Kiddushin

let it be taught in both cases either that he [the Jew] may enter and make a purchase, or that he [the Gentile] may enter and gather [them]?1 — Samuel did indeed say to R. ‘Anan, Read in both cases either that he [the Jew] may enter and make a purchase, or that he [the Gentile] may enter and gather [them]. Mar son of Rabbana recited it in the direction of leniency: In both cases he [the Gentile] may enter and gather them, provided that he [the Jew] does not personally gather. Levi said to Samuel: Arioch,2 Supply me with doubtful [‘orlah] and I will eat [thereof].3 R. Awia and Rabbah son of R. Hanan supplied each other with doubtful [‘orlah].4 The keen scholars of Pumbeditha5 said. There is no ‘orlah in the Diaspora. When Rab Judah sent [this ruling] to R. Johanan, he sent back: Conceal6 [the law of] doubtful [‘orlah],7 destroy certain [‘orlah], and proclaim that these fruits must be hidden,8 and whoever maintains that there is no ‘orlah in the Diaspora, he will have no offspring nor posterity ‘that shall cast the line by lot in the congregation of the Lord’.9 But with whom do they [the ‘keen scholars’] hold? — With what was taught: R. Eleazar son of R. Jose said on the authority of R. Jose b. Durmaskah, who stated it on the authority of R. Jose the Galilean, who said it on the authority of R. Johanan b. Nuri, who said it on the authority of R. Eleazar the Great: There is no ‘orlah in the Diaspora. Is there not? But we learnt: R. ELEAZAR SAID, HADASH TOO?10 — Read, HADASH.11 R. Assi said in R. Johanan's name: [The prohibition of] ‘orlah in the Diaspora is a halachah of Moses from Sinai.12 Said R. Zera to R. Assi: But we learnt: Doubtful ‘orlah is forbidden in the Land but permitted in Syria.13 He was momentarily non — plussed;14 [then] he answered him,15 Perhaps it [the Mosaic halachah] was thus given: Doubtful [‘orlah] is permitted [in the Diaspora], certain [‘orlah] is forbidden. R. Assi said in R. Johanan's name: One is flagellated for [violating the prohibition of] kil'ayim [in the Diaspora] by Biblical law. But we learnt,16 kil ‘ayim [is forbidden] by the words of the Soferim?17 — There is no difficulty: the one refers to kil'ayim of the vineyard, and the other to the grafting of [heterogeneous] tree[s].18 That agrees with Samuel. For Samuel said: My statutes ye shall keep:19 [that implies] the statutes which I decreed for you in former times.20 Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with two kinds of seeds.’21 just as [the prohibition of] ‘thy cattle’ [means] by copulation, so is [that of] ‘thy field’ by grafting;22 and just as [the law in regard to] ‘thy cattle’ is in force both within and without the Land, so is [that concerning] ‘thy field’ in force alike within and without the Land. But still, ‘thy field’ is written!23 — That is to exclude [diverse] seeds in the Diaspora.24 R. Hanan and R. ‘Anan were walking along a path, when they saw a man sowing [diverse] seeds together. Said one to the other, ‘Come, Master, let us ban him.’25 ‘You are not clear [on this law],’ he replied. Again they saw another man sowing wheat and barley among vines. Said one to the other, ‘Come, Master, let us ban him.’ ‘You are not thoroughly versed [in this law],’ he rejoined. ‘Do we not fully accept R. Josiah's dictum, that [he is not guilty] unless he sows wheat, barley, and grape-stone in the [same] hand-throw?’26 R. Joseph mixed seeds and sowed [them].27 Thereupon Abaye protested: But we learnt: Kil'ayim is forbidden [in the] Diaspora by the words of the Scribes! — There is no difficulty, answered he. That [the Mishnah quoted] refers to kil'ayim of the vineyard; this [my action] is with kil'ayim of seeds. Kil'ayim of the vineyard, of which in the Land [all] benefit is forbidden, are also Rabbinically prohibited outside the Land; kil'ayim of seeds, however, of which [even] in palestine benefit is not forbidden,28 are not prohibited by the Rabbis in the Diaspora. Subsequently R. Joseