here also there is no difference between length and separation. That works according to the opinion of Ḥizqiah; there eight and here also eight. According to Rabbi Joḥanan, with how much will it enclose? If you say with eight, is there an argument with even greater force that a strip of melons among onions will enclose only with twelve? But a melon strip, which you empowered among melon strips to save by a mere eight, will be enclosed by eight, melon strips among onions, which you weakened to save only by twelve, certainly will be enclosed only by eight. If you say that a melon strip among onions will be enclosed only by twelve, then an argument with even greater force shows that a melon strip among melons should be enclosed only by twelve.
So far we have discussed planting that covers the entire area. What about producing single stalks? Just as you say of a vineyard that there is no difference between covering or producing single stalks, so here also there is no difference between continuous planting or producing single stalks.
Rabbi Yannai said, it is a controversy whether two kinds join together to save but do not join together to prohibit. Rav said, it is everybody’s opinion that just as two kinds join together to save so they do join together to prohibit. Our Mishnah supports Rabbi Yannai, as we have stated: “Rabbi Eliezer permits it.” Our Mishnah disagrees with Rav: “One row of melons, one row of pumpkin, one row of Egyptian beans, and one row of melons.” Before he started the fourth one, was it not already forbidden? Explain it as a case where he planted the four rows simultaneously.
“One may plant melon,” etc. It was stated: “One may make a small hole in one’s field, one handbreadth deep, sow in it four seeds, and turn them to the four directions of the compass.” Rabbi Abba bar Cahana, Simeon of Nerash in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: That was taught regarding those which lean toward a dry spot. Rabbi Mana asked, If we are discussing those that lean toward a dry spot, should we not state “eight,” two on each of the edges?
Mishnah
5 If one’s field was sown with onions and he wanted to plant rows of pumpkin there, Rabbi Ishmael says, he uproots two rows, plants one row, and leaves two rows of onion standing, uproots two rows, plants one row. Rabbi Aqiba says, he uproots two rows, plants two rows, and leaves two rows of onion standing, uproots two rows, plants two rows. But the Sages say, if between one row and the next is less than twelve cubits, he should not keep the seeds in between.
Halakhah
Anyone who plants his vineyard, etc. Cahana said, according to the words of Rabbi Ishmael sometimes there are 16, sometimes 12, sometimes 8. When he gives all the working space in the interior, 16. Part interior and part exterior, 12. All exterior, 8. Samuel says, it always must be 12. We have stated it this way: “It is determined according to the statements of both of them: Rabbi Ishmael says 12, Rabbi Aqiba says 8.” Now, Rabbi Ishmael says 12, and the rabbis say 12; in what do they disagree? Closing up! In the opinion of Rabbi Ishmael one may not close up, but the rabbis say he may.
Mishnah
6 Pumpkin in the middle of vegetables goes by the rules of vegetables, in the middle of grain it needs a bet rovaʿ. If one’s field was sown with grain and he wanted to plant one row of pumpkin there, he must allow six handbreadths to tend it. If it grows, he must uproot the grain ahead of it. Rabbi Yose said, he allows four cubits to tend it. They said to him, are you making this more restrictive than for a vine? He said to them, we find that this case is more restrictive than that of a vine. For a single vine one allows six handbreadths to tend it, but for a single pumpkin a bet rovaʿ. Rabbi Meir says in the name of Rabbi Ishmael, if there are three pumpkin plants in a bet seah one should not sow in that bet seah. Rabbi Yose, the son of the Snatcher from Efrat, says in the name of Rabbi Ishmael, if there are three pumpkin plants in a bet kor one should not sow in that bet kor.
Halakhah
Rabbi Joḥanan said: The words of Rabbi Ishmael imply that one allows space for tending even for a single row.
Does one allow space for tending the first plant? Just as you say in the case of a vineyard that one gives space for tending the first plant, so here also one allows space for tending the first plant. May one sow between the holes? Just as you say in the case of a vineyard that one may not sow between the vines, so here also one may not sow between the holes.
Rabbi Jonah asked: If somebody planted five pumpkins and trained them to grow on a fence, Does one apply the rules for a trellis to it?
Does one calculate this way for all kinds of pumpkins? Every place at which you made green melon and Egyptian beans equal to Greek gourd, you make Egyptian pumpkin equal to Greek gourd. Here, where you did not make melon and Egyptian beans equal to Greek gourd, you do not make Egyptian pumpkin equal to Greek gourd.
Why did they not object to him: If someone keeps single fresh stalks growing to produce seeds, must he not clear around them a bet rovaʿ or fence them in by a fence of ten handbreadths? For a row one is more lenient. Since they did not object to him, it follows that Rabbi Yose thinks that row and square are the same. For Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Yose the Galilean said in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Ḥanina: Anyone who keeps a single fresh stalk growing to produce seeds must clear around it a bet rovaʿ or fence it in by a fence of ten handbreadths, even if it is the same kind. Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya objected to Rabbi Zeïra, did we not state: “If coriander was sown for its seeds, its greens are exempt?” He answered him, coriander is a special case since both the plant and its seeds are eaten.
Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, come and see the difference between the early and the late statements of Rabbi Ishmael! He started out with a bet kor and ended up with a bet seah!
Mishnah
1 A bald spot in a vineyard: the House of Shammai say 24 cubits but the House of Hillel say 16 cubits. The circumference of a vineyard: the House of Shammai say 16 cubits but the House of Hillel say 12 cubits. What is a bald spot in a vineyard? A vineyard that dried up in the middle; if there are less than 16 cubits one should not bring seeds there. If there are 16 cubits, one allows it space to be tended and one may sow the rest. What is the circumference of a vineyard? Between the vineyard and the fence. If less than 12 cubits are there, one should not introduce seeds there. If 12 cubits are there, one gives it space for tending and sows the remaining area. Rabbi Judah says, that is only the fence of a vineyard. What is the circumference of a vineyard? A vineyard between two vineyards. What is a fence? If it is ten handbreadths high, and a ditch is ten deep and four wide.
Halakhah
“A bald spot in a vineyard.” Rabbi Joḥanan said that the rules for a bald spot in a vineyard and a dried-up vineyard are the same. A bald spot is cleared in its middle, a dried-up vineyard is cleared on all four sides. Rabbi Yose said, this applies to a large vineyard but if it comes from the plants of a small vineyard, the rules of a bald spot in a vineyard do not apply. Also, we have stated: “What is a bald spot in a vineyard? A vineyard that dried up in its middle but enough for a vineyard remained, whether it is from all four sides, or from three, or from two opposite sides.” How is that? Five rows of seven each, one took out one row of vineyard, that leaves four vineyards and three intervals. One takes out another one, that leaves three vineyards and two intervals. One takes out another one, that leaves two vineyards and one interval.
Cahana said, they made it like the start of its planting. The House of Shammai say, 24 at the start of planting, 24 when it is destroyed. Rabbi Joḥanan said, the House of Shammai are more restrictive when it is destroyed than at the start of its planting. At the start of its planting 16, when it is destroyed 24. In every case, the House of Shammai add one third: The circumference of a vineyard, according to the House of Shammai 18, according to the House of Hillel 12. But did we not state: “The circumference of a vineyard, the House of Shammai say 16 cubits, the House of Hillel say 12 cubits.” Some want to say, deduct from this four cubits for tending, that leaves twelve cubits according to the House of Shammai and 8 following the House of Hillel.
But for tending a vineyard, according to the House of Shammai 8 cubits, according to the House of Hillel 6 cubits. But did we not state: “Therefore, anyone who sows four cubits in a vineyard, the House of Shammai say that he sanctified one row, but the House of Hillel say that he sanctified two rows.” Let us say that it was stated because of the House of Hillel. But did we not state: “What is a trellis? Anyone who plants a row of five vines.” There is a difference, since Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, this was taught about a curved trellis. By its curving, two are absorbed.
Not only a fence, but even if he puts up laths, if between one lath and the next there is less than three handbreadths it is considered a fence. Even standing grain and straw? Or does it agree with what Rabbi Ḥanina said: Nothing forbidden may form a separation to save? They are of the opinion that what is forbidden does form a separation to forbid.
In the opinion of Rabbi Judah, it is as in the interior of a vineyard. Then 16 should be forbidden! Rabbi Jonah said, it means that the trunks are not aligned. But if the trunks are aligned, they forbid 16.
Only if it is surrounded by a fence on all four sides? From what we have stated: “Between two vineyards,” that means even from one side only. Only if the fence encloses all of that side? Let us learn from the following that Rabbi Zeïra, Rabbi Yasa, said in the name of Rav Mattanah: There is no tail for a large vineyard and no circumference for a small vineyard. There is no tail for a large vineyard because one does not need it. Nor does a small vineyard have a perimeter that would prohibit more outside than inside; inside eight and outside twelve. What is a small vineyard? Three parallel three. Hence, three parallel three parallel three, the vineyard has a circumference. Rabbi Zeïra said, that means that if he made laths along three vines then the vineyard has a circumference.
Rabbi Judan asked: What if he made a fence inside a fence? He said, if there are three handbreadths one may sow there, otherwise one may not sow there. Rabbi Jacob bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: If there was a place of twelve cubits there, the circumference would be eliminated. Rabbi Ḥizqiah said, only if it is twelve by twelve. Rabbi Mana said, even if it continuously narrows.
Mishnah
2 If there are less than three handbreadths of distance between the sticks of a partition fence made from sticks, so that a kid goat cannot enter, then that is a valid partition wall. Also, if a wall was torn down up to a length of ten cubits, that acts as a gate. If more than that, it is forbidden along the demolished part. If it is torn down in many places, if what is standing is more than what is torn down, it is permitted, but if the demolished part is more than the standing one, it is forbidden at the demolished places.
Halakhah
Ten laths in the gaps and what is standing is four handbreadths wide, and what is standing is more than what is torn down: where it is standing it is permitted, where it is torn down it is forbidden. If one made laths in front of the vines, and what is standing is less than four handbreadths, and what is torn down is more than what is standing, it is obvious that where it is standing it is permitted, where it is torn down it is forbidden.
Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Rabbi Judah ben Ḥaninah: If one put in four poles at the four corners of a vineyard and connected them with a bast string on top, this saves as a symbolic fence. Rabbi Joḥanan said, the rules of separation walls for the Sabbath are the rules for kilaim. Rabbi Joḥanan said, it happened that Rabbi Joshua ben Qorḥah went to Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri at Nagnigar; he showed him a field called bet ḥaverata whose wall had parts torn down more than ten wide. He took wood to insert, forked poles to insert, until he reduced to less than ten. He said, Just like that, it is a dividing wall for the Sabbath. Rabbi Zeïra said, Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish agrees that on the Sabbath, a symbolic fence does not save more than ten. Rabbi Ḥaggai said, the Mishnah says so: “One surrounds it with three ropes, one above the other.” If you say that the string saves, one rope would be sufficient.
Rabbi Jonah said: Rabbi Hoshaia asked, what do you say about that symbolic fence, on top or at the sides? If you say on top, all the more on the sides. If you say on the sides, then not on the top. If you say on the top, Rabbi Ḥaggai said it correctly. If you say from the sides, Rabbi Ḥaggai did not say anything. What do you want to say, if on top, it must be on top. Or from the sides, it is on the sides. The rabbis of Caesarea in the name of Rabbi Jeremiah: Explain it as a case where they were strung on forked poles.
Rabbi Zeïra, Rabbi Eudaimon of Haifa, in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: In height even one hundred cubits. Rabbi Judan said, that is, for kilaim, but with regard to the Sabbath, a symbolic fence should not be better than a beam. Rabbi Yose said, it is the same for kilaim and Sabbath. According to Rabbi Yose, what is the difference between a beam and a symbolic fence? A symbolic fence does not save from one side unless it is used to close all four sides; a beam saves in one direction. This may be compared to what Rabbi Zeïra said in the name of Rav Hamnuna: A symbolic fence does not save unless it seals all four sides.
Rabbi Abba bar Mamal said, it is forbidden to carry under the four-gated bowers in vineyards since they form the end of the roof and the end of a roof cannot save as a symbolic fence. Rabbi Phineas said, a case came before Rabbi Jeremiah of four pillars and on them four beams; he permitted carrying under them because of a symbolic fence.
Rabbi Abun and the rabbis asked Rabbi Zeïra, does a symbolic fence save in a sukkah? He said to them, a symbolic fence saves in a sukkah. Does the end of the roofing save in a sukkah? He said to them, the end of the roofing does not save in a sukkah. What is the difference between them? One is made for the purpose, the other one is not made for the purpose. Rabbi Abbahu said, all these things are for discussion’s sake, but one must not teach this as a practical ruling. If this is forbidden for the minor commandment of sukkah, all the more for the strict commandment of Sabbath!
Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya asked Rabbi Zeïra: Is not the Tanna, according to whom a symbolic fence saves, Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri? He said to him, that is the Tanna.
“It turns out that concerning kilaim everything less than three handbreadths is considered closed. From three to four, if what is standing is more than what is torn down it is permitted, but if what is torn down is more than what is standing, it is forbidden. From four handbreadths to ten cubits, if what is standing is more than what is torn down, it is permitted; but if what is torn down is more than what is standing it is permitted where it is standing, forbidden where it is torn down. Concerning the Sabbath, everything less than three handbreadths is considered closed. From three to four, and from four handbreadths to ten cubits, it is permitted if what is standing is more than what is torn down, but forbidden if what is torn down is more than what is standing. More than ten, it is forbidden even though what is standing is more than what is torn down.” Rabbi Ḥananiah, Rabbi Judah bar Pazi, in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: There is no “from three to four.” There is a hole of three and no place of four! Rabbi Mana objected: Did we not state: “One surrounds with reeds,” does a reed form a place? He said to him, do not object to me from a breach less than three handbreadths, since anything less than three is considered closed! Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun in the name of Rav: In any case, since what is standing is more than what is torn down, it is permitted.
Mishnah
3 If somebody plants one row of five vines, the House of Shammai say that this is a vineyard. But the House of Hillel say, a planting is not a vineyard unless it has two rows. Therefore, if somebody sows within four cubits of a vineyard, the House of Shammai say that he sanctifies one row, but the House of Hillel say, two rows.
Halakhah
That is, if sown in the middle. If he sowed in front of a middle vine, in the opinion of the House of Shammai he makes the entire row forbidden. In the opinion of the House of Hillel, he forbids three parallel three. If he sowed in front of an interval in the middle, in the opinion of the House of Shammai, he forbids two on each side. What is the ruling for the fifth? If the seeds were close to one vine, those are forbidden; if not, they are permitted. In the opinion of the House of Hillel, four parallel two are forbidden. If he sowed opposite the corner, which row is forbidden in the opinion of the House of Shammai? Both of them! In the opinion of the House of Hillel, two parallel two and one forming a tail on each side are forbidden. If one sowed in an interval at the corner, in the opinion of the House of Shammai he makes the entire row forbidden. In the opinion of the House of Hillel, two parallel two and one forming a tail are forbidden. Which is the sixth? The third in the first row, the second in the third row.
Mishnah
4 If somebody plants two parallel two and one which protrudes as a tail, that is a vineyard. Two parallel two and one between them, or two parallel two and one in the middle, are not a vineyard, but two parallel two and one which protrudes as a tail are.
Halakhah
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Joseph: “The land of Canaan according to its domains.”Numbers 34:2 Domains that the Canaanites invented. Rabbi Immi asked, does one learn from the Canaanites?
Samuel said, one measures along the oblique line. Rabbi Yose bar Zemina in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: You consider it as if one were planted there.
Rabbi Jonah asked: If somebody planted two parallel two and one which protrudes as a tail, and another two parallel two and one which protrudes as a tail, you consider it as if an additional one was planted here and another one there. If one planted three parallel three and one added on the middle line, do you consider that an additional one was planted on either side to make it a large vineyard? Did we not say that a large vineyard has no tail? That is if it is large; the question is whether to count the tail of a small one to make it large!
Mishnah
5 If somebody plants one row on his own property and another row is on his neighbor’s property, and a private or a public road or a fence lower than ten handbreadths are between them, they are counted together; if it is higher than ten handbreadths, they are not counted together. Rabbi Judah says, if he lined them up on a common trellis, they are counted together.
Halakhah
Rabbi Aḥai said, does this not disagree with Rabbi Simeon, for Rabbi Simeon said, nobody can sanctify property that is not his own? There, he said that nobody can sanctify property that is not his own, but here, his and his neighbor’s property are counted together to forbid the ground in the middle. Rabbi Mana did not say so, but did not Rabbi Samuel say in the name of Rabbi Zeïra: Rabbi Simeon follows his own opinion; just as Rabbi Simeon said that nobody can sanctify property that is not his own, so he said that nobody can enclose property that is not his own, but here, his and his neighbor’s property are counted together to forbid the ground in the middle.
Mishnah
6 If somebody plants two rows, he should not sow there unless there are eight cubits between them. If there were three rows, he should not sow there unless there are sixteen cubits between one row and the next. Rabbi Eliezer said in the name of Ḥananiah ben Ḥakhinai: He should not sow there unless there are sixteen cubits between one row and the next, even if the middle row dried up. But if he planted new vines, it would be permitted with eight cubits. If somebody plants his vineyard sixteen by sixteen cubits, he may bring seeds there. Rabbi Judah said, it happened that somebody in Ṣalmon planted his vineyard sixteen by sixteen cubits. He turned the growth of two rows toward one another and sowed the plowed area. The next year, he turned the growth to the side that had been sown and sowed what was fallow. This came before the Sages and they permitted it. Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Meïr say that this is permitted even for someone who plants his vineyard spaced eight cubits.
Halakhah
Rabbi Zeïra said, eight except for the space of the trunks. Just as you say, eight except for the space of the trunks, so also four except for the space of the trunks.
Rabbi Eleazar said, they were more restrictive inside than outside. Rabbi Zeïra said, when I was still there, I explained it as follows: inside eight are required, outside sixteen: From four cubits to eight, it is forbidden and sanctifies, from eight to sixteen it is forbidden but does not sanctify.
Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: It turns out that the statement of Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob is like that of the House of Shammai. Just as the House of Shammai say that one row constitutes a vineyard, so Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says that one row constitutes a vineyard. What do you want to say? A large vineyard is forbidden by eight, a small vineyard is forbidden by eight! Rabbi Judan did not say so but taught that eight cubits is forbidden, eight cubits plus any length is permitted. Some want to state: “But if someone planted a new vineyard sixteen by sixteen, it would be permitted with eight cubits.” Rabbi Judah ben Pazi in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: It turns out that the statement of Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob is like that of the House of Shammai. Just as the House of Shammai are more restrictive when it is dried up than when it is planted, so Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob is more restrictive when it is dried up than when it is planted.
Rabbi Jonah in the name of Rav: The seed is permitted but one is forbidden to sow. Rabbi Yose in the name of Rav: The practice is that one is permitted to sow. Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi in the name of Rav: Practice follows Rabbi Meïr and Rabbi Simeon. Does it mean that the seed is permitted and one is permitted to sow, or that the seed is permitted but one is forbidden to sow? Since Rabbi Abba said: Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi measured the layout of my vineyard eight by eight; that means that the seed is permitted and one is permitted to sow. Rav Huna sowed leeks in his vineyard. Is that not forbidden because of kilaim? They were mixed up and a single vine needs no space set aside for tending, following the words of Rabbi Ishmael; as Rabbi Ishmael said, the words of the Sages are that a single vine needs no space set aside for tending. Rabbi Jacob bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: Practice outside the Land follows the lenient opinion. Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa said, there they stated: Practice outside the Land follows the lenient opinion.
Mishnah
1 A dried-up vineyard, if it contains ten producing vines per bet seah and they are planted regularly, is called a vineyard. A poor vineyard, one that is planted irregularly, is a vineyard if one can identify three vines opposite two in it, otherwise it is not a vineyard. Rabbi Meïr said, since it has the appearance of vineyards, it is a vineyard.
Halakhah
Rabbi Joḥanan said: A bald spot in a vineyard is like a vineyard that dried up. One clears the ground of a bald spot in a vineyard in its interior, one clears the ground of a dried-up vineyard on all sides.
Rabbi Zeïra showed to the colleagues: Nine rows of seven each. Take away one next to another lengthwise and one next to another crosswise. There remain 20 vines. Take away two from each side in one direction, one from each side in the other direction. There remain 10 vines. That is what we have stated: “Ten vines per bet seah.” It turns out that there are four times two parallel two and one protrudes as a tail.
One assumes that another vine was planted there, for all four sides. One cannot actually plant on any of the four sides because it would form a tail and there is no tail for a tail. This implies that there is no tail for a large vineyard, which gives a simple answer to the question of Rabbi Yose ben Zabida in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: one treats it as if another vine was planted there.
It turns out to be 64 by 48. Take two from here and put them there, that turns out to be 48 by 48. Take out one in between, one in between, and make a bald spot 16 by 16 that can be tended by eight cubits. How do you treat it? Itself and the area to tend it within a bet seah, or without the area to tend it? If you take it with the area to tend it within the bet seah, then 348 are missing. If you take it without the area to tend it, there is an excess of 452. You might say, they are separated as single ones. You might say, they are closer together: we have stated only “10 per bet seah.” You could not state that.
“The trunk is aligned but the top is not aligned, that is a vineyard. The top is aligned but the trunk is not aligned, that is not a vineyard. If they were thin, but when they grow thick they will be aligned, that is a vineyard. How does one know that they are aligned? One brings a rope and stretches it.” Some Tannaïm state: “From within.” But some Tannaïm state: “From outside.” Rabbi Jonah said, the one who says “from within,” within a handbreadth, but the one who says “from outside” requires that it touches. “If the outer row is not aligned in its trunks, one reserves for it the space to tend it and one may sow the rest.” Rabbi Yose says, if one sows within six handbreadths all is forbidden; outside of six handbreadths single vines are permitted but a vineyard is forbidden.
What does “a poor vineyard” mean? Rabbi Jonah said, it is poor in vines but rich in tending areas.
Mishnah
2 A vineyard that is planted less than four cubits apart, Rabbi Simeon says that it is not a vineyard. But the Sages say that it is a vineyard and one disregards the ones in the middle as if nonexistent.
Halakhah
Rabbi Simeon said to them: Those about which you say that one disregards the ones in the middle as if nonexistent, are the essence of the vineyard! Rabbi Ḥananiah said, that applies in the case where there are six parallel six. But if there are five parallel five, everybody agrees that one disregards the ones in the middle as if nonexistent. Rabbi Mana said, that means if there are five parallel five. But if there are six parallel six, if you disregard the ones in the middle as if nonexistent, these are like those! What does that mean which we have stated: One disregards the ones in the middle as if nonexistent? Rabbi Huna said, that one is permitted to draw them over his seeds. Rabbi Mana said, that supports what Rabbi Yose had said, that if one sows within six handbreadths all is forbidden, outside of six handbreadths single vines are permitted and a vineyard is forbidden.
Simeon bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: Just as they disagree here, they disagree about a graveyard. Rabbi Jonah said, one cannot compare these. There, if graves were spaced apart and one moved them together, they would form a graveyard. When they were close together and one spaces them apart, that does not make a graveyard. But here, if they were spaced apart and one moved them closer, that is the disagreement. If they were close and one moved them apart, everybody would agree. But here, what is their disagreement? When one found them close together. Rabbi Simeon said, a landslide fell on them and compressed them. But the Sages say, were they spaced apart and somebody brought them close together?
Mishnah
3 A ditch that crosses a vineyard, ten handbreadths deep and four wide. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said, if it is open from one side of the vineyard to the opposite side it appears to be between two vineyards; one sows in it. Otherwise, it is like a vat. If a vat in the vineyard is ten deep and four wide, one sows in it, the words of Rabbi Eliezer; but the Sages forbid it. On a watchman’s mound in a vineyard that is ten handbreadths high and four wide one may sow; but if foliage hangs down over it, it is forbidden. For a vine planted in a depression or in a cleft one allows the area needed for tending it and one sows the rest. Rabbi Yose said, if there are less than four cubits one should not bring seeds there. A house in a vineyard may be sown.
Halakhah
Unless it separates it and the area needed to tend it, since we have stated: “The Sages agree with Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob in the case of a ditch that separates it and the area needed to tend it.” Hence, Rabbi Eliezer thinks that even if it does not separate it from the area needed to tend it. When do they disagree? If there are two rows on each side. But if there was only one row on either side, once it reaches three vines there is no longer a vineyard.
It was stated: “Less than that is forbidden.” Without it, would we not have said that ten is forbidden, all the more nine? But what does it mean that “less is forbidden?” Would we not say that it becomes as if closed and would be permitted? It should become as if closed and be permitted; was it not stated: “Roots crossing a symbolic fence and entering within four cubits of a vineyard are permitted if they are deeper than three handbreadths?” There is a difference, because the air of the vineyard surrounds. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said to them: Do you not agree that depth is like height? Only that the air of the vineyard surrounds. It is reasonable to think that Rabbi Eliezer agrees with Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob but Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob does not agree with Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Eliezer agrees with Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob that depth is like height. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob does not agree with Rabbi Eliezer because the air of the vineyard surrounds.
Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: There must be an empty space of four handbreadths. Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac said, that is, if it is round. But if it is square, it does not need an empty space of four handbreadths. Rabbi Ḥalaphta ben Shaul said, it needs three handbreadths of dirt on top. Rabbi Yose said, that is, if it is round. But if it is square, it does not need three handbreadths of dirt on top.
The Mishnah deals with the case from three to four handbreadths. With less than three it is closed; from three to four one must complete it, and at four one may sow immediately.
Rabbi Abin in the name of Samuel: “They were hidden in prisons,”Isaiah 42:22 where one hides from kilaim.
Mishnah
4 Anyone who plants vegetables in a vineyard or who lets them grow sanctifies 45 vines. When is this? In case they are planted four by four or five by five apart. If they were planted six by six or seven by seven apart, he sanctifies sixteen cubits in every direction, circular but not square.
Halakhah
Rabbi Yose ben Ḥanina said, only if he sowed near the middle vine. Rabbi Abin in the name of Samuel: Only if the middle vine is surrounded by vegetables. How is it computed? Seven rows by seven rows. Subtract from them four vines at the four corners; there are 45 vines remaining. That is what we stated: “He sanctifies 45 vines.”
“When is this? In case they are planted four by four or five by five apart.” This supports Rabbi Zeïra, since Rabbi Eleazar said: Eight except for the place of the trunks. “If they were planted six by six or seven by seven apart,” that supports Rabbi Eleazar, since Rabbi Eleazar said: From four cubits to eight, it is forbidden and “sanctifies,” from eight to sixteen it is forbidden but does not “sanctify.”
Mishnah
5 If somebody sees a vegetable in his vineyard and says, when I get to it I will remove it, that is permitted; when I return I will remove it, if in the meantime it increased by one two-hundredth it is forbidden.
Halakhah
Rabbi Yose ben Ḥanina said, they taught about the worker.
They gave the owner occupied with his work the status of a farmhand. If the owner kept field vegetables growing in his vineyard, they are forbidden to him and to others. If a farmhand kept field vegetables growing in the vineyard, they are forbidden to him but are permitted to everybody else. This is difficult. If they are forbidden to him, they should be forbidden to everybody. If they are permitted to everybody else, they should be permitted to him. It must follow Rabbi Simeon who says that nobody may sanctify anything that is not his own property. Even though Rabbi Simeon says that nobody may sanctify anything that is not his own property, he agrees here that it is forbidden to him if another person harvested it, but if he himself harvested, it is forbidden to him and to everybody else.
“If it increased by one two-hundredth it is forbidden.” Those of the house of Rabbi Yannai estimate by purslane. How does one check? Rav Vivian in the name of Rabbi Ḥaninah: He takes one out and leaves one in the ground; The amount the first has shrunk is the amount the other has grown.
Mishnah
6 If somebody was passing through a vineyard and accidentally dropped some seeds, or seeds were brought there by manure or water, or someone sowed and the wind carried the seeds behind him, all this is permitted. If the wind carried the seeds in front of him, Rabbi Aqiba says, if they produce greenery it should be plowed under, if they are green stalks, they should be broken, if they produced grain it must be burned.
Halakhah
Rabbi Eleazar said, our Mishnah speaks of one standing in a grain field while the wind carried the seeds into a vineyard. Rabbi Zeïra inquired: Was the Mishnah speaking about one standing in a grain field or even one standing in a vineyard? If you say in a grain field, then not in a vineyard. If you say even one standing in a vineyard there is no difference. Let us learn from the following: “Rabbi Simeon ben Judah said in the name of Rabbi Simeon: If one was sowing and the wind carried the seeds behind him, this is permitted, since it happened by accident.” What are we dealing with? If he stands in the vineyard he is tending it, and you say it is permitted? But we must deal with the case of one standing in a grain field and the wind carried the seeds into a vineyard.
Rabbi Zeïra, Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Rabbi Hoshaia: “If they produce greenery it should be plowed under.” All is permitted. “If they are green stalks, they should be broken.” The straw is permitted but the grains are forbidden. “If they produced grain it must be burned.” All is forbidden. Rabbi Joḥanan said, all is forbidden. What does our statement mean, “if they produce greenery it should be plowed under, if they are green stalks, they should be broken, if they produced grain it must be burned”? It parallels what we have stated there: “Orlah and kilaim of a vineyard. Anything that usually is buried should be buried. Anything that usually is burned should be burned.”
Rabbi Jacob bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish: Sometimes, the straw is permitted but the grain is forbidden, and sometimes the straw is forbidden and the grain is permitted. How is that? If his sowing was permitted but later he trained the leaves of a vine over it, the straw is permitted but the grain is forbidden. If he sowed where it was forbidden and then removed the overhanging growth, the straw is forbidden but the grain is permitted. Rabbi Zeïra inquired: It is understandable that the straw would be permitted but the grain forbidden. If the straw should be forbidden and the grain permitted, it grew while forbidden and you say it is permitted? Rabbi Zeïra follows his own opinion, as Rabbi Zeïra said in the name of Rabbi Jonathan: An onion from kilaim in a vineyard that he removed from the soil and planted again is forbidden even if it increases many times over, since growth of what is forbidden can never justify forbidden produce.
Mishnah
7 If somebody keeps thistles growing in a vineyard, Rabbi Eliezer says he sanctified, but the Sages say only produce suitable for storage sanctifies. Iris, ivy, king’s lily, and all kinds of seed-plants are not kilaim in a vineyard. Hemp, Rabbi Tarphon says it is not kilaim but the Sages say it is kilaim. Artichokes are kilaim in a vineyard.
Halakhah
Rabbi Abbahu said, Rabbi Eliezer’s reason is that at some places in Arabia one lets them grow for camels.
ἰρός is אירוסיה. κισσός is קסוסא. King’s lily is κρίνον.
“Reeds, spiny bushes, roses, and way-thorn are trees and not kilaim in a vineyard. Reed-mace, rush, and bulrush, and all other plants growing in ashes are kinds of grasses and not kilaim in a vineyard.” But did Rabbi Hoshaiah not state: “The following are the kinds of grasses: artichoke, ḥalimah, demua, and lycium.” There for benedictions, here for kilaim. Rabbi Yose said, this means that while one says the benediction “Creator of the fruit of the tree” for an etrog, one says the benediction “Creator of kinds of grasses” for its tmrz.
The caper bush. The House of Shammai say, it is kilaim in a vineyard but not with grains. The House of Hillel say, it is never kilaim, neither in a vineyard nor with grains. Both agree that it is subject to orlah. Rabbi Ḥinena bar Papa stated: Any plant that branches out from its stem is a tree; from its roots it is a vegetable. They objected: But cabbage forms its leaves from its stem! Here when it is sure, there when it is doubtful.
Mishnah
1 What is a trellis? If somebody plants a row of five vines along a fence ten handbreadths high or a ditch ten handbreadths deep and four wide, one gives it four cubits of working space. The House of Shammai say one measures four cubits between the stems of the vines and the field. The House of Hillel say, between fence and field. Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri said, anybody who affirms this is in error; if there are four cubits between the stems of the vines and the fence one gives it its working space and he may sow the rest. What is the working space of a vine? Six handbreadths in every direction; Rabbi Aqiba says three.
Halakhah
It is difficult. Is it not forbidden anyway for the House of Shammai as a vineyard? Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, this was taught about a curved trellis. In that case, it would not be forbidden as a vineyard without a fence. Rabbi Jonah inquired: May one sow in between? Is it in a straight line, that you say it is forbidden to sow in between? May one sow between the vines? As you say in the case of a row of gourds that it is forbidden to sow in between the pits, so here also it is forbidden to sow in between the vines.
Rabbi Joḥanan said, the Mishnah was taught about a straight trellis. In that case, would it not be forbidden as a vineyard without a fence? Let us say, it was stated because of the House of Hillel. Rabbi Ḥananiah said, it is reasonable to assume that Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish agrees with Rabbi Joḥanan that it was taught about a straight trellis because of the House of Hillel, and Rabbi Joḥanan agrees with Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish that it was taught about a curved trellis because of Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri, since Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri said that anybody who affirms this is in error. If you say it was taught about a straight trellis, what can be in error? What is the difference between the one who says one measures from the roots of the vines and the one who says one measures from the bottom of the fence? Rabbi Yose said, Explain it as a case where the stems were partially inside four cubits and partially outside of four cubits. For the one who says one measures from the roots of the vine, all is valid. For the one who says one measures from the bottom of the fence, where the string drawn from the fence ends it is forbidden, the rest is permitted. If there were two cubits, only two cubits are forbidden for the one who says one measures from the roots of the vines, but for the one who says one measures from the bottom of the fence, another two cubits are forbidden.
Rabbi Joḥanan said, Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri, all three said the same thing. Rabbi Ishmael, as we have stated: “About a small garden surrounded by a trellis, if there is room for the vintner and his basket on each side one may sow there, if not, it may not be sown.” Rabbi Jonah said, the vintner requires one cubit, his basket one cubit on each side. They wanted to say, for the one who says one measures from the roots of the vine, all is valid. For the one who says one measures from the bottom of the fence, do the stems not diminish the measure of four cubits? Explain it as a case where they were clinging to the wall. But are there not only four and the rules of the trellis start with five? Rabbi Ḥananiah said, Explain it as a case where two vines are planted at a corner; if one stretches a rope one sees four intervals. Rabbi Yose, as we have stated: “If there are less than four cubits one should not bring seeds there.” For the one who says one measures from the roots of the vine, all is valid. For the one who says one measures from the bottom of the fence, does the stem not decrease the measure of four cubits? Explain it as a case where it was clinging to the wall. And similarly Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri here. It is reasonable to assume that Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Ishmael will agree with Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri, but Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri will not agree with Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Ishmael. Rabbi Yose will agree with Rabbi Ishmael but Rabbi Ishmael will not agree with Rabbi Yose.
Rabbi Judah in the name of Rav: Practice follows Rabbi Aqiba. Rabbi Jacob bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: Practice outside the Land follows the one who is lenient. Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa said, there they stated: Practice outside the Land follows the one who is lenient.
Mishnah
2 A trellis coming from a terrace. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob says, if someone standing on the ground can harvest all vines then it forbids four cubits in the field; otherwise it only forbids around it. Rabbi Eliezer says, also if one plants one row on the ground and one on a terrace, if the latter is ten handbreadths higher they do not combine; otherwise, they do combine.
Halakhah
Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman, Rabbi Jonathan, in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: Anyone who prunes his vineyard down to less than a handbreadth subjects it to orlah because of the bad appearance. The Sages say, only if he prunes down to the ground. Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rabbi Jonathan, in the name of Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob: Anyone who forms a heap from gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and peah, is subject to the Great Heave because of the bad appearance. Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rabbi Jonathan, Rabbi 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 dignity. Rabbi Mana said, this last statement is in the name of the House of Shammai; Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, all are in the name of the House of Shammai. Rabbi Jonah said, also that which we stated here 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?
“Higher.” Is the row higher or is the terrace higher? If you say that the row is higher, the slope of the terrace is counted as “below.” If you say the terrace is higher, the slope of the row is counted as “above.” But did we not state: “Two rows on a terrace?” Can you say that the row is higher? No, the terrace has to be higher. Rabbi Mana said, they declared the entire ten handbreadths of the terrace a domain by itself.
We have stated there: “If somebody throws from four cubits distance to a wall, if the projectile hits higher than ten handbreadths, he is like one throwing into the air, if lower than ten handbreadths, he is like one throwing onto the ground.” Rav Ḥisda said, if it extends slanting. But will it not finally descend? Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan, Explain it as a case where it was a soft fig cake and it stuck. Rabbi Ḥaggai asked Rabbi Yose, does this not imply that the slope of a terrace belongs to the level below? He said to him, there the vegetables profit from the terrace but here people rub it and it falls down. If it said, if there is a hole in the wall and it profits from the hole just as vegetables profit from the terrace, you would be justified.
“Two gardens, one above the other, the lower one is made into a vineyard, the upper one is not made into a vineyard. One may sow the upper one until one reaches the airspace of ten.” Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya asked Rabbi Zeïra, does this not imply that the slope of a terrace belongs to the level below? He said to him, because plants will bend into the airspace of the vineyard. “If the upper one is made into a vineyard but the lower one is not made into a vineyard, one may sow the lower one and the slope until one reaches the roots of the vines.” Rabbi Yose said, one does not have here “the roots of the vines” but “below three handbreadths,” following that which was stated: “roots of madder that enter within four cubits of a vineyard are permitted below three handbreadths.”
Mishnah
3 If somebody trains a vine over part of a papyrus, he should not sow under the rest, but if he did, it does not become sanctified. If the new growth expands it becomes forbidden. The same applies to one who trains over parts of a fruitless tree. If somebody trains a vine over part of a fruit tree he may sow under the rest. If new growth expands, he must move it. It happened that Rabbi Joshua visited Rabbi Ishmael from Kefar Aziz. He showed him a vine trained over parts of a fig tree and asked, may I sow under the rest? He told him, it is permitted. He took him from there to the armory and showed him a vine trained over part of a beam and a sycamore stump on which were many beams. He said to him, under that one beam it is forbidden, the rest is permitted. What is a fruitless tree? One which does not bear fruit. Rabbi Meïr says, every tree is fruitless except olive and fig trees. Rabbi Yose says, a fruitless tree is one that people do not plant in entire orchards.
Halakhah
Ḥizqiah said, the Mishnah speaks about distances from three to four handbreadths. Less than three is close up, up to four one has to complete, four is easy for it. How far? Rabbi Jacob bar Idi in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, up to four cubits. Rabbi Aḥa, Rabbi Ḥinena in the name of Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, up to six cubits. Rabbi Mana said: I went to Caesarea and heard Rabbi Hoshiah bar Shammai in the name of Rabbi Isaac ben Eleazar: If there were two papyri, it is permitted. Rabbi Ḥinena said, a statement disagrees: If he usually oversteps, it is forbidden. It was stated as follows: Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar says, if he usually oversteps between lattices, it is treated as a single lattice.
What is the difference between a fruitless and a fruit tree? A person will disregard a fruitless tree relative to his vine but nobody will disregard a fruit tree relative to his vine.
There, we have stated: “All tied-up waterskins are pure except those of Arabs. Rabbi Meïr says, temporarily tied ones are pure, permanently tied ones are impure. Rabbi Yose says, all tied ones are pure.” Some Tannaïm state it in reverse. Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Yasa: Like our Mishnah. Rabbi Yudan said, the indicator of Kelim is Kilaim, for if it were not so, what would be the difference between permanent and temporary tie? In the House of Rabbi Yannai they said: A permanent tie must be cut, a temporary tie does not have to be cut.
Mishnah
4 An interrupted trellis is more than eight cubits. No linear measurement stated by the Sages requires “more than” except an interrupted trellis. What is an interrupted trellis? A trellis whose vines are dried up in its middle, but there remained five vines on each side. If between them are eight cubits, one should not sow there. If there are more than eight cubits, one gives each side its working space and he may sow the rest. A trellis which starts from a wall in a corner and ends there, one gives it its working space and he may sow the rest. Rabbi Yose said, if there are less than four cubits one should not bring seeds there. If sticks protrude from the trellis and he is considering removing them, it is permitted to sow beneath them, but if he made them so that the new growth can expand on them, it is forbidden. One looks at a blossom that comes out from the trellis as if a plumb line were hanging down from it; under it it is forbidden. The same holds for a branch. Under a shoot of vine drawn from one tree to another, it is forbidden. If he binds them together with a rope or bast, under the binding it is permitted. But if he did that to accommodate future growth, it is forbidden.
Halakhah
Does this not disagree with Rabbi Zeïra since Rabbi Zeïra said, eight except for the place of the trunks? Explain that as eight cubits and a little more. And why has this not been stated? Don’t you agree with Rabbi Joḥanan that in all linear measurements stated by the Sages, “more than” means more by a handbreadth? But what he added is little, therefore it was not stated.
Rabbi Jonah asked: Why do we say: “No linear measurements stated by the Sages require ‘more’ except an interrupted trellis?” Did we not state: “Ten Jerusalem qab which equal six esronim and excess”? There the discussion concerns volumes, while here it concerns linear measurements. But did we not state: “Rabbi Yose ben Meshullam said, ‘more’ is a qab per one hundred seah, a sixth of the amount that causes demaʿ”? There the discussion concerns volumes, while here it concerns linear measurements. But did we not state: “Rabbi Judah ben Baba said, the garden and the corral which are seventy and a remainder by seventy and a remainder”? Samuel said, they taught two thirds of a cubit.
There is no difference whether one built a fence and then planted eleven vines or he planted eleven vines and then built a fence. If the middle vine is destroyed we have trellis and interrupted trellis. If the fence is destroyed, there is no trellis and no interrupted trellis. Rabbi Eudaimon, brother of Rabbi Yose, inquired: If he then rebuilt the fence, since the trellis was reconstituted, do you say that the interrupted trellis also was reconstituted?
Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: Once Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri burned in Nagnegar. What did he burn? He burned an interrupted trellis. Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: Once Rabbi Joḥanan ben Nuri burned in Nagnegar. What did he burn? He burned between the trellis and the fence. Rabbi Yose said, I pointed out a difficulty to Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa: It is understandable, if he burned an interrupted trellis then the words of the Sages disagree with his. But if he burned between the trellis and the fence, are there words of the Sages which disagree with his? He had not heard what Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa said: Rabbi Joḥanan and Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish disagree about the trellis itself: Rabbi Joḥanan said, it is forbidden and sanctifies. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, it is forbidden but does not sanctify.
All this applies if in the corner there are four handbreadths of empty space.
We stated here the opinion of Rabbi Yose and stated it there. If we had stated it here but not there, we would have said he says it is forbidden here because of the laws of the trellis, but there where one does not deal with the laws of the trellis he would say it is permitted. Hence, it is necessary to state it there. Or if we had stated it there but not here, we would have said there he says it is forbidden because it is enclosed on all four sides, but here where it is not enclosed on all four sides he would say it is permitted. Hence, it is necessary to state it both here and there.
There one says, one treats it as if a metal spit was stuck there. Simeon bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: As far as was intended.
Rabbi Ḥama bar Uqba in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Ḥanina: Under the grapes it is forbidden and sanctifies but not under the leaves. Rabbi Yose said, even under the leaves it is forbidden and sanctifies.
Mishnah
1 If one sinks a vine into the ground he should not bring seeds over it unless there are three handbreadths of earth above it, even if he sank it in a gourd or in a pipe. If he sank it in a rock it is permitted to bring seeds there even if it is covered only by three fingers’ depth of earth. For a knee-shaped vine one measures only from the second stem.
Halakhah
“He should not bring seeds over it,” therefore it is permitted on the side. What are we dealing with? If it is because of seeds in a tree, why are we dealing with a vine and not any tree? If it is because of working space, they should mention six. It might follow Rabbi Aqiba since Rabbi Aqiba says three. If it followed Rabbi Aqiba, it should mention three on the side. Rabbi Jeremiah in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: It is because of seeds on top of a vine.
There, we have stated: “One keeps seeds, the plow, and urine three handbreadths away from a wall.” Rabbi Jeremiah said that Rabbi Ḥama bar Uqba raised a question: There, you say that the roots do not expand sideways and here you say, the roots do expand sideways! Rabbi Yose said, in both cases the roots do not expand sideways but they create soft earth and undermine the base of the wall. You can see that because we also stated “urine.” Does urine expand sideways? Rabbi Yose the son of Rabbi Abun explained, did we not also state “the plow”? Does the plow expand sideways?
“Even if he sank it in a gourd or in a pipe.” That means, in a clay pipe; but in a lead pipe it does not need three handbreadths of earth on top.
“If he sank it in a rock.” That means, in hard earth, but in soft earth it splits it.
That is only if the first stem is not visible, but if the first stem is visible one allows six handbreadths from either stem. You can see that because we also stated afterward: “If one sinks three vines and their stems are visible,” and we have stated on this: When has this been said? For a vineyard. But concerning the working space one allows six handbreadths for either one.
Mishnah
2 If one sinks three vines and their stems are visible, Rabbi Eleazar bar Rabbi Zadoq says if there are between them from four to eight cubits, they go together; otherwise, they do not go together. A dried-up vine is forbidden but does not sanctify. Rabbi Meïr says, cotton also is forbidden but does not sanctify. Rabbi Eleazar bar Rabbi Zadoq says in his name, even on top of the vine it is forbidden but does not sanctify. The following are forbidden but do not sanctify: The excess of a dried-up vineyard, the excess of the circumference of a vineyard, the excess of an interrupted trellis, and the excess of a papyrus. But under a vine, the working space of a vine, and the four cubits of a vineyard do sanctify.
Halakhah
Rabbi Eleazar said, the Mishnah is Rabbi Meïr’s.
This is understandable in winter, but what about summer? There are places where they lose their leaves even in summer.
Rabbi Samuel in the name of Rabbi Zeïra: The Mishnah speaks of the space above the shoot. Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: The Mishnah speaks about the airspace of ten. Rabbi Yose said, we were of the opinion that a vineyard has airspace; a single vine has no airspace. Since Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya said in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: The Mishnah speaks about the airspace of ten, that means that even a single vine has airspace.
The excess of the circumference of a vineyard is four cubits, the excess of a dried-up vineyard is four cubits, the excess of an interrupted trellis is six handbreadths, and the excess of papyrus is six handbreadths.
What is the status of the intermediate spaces? Rabbi Joḥanan said, they are forbidden and sanctify. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, they are forbidden and do not sanctify. What can you say? If it is a large vineyard, what about its dry spot, even where it is planted! If it is a small vineyard, it has no circumference. But we must deal with a large vineyard planted in the manner of a small one. Rabbi Zeïra said, this implies that a large vineyard planted eight by eight has no circumference. If you say that the inside is forbidden and sanctifies if it is planted 16 by 16, Doesn’t this apply to the outside with even greater force?
Rabbi Yose said, flogging applies only to the main vineyard.
Mishnah
3 If somebody draws his vine over somebody else’s grain it sanctifies and he is liable for the loss. Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Simeon say, nobody can sanctify anything that is not his. Rabbi Yose said, it happened that someone sowed in his vineyard in the Sabbatical year. When this came before Rabbi Aqiba, he said nobody can sanctify anything that is not his.
Halakhah
It is written: “Do not sow kilaim in your vineyard.”Deuteronomy 22:9 This refers to your own vineyard. What is the source for another person’s vineyard? The verse says, kilaim, no vineyard and no kilaim. Rabbi Eleazar said, this is Rabbi Meïr’s, for Rabbi Meïr said that a Gentile cannot acquire real estate in the Land of Israel to free it from tithes. Rabbi Joḥanan said, it is the opinion of everybody, Explain it as a case of a Gentile who sowed his vineyard kilaim and a Jew bought it from him.
Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Yose, both of them say that it is Rabbi Meïr’s. An animal which was worshiped: Some Tannaïm state that it is forbidden whether it is his own or somebody else’s; some Tannaïm state that his own is forbidden, somebody else’s is permitted. They wanted to say, the opinion that it is forbidden whether it is his own or somebody else’s is Rabbi Meïr’s and Rabbi Judah’s; the opinion that his own is forbidden, somebody else’s is permitted, is Rabbi Yose’s and Rabbi Simeon’s. Rabbi Yose in the name of Rabbi La: It is everybody’s opinion. Just as you say there that a living thing is forbidden for Heaven even though it is permitted for the private person, so anything that is not yours may be forbidden for Heaven even though it is permitted for the private person.
Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, this is a fine imposed by Rabbi Meïr. Did he act on that, “if somebody draws his vine over somebody else’s grain ...”? But what did that person do? When it grows, it grows according to his intention. One person showed his tetradrachma to Rabbi Eleazar who told him that it was good. It turned out to be worthless. This case came before Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish who fined him according to the following: If somebody shows a denar to the money changer and it turns out to be bad, the money changer has to pay because he takes a fee. Does Rabbi Eleazar take a fee? Rabbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Abuna: One who takes it into his hand has the status of one who takes a fee. Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun does not say so, but Rabbi Eleazar says that this fine is imposed by the rabbis; Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish says the fine is imposed by Rabbi Meïr. When the case came before Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish, he asked Rabbi Eleazar, who imposed this fine? Rabbi Eleazar said, the rabbis. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish answered him, go and pay.
Rabbi Joḥanan said, everybody agrees that the grapes will be forbidden. Rabbi Eleazar said to him, What causes the prohibition is not forbidden, while what does not cause it will be forbidden? They disagree if somebody draws his vine over somebody else’s grain. But if somebody draws a neighbor’s vine over his own grain, everybody agrees that what causes the prohibition is forbidden. If somebody draws a neighbor’s vine over his neighbor’s grain we can understand from the following: “Rabbi Yose said, it happened that someone sowed in his vineyard in the Sabbatical year. When this came before Rabbi Aqiba, he said nobody can sanctify anything that is not his.” This was given as answer!
Mishnah
4 The usurper who sowed in a vineyard and it was taken from him, one cuts it even during a holiday. How much does he have to give to the workers? Up to one third. More than that he cuts normally, even after the holiday. When is the property called the usurper’s? From the moment its original ownership is forgotten.
Halakhah
Rabbi Abba bar Jacob in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: This is how the Mishnah reads: One may harvest it even on a holiday.
“How much does he have to give to the workers? Up to one third.” Rav Ḥuna and Rav Sheshet: One of them says, a third of the wages, the other says, a third of the value.
“When is the property called the usurper’s? From the moment its original ownership is forgotten.” Rabbi Aḥa said: If the owners were forgotten but did not give up hope, the prohibition of the field is biblical. If the owners did give up hope but they were not forgotten, the prohibition of the field is rabbinic. But can real estate be robbed? Rabbi La said, even though real estate cannot be robbed, one can give up hope on real estate.
Mishnah
5 If a storm broke vines over grain, one should fix it immediately, but in an emergency it is permitted. Grain leaning under vines, and also vegetables, one turns back and it does not sanctify. When does grain start to sanctify? When it is a third grown, and grapes once they have grown to the size of white beans. Completely dry grain and completely ripe grapes do not become sanctified.
Halakhah
Following Ben Azai, one should cut them off. One found it stated: Rabbi Aqiba said, one should return them, Ben Azai said, one should cut them off.
“When does grain start to sanctify? When it is a third grown.” Some Tannaïm state: When it grew roots. The one who says when it is a third grown supports Rabbi Joḥanan. The one who says when it grew roots supports Rabbi Hoshaia.
“And grapes once they have grown to the size of white beans.” Rabbi Ḥananiah the son of Rabbi Hillel said, because it is written: “And the produce of the vineyard.”Deuteronomy 22:9 This is how the Mishnah reads: “They do not become sanctified.”
Mishnah
6 A flowerpot with a hole sanctifies in a vineyard, but one without a hole does not sanctify. Rabbi Simeon says, both are forbidden but neither one sanctifies. If a flowerpot with a hole is temporarily put in a vineyard, if it grew by one two-hundredth it is forbidden.
Halakhah
It was stated: “The only difference between a flowerpot without a hole and one with a hole regards preparation for impurity.” That is for Rabbi Simeon, but for the rabbis there are others: A flowerpot with a hole sanctifies in a vineyard, one without a hole does not. Anyone who plucks from a flowerpot with a hole is guilty, from one without a hole he is exempt from punishment. A flowerpot with a hole cannot prepare plants, one without a hole prepares. Rabbi Yose referred to it as anonymous statement, Rabbi Ḥanina quoted it in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: The Torah extended the purity of growing plants: “If any of their carcasses falls on any sown seed suitable for sowing, it is pure.”Leviticus 11:37
It was stated: “The tithes from a flowerpot without hole are of practice, its heave does not create demaʿ and one does not owe a fifth for it.” Rabbi Yose asked: May one say “He Who created bread from the earth” for it? Rabbi Jonah asked: Is a gourd considered plucked that one may use it as the cover of a sukkah? Rabbi Judah bar Pazi asked: If somebody planted five vines in five pots without holes and arranged them two parallel two and one as a tail, can you say this is a vineyard? He may rearrange them. Is there such a thing as a movable vineyard?
Samuel said, put under any vine. Rabbi Joḥanan said, the Mishnah deals with the space within ten handbreadths.
If one put five flowerpots without holes under one vine, one has the disagreement between Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Joḥanan: What causes the prohibition is not forbidden, while what does not cause it will be forbidden? But if a single pot was placed temporarily under five different vines, everybody agrees that what causes the prohibition will be forbidden.
Mishnah
1 Kilaim in a vineyard are forbidden to be sown or kept and are forbidden for any use. Kilaim of grains are forbidden to be sown or kept but are permitted for eating and certainly for use. Kilaim of textiles are permitted for everything; they are only forbidden to be worn. Kilaim of animals may be raised and kept; they are only forbidden to be mated. Kilaim of animals are forbidden to be mated with one another.
Halakhah
“Kilaim in a vineyard are forbidden,” etc. It is written: “Do not sow kilaim in your vineyard.”Deuteronomy 22:9 Not only sowing, how about keeping? The verse says, vineyard and no kilaim. Does this follow Rabbi Aqiba, for Rabbi Aqiba said that anyone who keeps kilaim transgresses a prohibition? Rabbi Yose said, it is the word of everybody. Everybody agrees that what is forbidden is forbidden if he did not preserve through an action, but if he preserved through an action he is flogged, as it is stated: Anyone who covers kilaim is flogged.
What is the source that it is forbidden for any use? It is said here “so that you do not sanctify it”Deuteronomy 22:9 and it is said elsewhere so that it does not become sanctified by it. Since “so that ... not” there means it is forbidden for any use, “so that ... not” here means it is forbidden for all use. Some want to say, it is said here “so that you do not sanctify it” and it is said at another place “there must be no qadeš among the Israelites.” Since qdš there means forbidden for any use, so qdš here must mean forbidden for any use. Rabbi Huna said, his sex act is forbidden for all use. Some want to understand it from the following, as Rabbi Ḥanina said, “so that you do not sanctify it,” so that fire will not be kindled.
It is written: “Do not sow kilaim in your vineyard.”Deuteronomy 22:9 This teaches us that one is not guilty unless he sows two kinds in the vineyard, the words of Rabbi Josia. Rabbi Jonathan said, even one kind. In the opinion of Rabbi Jonathan it is written “in your field do not sow kilaim,”Leviticus 19:19 why does it say “do not sow kilaim in your vineyard”? The colleagues say, to make it sinful even with one kind. In the opinion of Rabbi Josia, “in your field do not sow kilaim.” Why does it say “do not sow kilaim in your vineyard”? The colleagues say, as a warning. If he was warned about “your field,” he is flogged, if he was warned about “your vineyard,” he is flogged. Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya said, to give another measure besides six handbreadths; here it is four cubits. What are we talking about? If he made a fence on the inside, the vineyard is abolished. If he made a fence on the outside, that is the circumference. But we deal with a field that was a grain field and he cleared four cubits in its middle. This agrees with what Rabbi Ḥanina said, nothing forbidden may form a separation to save. They were of the opinion that what is forbidden does form a separation to prohibit. In the opinion of Rabbi Jonathan it is written: “In your field do not sow kilaim,”Leviticus 19:19 why does it say: “Do not sow kilaim in your vineyard”? For that which Rabbi Hila said, if you would say the Torah did not say it, what would you say? Or following what Rabbi Zeïra said, “do not sow your vineyard kilaim,” creating your vineyard do not sow kilaim.
Rabbi Yudan from Cappadocia asked Rabbi Yose: There they say that tree seeds are called seeds but here you say that tree seeds are not called seeds. He said to him: There the verse excluded them since usually people do not call them “seeds,” but here the verse added “any sown seed that may be sown.”Leviticus 11:37
Rabbi Joḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Yannai: Anyone who covers kilaim is flogged. Rabbi Joḥanan said to him: Is that not a Mishnah? “Kilaim in a vineyard.” How are kilaim possible by plowing? It must be by covering! Rabbi Yannai praised him “Those who pour out gold from the wallet, etc.”Isaiah 46:6 “My son, they should not be removed from your eyes,”Proverbs 3:21 “give to the wise so that he becomes wiser,”Proverbs 9:9 let the wise listen “so that he gains knowledge.” Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, after all these praises I can explain it following Rabbi Aqiba since Rabbi Aqiba said that anyone who keeps kilaim transgresses a prohibition. Rabbi Aqiba said only that he transgresses, Did he say to flog? Here we are discussing flogging. Further, from what we have stated “Sabbatical year.” Can you say that the Sabbatical year follows Rabbi Aqiba? Explain the Sabbatical year following Rabbi Eleazar, as Rabbi Eleazar said, one flogs because of plowing in the Sabbatical. Rabbi Joḥanan said, one does not flog because of plowing in the Sabbatical. What is Rabbi Eleazar’s reason? “The Land should keep a Sabbath for the Eternal,”Leviticus 25:2 a general statement. “Your field you should not sow, your vineyard you should not prune,”Leviticus 25:4 detail. Sowing and trimming were in the general statement, why were they detailed? To trap with them and to tell you that just as sowing and pruning are particular as agricultural work on the earth or on a tree, so everything that is agricultural work on the earth or on a tree is forbidden. How does Rabbi Joḥanan deal with this? They are two things and two things that are specified from a general notion divide. Does Rabbi Eleazar not hold that they divide? He holds that they do not divide but instruct. Does Rabbi Joḥanan not hold that they instruct? It is different here because the general statement is a positive commandment and the details are prohibitions; no positive commandment implies anything for a prohibition and no prohibition implies anything for a positive commandment.
According to Rabbi Joḥanan it is obvious that one is permitted to dig cisterns, ditches, and caves in it. According to Rabbi Eleazar, may one dig cisterns, ditches, and caves in it? If the verses have no implication for prohibition they cannot have implications for permission.
Rabbi Abba from Carthage said, Rabbi Joḥanan’s reason is: “Six years you will sow your field,”Leviticus 25:3 not in the Seventh, “six years you will prune your vineyard,” not in the Seventh. Every prohibition derived from a positive commandment is a positive commandment; he transgresses a positive commandment. Rabbi Jeremiah said, he transgresses a positive commandment. Rabbi Yasa said, there is not even a positive commandment! Why is it written : “the land must rest for a Sabbath of the Eternal”?Leviticus 25:2 For the prohibitions in it.
“I could think one would flog because of the additions.” Rabbi Joḥanan explains the baraita, I could think that one would flog because of plowing in the Sabbatical. Rabbi Eleazar explains the baraita, I could think that one would flog because of the prohibition of the first two terms. Some Tannaïm state: “Six years you will sow your field, six years you will prune your vineyard.”Leviticus 25:3 Some Tannaïm state “Your field you should not sow, your vineyard you should not prune.”Leviticus 25:4 The one who states: “Six years you will sow your field, six years you will prune your vineyard,” supports Rabbi Joḥanan. The one who states: “Your field you should not sow, your vineyard you should not prune,” supports Rabbi Eleazar.
A baraita disagrees with Rabbi Eleazar. “‘Guard yourself’ means a prohibition. And it is written: There you should present, there you should perform.” Because that is written, otherwise I would have said it is a positive commandment. But you should not say this as you say regarding the Sabbath that if somebody dug a hole, made a ditch, and dug to put in a pole, he is guilty only of one offense, so similarly, if somebody slaughtered, sprinkled the blood, and presented he should be guilty only of one offense. Therefore, it is necessary to say that he is guilty for each action separately.
Rabbi Zeïra, Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi in the name of Cahana: Anyone who plants on the Sabbath is guilty because of sowing. Rabbi Zeïra said, anyone who prunes is like one who plants. If he planted and pruned on the Sabbath, according to Cahana he is guilty on two counts, according to Rabbi Zeïra only on one count. Did not Rabbi Zeïra say the pruner is like the planter, did he say the planter is like the pruner? All was included in the notion of sowing; pruning was singled out for particular stringency. Because pruning was singled out for particular stringency you want to exempt it because of sowing? There is no difference, both according to Cahana and according to Rabbi Zeïra he is guilty on two counts.
Mishnah
2 Domestic animal with different domestic animal and wild with different wild animal, domesticated with wild and wild with domesticated animal, unclean with different unclean and clean with different clean animal, unclean with clean and clean with unclean animal, all these are combinations forbidden for plowing, drawing, and leading. The driver receives forty lashes, and the one sitting in the cart receives forty lashes. Rabbi Meïr frees him from prosecution. A third animal tied to their harness is forbidden.
Halakhah
“Domestic animal with domestic animal, etc.” I might think one cannot put a male next to a female nor a female next to a male; the verse says “do not cause your domestic animals to copulate.”Leviticus 19:19 You are only forbidden to cause them to copulate but you may put a male next to a female or a female next to a male. But what did he actually do? When it ejaculates it does so by itself.
Issi ben Aqabia says: It is forbidden to ride on a mule by an argument of analogy. If garments which you may wear one on the other are forbidden in mixture, you are certainly forbidden to ride on a mixture of animals you may not lead together. But is it not written “Each one rode on his mule and they fled”2 Samuel 13:29? One does not learn from a king’s family. But is it not written “Let my son Solomon ride on my she-mule”1 Kings 1:33? That was a creature from Creation.
Rabbi Ḥama bar Uqba said in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Ḥanina, anyone who leads kilaim by voice will be flogged. We have stated so: “If he led it, if he made it draw, if he called it and it came, he is responsible to pay like a borrower.” But did not Samuel state: “If it was standing outside the Sabbath domain, he called it and it came after him, he is free.” There it comes of its own volition, here it is forced to walk. But did we not state: “If he clapped before a slave’s eye and blinded it, before a slave’s ear and made it deaf, the slave does not attain freedom.” Rabbi Eliezer ben Rabbi Yose said to Rabbi Yose, there is a difference because the slave could have fled. Know that it is so because we have stated: “If he grabbed him he is guilty.”
Anyone who sits in a cart, the rabbis say he is a weight, Rabbi Meïr says, he adds no weight.
Originally there were only two as it is written: “He made him ride in his two-horse carriage.”Genesis 41:43 Pharaoh came and made them three, as it is written: “three-horse over everything.”Exodus 14:7 The evil kingdom arose and made it four.
Mishnah
3 One does not tie a horse to the sides or the back of a cart, or a Libyan donkey to camels. Rabbi Judah says, all animals born from a horse are permitted with each other even if their father was a donkey, all animals born from a donkey are permitted with each other even if their father was a horse, but those born from a horse are forbidden with those from a donkey.
Halakhah
“One does not tie a horse to the sides or the back of a cart.” It is stated: Rabbi Meïr frees from prosecution. If it supported, whether in ascent or in descent, everybody agrees that it is forbidden. Rabbi Joḥanan said, because each animal compensates for the other’s laziness. Rav says, because the rope is carried between them.
Rabbi Jeremiah asked: If he bound them by their hair? What case are we discussing? In case he bound them together by their hair, should we say that it is forbidden to let one animal ride on another? If he tied them by a rope, we say because they carry the rope between them. Rabbi Jonah said, Rav and Rabbi Joḥanan disagree, Rabbi Joḥanan said, because each animal compensates for the other’s laziness. Rav says, because they carry the rope between them. What is the difference? According to both Rav and Rabbi Joḥanan, if he bound them by their hair he is not punishable!
“And not a Libyan donkey.” Some Tannaïm state: “Not a nybrqvs.” The one who says libdĕqēs takes the name from Libyan and “Libyans and Nubians in His train.”Daniel 11:43 The one who says nybrqvs ʾbhṭs, What is ʾbḥṭs? A mounting donkey. Rabbi Jonah: Rav Hoshaia asked: Do converts from Libya have to wait three generations? Rabbi Jonah from Bostra said, from what we see that they call a green Egyptian bean Libyan but a dry one Egyptian, that means a convert from Libya has to wait three generations, it means that Libya is identical with Egypt.
Rabbi Isaac bar Naḥman in the name of Rabbi Hoshaiah: Practice follows the student. The words of the Sages are that all kinds of mules are the same.
These are its signs: Rabbi Jonah says, if it has small ears, its mother is a horse and its father a donkey; if it has large ears its mother is a donkey and its father a horse. Rabbi Mana ordered those of the patriarch’s estate: If you want to buy a mule, you should buy one with small ears whose mother is a horse and whose father is a donkey.
The white is from the male, from him are brain, bones, and sinews. The red is from the female, from her are skin, flesh, and blood. But breath, life force, and soul are from the Holy One, may He be praised; all three are partners in him.
Rabbi Abba, Rav Judah in the name of Rav: The Sages agree with Rabbi Judah in the case of a horse from a horse from a donkey with a donkey from a donkey from a horse. Rabbi Ḥaggai, Rabbi Zeïra in the name of Rabbi Issy: descendants of she-goats and ewes are forbidden with each other. If it were not so, why do we say “a goat from a goat from a ewe with a ewe from a ewe from a goat.”
Mishnah
4 Perotiot are forbidden and wild horses are permitted. A great ape is a wild animal; Rabbi Yose says they cause impurity in a tent like a human. The hedgehog and a squirrel mole are wild animals. About the squirrel mole, Rabbi Yose says that the House of Shammai say it defiles in the amount of the volume of an olive in carrying, but in the volume of a lentil by touch. The bison is a domesticated animal; Rabbi Yose says a wild animal. The dog is a wild animal; Rabbi Meïr says a domesticated animal. The pig is a domesticated animal, the wild donkey a wild animal. Elephant and monkey are wild animals. A human is permitted to plow and draw with all of them.
Halakhah
“Perotiot are forbidden and wild horses are permitted.” Rabbi Ammi in the name of Rabbi Eleazar: Ramak is without χαλινός “bit.” As one says: “the sons of wild horses.”Esther 8:10
“‘Field Stones’ is an animal.” Yassi from Arke: It is a mountain man and lives from its navel. If its umbilical cord is cut, it cannot live. Rabbi Ḥama bar Uqba in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Ḥanina: Rabbi Yose’s reason: “All that touches a person who has been killed on the surface of the field,”Numbers 19:16 when it grows on the field.
Yaror and ostrich are like birds in all respects. The snake is like a wild animal.
Rabbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: There are six unresolved doubts. The caper-bush among trees following the House of Shammai, clay vessels like potash vessels following the House of Shammai, the squirrel mole among the crawling things following the House of Shammai; the Egyptian bean among seed-vegetables, the person with both male and female sexual characteristics among humans, the koi among wild animals according to everybody. Rabbi Ḥama bar Uqba said, also the ṭrīqsīn cubit. What is the ṭrīqsīn cubit? Rabbi Jonah from Bostra said, confusion, “what is inside-outside?” Rabbi Yose said, since it is written “forty cubits was the House, that is the inner Temple,”1 Kings 6:17 it means it is counted inside. Rabbi Mana said to him, but it is written “He made the holiest of holies twenty cubits long and twenty wide,”2 Chronicles 3:8 that means it is counted outside.
“The bison is a domesticated animal.” The rabbis say it was from here and escaped there. Rabbi Yose says, its roots were from there. Hence an ox and a bison are not kilaim, not following Rabbi Yose, since Rabbi Yose says it is kilaim. But those who translate “wild oxen and antelopes” follow Rabbi Yose.
Rabbi Abba in the name of Rabbi Samuel: Goose and desert goose are kilaim with each other. About goose and sea goose, Rabbi Judah ben Pazi stated in the name of Bar Dalaiah and we do not know what he stated. It is an inference from the lesser case to the greater: If you say they are forbidden when both of them are on dry land, all the more if one is on dry land and one at sea.
“A person is permitted to plow and draw with all of them.” It is written: “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together.”Deuteronomy 22:10 You may not plow with an ox and a donkey but you may plow with an ox and a human, a donkey with a human.
Mishnah
1 Only wool and linen are forbidden as kilaim. Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease. Only wool and linen are worn by priests for their service in the temple. If one mixed camel wool and sheep wool, if most is camel wool it is permitted, if most is sheep wool it is forbidden, half and half is forbidden. The same applies if hemp and linen are mixed. Raw silk and kalak silk are not subject to kilaim but are forbidden because of the bad impression. Mattresses and pillows are not subject to kilaim but one’s skin should not touch them. There is no provisional kilaim. One may not wear kilaim over ten other garments, not even to evade customs duties.
Halakhah
“Only wool and linen are forbidden as kilaim.” It is written: “Do not wear šaʿaṭnez, wool and linen together.”Deuteronomy 22:11 I would say one is only forbidden to wear it; the verse says: “It must not come on you.”Leviticus 19:19 If it must not come on you I would say one may not carry a chest on his back; the verse says “do not wear.” Since a garment is specifically useful to the body, included are only things useful to the body. Why was it said that “it must not come on you?” Rabbi Niḥa bar Sava, Rabbi Joḥanan in the name of Rabbi Zeïra, if there was a large piece of cloth, in a part of which was kilaim and that part was lying on the ground, one cannot cover himself with the other part. I would say, it includes even sea flax, even hemp; the verse says “wool and linen”; just as wool cannot have an epithet so nothing else can have an epithet. From where that wool has no epithet? Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, it is written “Mesha, the king of Moab, was a nôqēd.”2 Kings 3:4 What is a nôqēd? A shepherd! “He delivered to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and 100,000 wool rams.” Only ram’s wool is called “wool.”
“Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease,” for it is written “on woolen cloth or on linen cloth.”Leviticus 13:47 I could think they can become impure whether dyed or natural; the verse says “woolen cloth or linen cloth.” Just as linen is in its natural state so wool must also be in its natural state. I might exclude what was dyed by humans but not what was dyed by nature; the verse says: “For the linen and for the wool,”Leviticus 13:48 just as linen is white so wool has to be white.
We have stated two rules and they do not resemble one another. We have stated: Only wool and linen are forbidden as kilaim, whether dyed or white. We have stated: Only wool and linen can become impure by mold disease, but only white. Rabbi Jonah from Bostra asked Rabbi Mana: There, you say “whether dyed or white,” but here you say “but only white”? He said to him, there is a difference because the verse repeated twice “wool, wool”; just as linen is in its natural state so also wool must be in its natural state.
Rabbi Zeïra said: It is written “He must wear a garment of holy bad,”Leviticus 16:4 growing singly. But wool also grows in single strands. It is explained in tradition: “There should be no wool on them when they officiate inside the inner doors.”Ezekiel 44:17 Therefore, on the outside wool may be on them. What is the source that they may wear kilaim? As it says: “The cap of byssus, the hat-turbans of byssus, the cloth trousers of spun byssus, and the belt of spun byssus, blue, purple, and crimson.”Exodus 39:28 And it is written: “Linen turbans must be on their heads, linen trousers must be on their hips, they must not belt with sweat.”Ezekiel 44:18 You infer “byssus” from “byssus,” “byssus” from “turbans,” “turbans” from “turbans.” Just as crimson is made from a living being, so the rest is made from a living being. Just as wool cannot have an epithet so linen cannot have an epithet.
Rabbi Jonah, Ulla bar Ishmael in the name of Rabbi Eleazar: Blended wool and flax are forbidden. What can one do? One adds more than a pound of camel’s hair and makes it insignificant. Abba bar Rav Huna in the name of Rabbi Jeremiah: Blended wool and flax are neutral. Rav said, they are forbidden in mixture. Do they disagree? Rav speaks about the case when he made the material itself into a garment, Rabbi Jeremiah speaks about the case where he wants to mix it with other things.
Rabbi Hillel ben Rabbi Vales had a garment worth 30,000 denar, he gave it to Rabbi who found kilaim in it and burned it. Rabbi Mana had a garment worth 30,000 denar. He gave it to Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ada and told him that he had bought it for the dead. He kept it until he was wrapped in it. Rabbi Ḥaggai said, Rabbi Samuel bar Isaac brought a garment from the cleaner; there were on it ten threads and he rubbed them off. Rabbi Ḥaggai said, Rabbi Samuel bar Isaac commanded his house not to put a bale of wool next to a bale of flax because of the fibers.
“Raw silk and silk noil.” Raw silk is μέταξα. Kalak silk is imperial ʾgbyn. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, I went around among all seafaring men and they told me that it was called kalka.
“But they are forbidden because of the bad impression.” Rav said that everything forbidden because of a bad impression is forbidden even in the most private room. A baraita contradicts Rav: “One should not make a visible fringe of linen dyed with soot, but for mattresses and pillows it is permitted.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “If one’s coins were strewn before an idol he should not bow down to collect them so that he does not appear to be bowing down before the idol. But if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “In a fortified place one should not put his face on gargoyles in the form of faces so that he does not appear to be kissing an idol. But if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted.” A Mishnah contradicts Rav: “One does not slaughter into a pit in the ground but he may dig a pit in his house so that the blood may be collected there. In public, he should not do it so as not to imitate the sectarians.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “Once he arrived at the outermost courtyard he may spread them out in the sun but not where it is generally visible.” A baraita contradicts Rav: “One does not pour water on the Sabbath into a sewage pipe covered the length of four cubits.” We have stated on this: If water was flowing in it it is permitted, in the winter it is permitted. If aqueduct pipes spout it is forbidden. Bar Qappara stated that if it occurred at a hidden place it is permitted. All these statements contradict Rav and he cannot explain them.
“It is permitted for mattresses and pillows.” That means if they are empty but if stuffed they are forbidden. When they are put on a stone bench, but on a bed they are forbidden even empty.
Someone was walking in public and discovered that he was wearing kilaim. Two Amoraïm, one said he is forbidden, the other one said he is permitted. The one who said he is forbidden, because it is a word of the Torah. The one who said he is permitted follows what Rabbi Zeïra said: The dignity of the public is important enough to temporarily override a prohibition.
It was stated: One does not investigate for a dead person nor in the house of study. Rabbi Yose was sitting and teaching where a dead body was present. He did not say anything either to those who left or to those who remained sitting. Rabbi Immi was sitting and teaching when one said to his neighbor: You are wearing kilaim. Rabbi Immi told him: Take off your garment and give it to him.
It was stated: There is no provisional kilaim in the Temple. But did we not state: A priest who stepped outside to talk with somebody, if it was for any length of time he needs immersion, if it was for a moment he needs to wash hands and feet? One for the golden garments, the other for the linen garments.
“Kilaim cloth must not come on you.”Leviticus 19:19 You are permitted to spread it out under you but the Sages said one should not do it in case a thread comes into contact with his skin.
Mishnah
2 Hand towels, scroll wraps, towels of the bath attendant are not subject to kilaim. Rabbi Eliezer forbids. Barber’s towels are forbidden for kilaim.
Halakhah
“Hand towels, etc.” There, we have stated: “There are three kinds of towels. Hand towels may become impure by load; scroll wraps may become impure by the dead; the wrappings of the Levites’ harps are always pure.” Rabbi La in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan, because one may put them on the pillow and sleep on them. Rav said, because he puts them under his upper arms.
Rav said they are forbidden and practice follows the one who forbids. Why does he not say one follows Rabbi Eliezer? There are Tannaïm who switch their statements.
Rabbi Joḥanan put a cloth on his garment. Is that not forbidden because of kilaim? He did it to keep his garments from wearing out. Rabbi Zeriqan said, they gave Rabbi Avina an egg on a towel containing kilaim, but he did not accept it because of “they should not intend to use them as protection from the sun in summer and from the rains in winter.”
“Scroll wraps.” Rabbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rabbi Jonathan: Because he makes them into a kind of container and puts his Torah scroll on them. Rabbi Abba Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Joseph in the name of Rav: Because he uses it to warm his hands. Rabbi Abun bar Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Abba: Without that would it not be forbidden because of kilaim? He said to him, is not Rav the author? And Rav said they are forbidden and practice follows the one who forbids. Rabbi Jonah said to Rabbi Abba, and why did you not say to him that he removes it full. If he had said to him, would it not be forbidden for benefit, what could you have said to him?
“Towels of the bath attendant,” sometimes seeing his teacher he wraps himself in them. Rabbi Abbahu in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan: women’s bath towels are not subject to kilaim. Women’s bath towels are the same as men’s bath towels. What are men’s bath towels? The rabbis of Caesarea say, אנטיטיה. Towels of the bath attendant, that means if he intends them as clothing, but if he does not intend them as clothing, this does not apply.
Mishnah
3 Shrouds of the dead and the packsaddle of the donkey do not fall under kilaim. One should never carry a packsaddle on his shoulder even to transport garbage. Sellers of clothing sell in the professional way, but they should not intend to use them as protection from the sun in summer or from the rain in winter. But the devout let them hang over their shoulder on a stick. Tailors sew in the professional way, but they should not intend to use them as protection from the sun in summer or from the rain in winter. But the devout sew on the ground.
Halakhah
“Shrouds of the dead, etc.” It is written: “Among the dead is freedom.”Psalms 88:6 When a person dies he becomes free from the commandments.
Rabbi commanded three things on his deathbed: My widow should not move from my house; do not eulogize me in small towns; and the one who served me during my lifetime should serve me in my death. “My widow should not move from my house,” is that not a Mishnah? “The widow who said, I cannot possibly move from my husband’s house ...” Rabbi Dositheos said, that they should not say, this is the house of the patriarchate and must serve the patriarchate. Rabbi Eleazar bar Yose said, as we have stated: “She lives in the houses just as she lived while her husband was overseas, she uses silver and golden vessels just as she used to while her husband was overseas, she is fed just as she was fed while her husband was overseas.” “Do not eulogize me in small towns” because of the quarrels. “The one who served me during my lifetime should serve me in my death.” Rabbi Ḥananiah from Sepphoris said, for example Yose Ephrati and Joseph from Haifa. Rabbi Ḥizqiah added, do not use many shrouds on me and let my coffin have holes at the bottom. These words say that Rabbi was buried in a single shroud since Rabbi said, A person will not return as he left. But the rabbis say, A person will return just as he left. It was stated in the name of Rabbi Nathan: The garment that went with a person to the grave will come back with him. What is the reason? “The seal turns itself around like clay, they appear in dress.”Job 38:14 Antoninus asked Rabbi, what is the meaning of “The seal turns itself around like clay?” He said to him, He Who brings the generation clothes it.
Rabbi Joḥanan commanded: Dress me in beige, not white and not black. If I rise among the righteous I will not be ashamed, if I rise among the wicked I will not be ashamed. Rabbi Joshia commanded: Dress me in clean white. They said to him, In what way are you better than your teacher? He said to them, why should I be ashamed of my deeds? Rabbi Jeremiah commanded: Dress me in clean white, dress me in my socks, put my shoes on my feet and a walking stick in my hand, lay me on my side, when the Messiah comes I will be ready.
The people from Sepphoris said: We will kill anybody who tells us that Rabbi died. Bar Qappara associated with them, his head covered and his garments torn. He said to them: Earthlings and angels held the Tablets of the Covenant; the angels were stronger and they took away the Tablets. They said to him: Rabbi died. He said to them: You said it. They tore their clothes and the sound of the tearing was heard at Goffta at a distance of three mil.
Rabbi Nahman in the name of Rabbi Mana: Miracles happened that day. It was Sabbath eve and all the surrounding towns came together to eulogize him. They laid Rabbi to rest in eighteen synagogues until they brought him to his resting place but the day extended for them until each one had time to get to his house, fill an amphora of water, and light the candles. When the sun set, the rooster crowed. They were anxious and said, maybe we did desecrate the Sabbath? There came a voice and said to them, everyone who was not lazy for the eulogies of Rabbi will be announced as destined for life in the world to come, except the fuller. When the latter heard this, he ascended the roof, threw himself down, and died. There came a voice and said, including the fuller.
Rabbi lived in Sepphoris seventeen years and applied to himself: “Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years,”Genesis 47:28 Judah lived in Sepphoris seventeen years. Of these he suffered from toothache for thirteen years. Rabbi Yose ben Rabbi Abun said, all these thirteen years no woman in childbirth died in the Land of Israel and no pregnant woman had a miscarriage in the Land of Israel. Why did he have a toothache? Once he saw a calf to be slaughtered when it bellowed and said to him, Rabbi, save me! He said to it, for that you were created. In the end, how was he healed? He saw them killing a burrow of rats. He said to them, let them live, it is written “His mercy extends to all His creatures.”Psalms 145:9
Rabbi was very humble and said, I am ready to do whatever anyone might ask of me, except what the elders of Bathyra did for my ancestor: they divested themselves of their presidency and appointed him. If Rav Huna, the Head of the Diaspora, came here I would give him a seat above mine since he is from the tribe of Judah and I am from Benjamin, he is from the male line and I am from the female. Once, the elder Rabbi Ḥiyya visited him and said, Rav Huna is outside. The face of Rabbi became saffron-colored. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him, his coffin arrived. Rabbi said to him, go outside and look who wants you there. He stepped outside and did not find anybody; he understood that Rabbi was angry with him. He did not visit him again for thirty days. Rabbi Yose bar Abun said, in those thirty days Rav learned from Rabbi Ḥiyya the principles of Torah. At the end of thirteen years and thirty days, Elijah visited Rabbi in the form of the older Rabbi Ḥiyya. He said to him, How are you feeling, sir? He said to him, one tooth hurts me. He said to him, show it to me. He showed it to him, he put his finger on it and it was healed. The next day, the older Rabbi Ḥiyya came to him and asked him, How are you feeling, Rabbi? How is that tooth? He said to him, from the moment that you put your finger on it, it was healed. At that moment, he said, How terrible for you, women in childbirth of the Land of Israel, How terrible for you, pregnant women of the Land of Israel! Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him, that was not me. From that moment on, Rabbi treated him with honor. When Rabbi went to the assembly hall, he said, may the older Rabbi Ḥiyya come inside. Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose asked, closer than me? He said, beware! The older Rabbi Ḥiyya inside, and Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose innermost. Rabbi used to state the praises of the older Rabbi Ḥiyya before Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose. Once, Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose saw Rabbi Ḥiyya in the bathhouse and he did not show him reverence. Rabbi Ishmael ben Rabbi Yose said to Rabbi, is that the one of whom you state praises? He said, what did he do to you? He said, I saw him in the bathhouse and he did not show me reverence. Rabbi said to Rabbi Ḥiyya, why did you do that? He said to him, May I suffer just as much if I was aware that I was washing myself, at that time my eyes were focused on the allegorical interpretation of the entire book of Psalms. From that moment on, Rabbi appointed two students to accompany Rabbi Ḥiyya to watch out for him.
Rabbi Assi fasted eighty days to see the old Rabbi Ḥiyya. In the end, he saw him, his hands trembled and his eyes were dimmed. If you say that Rabbi Assi was an insignificant person, one weaver came to Rabbi Joḥanan and said, I saw the sky falling but one of your students supported it. He asked him, could you recognize him? He said, If I saw him, I would recognize him. He made all his students pass before the weaver, and he recognized Rabbi Assi. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish fasted three hundred fasts to see the old Rabbi Ḥiyya but did not see him. In the end, he stopped feeling bad and said, maybe he did study Torah more than I did. They said to him, he spread Torah more than you did and also he went into exile. He said to them, did I not also go into exile? They said to him, you went into exile to study, he went into exile to teach.
When Rav Huna, the Head of the Diaspora, died they brought him here. They said, Where will we put him? They said, let us put him next to Rabbi Ḥiyya the elder for he is one of them. They said, who might want to bring him there? Rabbi Ḥaggai said, I will go up to put him there. They said to him, you are looking for a pretext, for you are an old man and you want to go to rest there yourself. He said to them, put some string on my feet and when I become weak, pull. He went in and found the three arguing. “Judah my son, after you, and no more. Ḥizqiah my son, after you, and no more. Joseph ben Israel, after you, and no more.” Rabbi Ḥaggai lifted his eyes to look, it was said to him turn around, turn around. He heard the voice of Rabbi Ḥiyya the elder who said to his son Rav Judah, make space for Rav Ḥuna so that he can rest there. But Rav Ḥuna did not accept this. They said, since he did not accept that one made space for him, so his descendants will never end. Rabbi Ḥaggai exited from there and his years were doubled.
It is written: “You must carry me from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”Genesis 47:30 What would Jacob lose at any place he would be? Rabbi Eleazar gave an inner reason, Rabbi Ḥanina gave an inner reason, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi gave an inner reason. What is the inner reason? Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said, “I will walk before the Eternal in the Land of Life.”Psalms 116:9 But the lands of life are only Tyre and its surroundings and Caesarea maritima and its surroundings; there is cheap food, there is plenty to eat. Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Bar Qappara, the Land whose dead will live again in the days of the Messiah. What is the reason? “He gives soul to the people on it.”Isaiah 42:9 That would mean that our teachers in the diaspora would lose out! Rabbi Simai said, the Holy One, praised be He, makes the earth erode before them and they roll like wine barrels. When they arrive at the Land of Israel their souls return to them. What is the reason? “I will deposit you on the territory of Israel,”Ezekiel 37:12 “give My spirit into you, and you will live.”Ezekiel 37:14
Rabbi Berekhiah asked Rabbi Ḥelbo. Rabbi Ḥelbo asked Rabbi Immi. Rabbi Immi asked Rabbi Eleazar. Rabbi Eleazar asked Rabbi Ḥanina, some say Rabbi Ḥanina asked Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: Even those like Jeroboam ben Nebat and his kind? He said to him, “Sulfur and salt, conflagration throughout the country.”Deuteronomy 29:22 Rabbi Berekhiah said, one asked the other and we understand nothing from it. What does it mean? Since the Land of Israel was burned, judgment was executed on it. We have stated in the name of Rabbi Judah: The land of Israel burned for seven years; that is what is written “The Covenant overtook the public for one week.”Daniel 9:27 What did the Samaritans in it do? Pieces, pieces and it was burned.
It is written: “But you, Pashḥur, and all inhabitants of your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon, die there, and be buried there.”Jeremiah 20:6-7 Rabbi Abba bar Zemina said, Rabbi Ḥelbo and Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina. One of them said, if somebody dies there and is buried there, he has two detriments in hand. If he dies there and is buried here, he has one detriment in hand. The other one said, burial here atones for death there.
Rabbi Jonah in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina: A human’s feet guarantee to put him where he is wanted. It is written “Who will seduce Ahab that he should go and fall in Ramoth Gilead?”1 Kings 22:20 Might he not die in his house rather than there? Elihoreph and Ahijah were two of Solomon’s secretaries. Solomon saw the Angel of Death looking at them and grinding his teeth. He said a word and put them into space. The Angel of Death went and took them from there, then he came laughing before Solomon. He said to him, just before you were grinding your teeth and now you are laughing at us? He said to him, the Merciful told me to take Elihoreph and Ahijah from space and I was wondering who would put them there where I was sent to take them; He put it into your mind to do so that I could complete my mission. I went and dealt with them there. The two sons of Rabbi Reuben ben Strobilos were students of Rabbi. Rabbi saw the Angel of Death looking at them and grinding his teeth and said, let us exile them to the South, maybe the exile atones. The angel of death went and took them from there.
Ulla was an emigrant. He was dying there and started to cry. They said to him, why are you crying? We will bring you to the Land of Israel. He said to them, how does this help me? I am losing my pearl in an impure land. One cannot compare someone who dies in his mother’s embrace to someone who dies in another woman’s embrace. Rabbi Meïr was dying in Assos. He said, tell the people of the Land of Israel, there is your Messiah. With all that, he said to put his bier on the sea-cape since it is written: “For He founded it on seas, based it on rivers.”Psalms 24:2
“Seven seas surround the Land of Israel: The ocean, lake Tiberias, lake Samkho, the salt sea, lake Ḥolata, lake Sheliat, lake Apamea.” But does there not also exist the lake of Ḥomṣ? Diocletian dammed up rivers and created it. It is written: “Looking down on the desert.”Numbers 21:20 Rabbi Ḥiyya from Biria said, if one ascends the desert mountain one finds the likeness of a sieve in lake Tiberias, that is the well of Miriam. Rabbi Joḥanan said, the rabbis estimated it and it is assessed opposite the middle gate of the old synagogue of Sarongin.
Rabbi Bar Qiria and Rabbi Eleazar were taking a walk on the road when they saw coffins being brought into the Land from abroad. Rabbi Bar Qiria said to Rabbi Eleazar: What good is that going to do them? I am reading for them “My inheritance you considered an abomination”Jeremiah 2:7 during your lifetime, “you came and made My Land impure” in your death. He said to him, when they arrive in the Land, one takes a lump of earth and puts it on the coffin, as it is written “His earth atones for His people.”Deuteronomy 32:43
Mishnah
4 Birsīm, Burdesīm, and Dalmatian garb as well as pinon shoes one should not wear unless one checks them. Rabbi Yose says, those coming from the seashore in maritime countries do not have to be checked because usually they are made from hemp. Padded shoes have no problem with kilaim.
Halakhah
Bursīn are birri. Burdesīn are delma. Dalmatian garb are short-sleeved tunics and overcoats. Pinon shoes are socks.
“Rabbi Yose says, those coming from the seashore in maritime countries.” Does this mean “from the seashore and from overseas countries” or “from the seashore of maritime countries”? Since it was stated: For example, Tyre and its surroundings, Caesarea maritima and its surroundings, it means “from the seashore of maritime countries.”
“They do not have to be checked.” That means in earlier times when flax was not found everywhere. But today, when flax is found everywhere, they need to be checked.
“Padded shoes.” There are places where they are padded from the outside. As Rabbi Zeïra said to Rabbi Abba bar Zemina to tell Bar Rishon not to sew his shoes with flax but with leather strips. Rabbi Zeïra agrees that if one bound a woolen belt over a linen garment that would be permitted, for if he makes himself thin, it will fall down.
They asked Rabbi Illaï: May one sew one’s shoes with flax? He said to them, because of Rabbi Zeïra, for Rabbi Zeïra said it is forbidden. Rabbi Illaï will agree that it is forbidden to wear woolen socks over linen socks since he cannot take off the inner ones unless he first takes off the outer ones. The father of Rav Safra asked Rabbi Zeïra: May one put coins in a woolen bag and tie it with a linen thread, or put coins on a linen cloth and tie it with a woolen thread? He said to him, does the rabbi not know Rav Huna? For Rav Huna said, it is forbidden. Rabbi Avina said, it is forbidden. Samuel said, it is permitted. Rabbi Jacob bar Ada in the name of Rabbi Yasa said, it is permitted.
Mishnah
5 Only spun and woven cloth is forbidden because of kilaim since it is said: “Do not wear šaʿaṭnez,”Deuteronomy 22:11 anything carded, spun, or woven. Rabbi Simeon ben Eleazar said, he has turned aside and turned his Father in Heaven against him. Felt is forbidden because it is carded. A woolen border on a linen garment is forbidden because it goes around like the woven part. Rabbi Yose says, woven ropes are forbidden because he stitches them before he ties them. One should not bind a strip of wool on one of linen to wrap around his hips even if a leather belt is in between.
Halakhah
It could have stated שעו and not טוי. If it had stated שעז but not טוי we would have said that spinning is permitted. But the Mishnah does not say so, but “only spun and woven cloth is forbidden because of kilaim.” It could have stated שעט and not נוז. If it had stated שעט but not נוז we would have said that weaving is permitted. But the Mishnah does not say so, but “a woolen border on a linen garment is forbidden because it goes around like the woven part.” It could have stated טנז and not שע. If it had stated טנז but not שע we would have said that carding is permitted. But the Mishnah does not say so, but “felt is forbidden because it is carded.”
Ropes of purple wool are forbidden. Some Tannaïm state, they are permitted. The one who says they are forbidden, for example those of embroiderers who tie them on. The one who says they are permitted, for if he makes himself thin, it will fall down.
Mishnah
6 Tags of weavers and washermen are forbidden because of kilaim. If one stitches one pin-stitch there is no connection, it does not fall under kilaim, and if he removes it on the Sabbath he is exempt from punishment. If the two ends appear on the same side it is a connection, it falls under kilaim, and if he removes it on the Sabbath he is guilty. Rabbi Judah says, only if there are three pin-stitches. A sack or a chest bring together for kilaim.
Halakhah
Rabbi Ḥanina said, not until it comes down an entire side. Rabbi Yannai said, they said to Rabbi Ḥanina, get out and read! Did we not state, “if the two ends appear on the same side?” That means, only if it goes down and up. And did we not state, “Rabbi Judah says, only if there are three needle-stitches.” That means the thread goes down, up, and down. But so and so.
A thread drawn through by means of a needle, even if it has a knot on each side, is no connection for cloth. The thread is a connection for cloth but not for the needle. Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Yose both say, only if it is knotted on both sides. The words of the rabbis disagree since Rabbi Abba, Rabbi Jeremiah said in the name of Rav: Anyone who straightens out the sides on the Sabbath is guilty because of sewing. He should have said “because of sewing and making knots.”
Rabbi Simon said, Rabbi Yose’s reason is that by the third his work becomes permanent. Does Rabbi Judah hold with Rabbi Eliezer? As we have stated there, “Rabbi Eliezer says that anyone who weaves three threads at the start or one thread on a piece of weaving already begun is guilty.” Rabbi Ulla said, Rabbi Eliezer’s reason is that by the third his work becomes permanent. But here, might less than that be undone?
Rabbi Simon in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: They stated only “sack.” Hence not a basket. It was found stated: The basket, the sack, and the chest bring together for kilaim. Tents have nothing to do with kilaim.
Rabbi Jeremiah asked, can he and his son combine for kilaim? How may this be? He wears woolen clothes but his son wears linen clothes. He takes a woolen belt and winds it around both of them. Rabbi Yose said, where is it bitten? Rabbi Ḥaggai asked, can he himself bring together for kilaim? How may this be? He wears a woolen sock on one foot and a linen one on the other foot. Rabbi Yose said, where is it bitten? No, it is needed if he had the ends of wounds, put a plaster of a woolen patch on one end and a linen patch on the other end. Rabbi Yose said, where is it bitten? Nothing is forbidden unless there is biting.
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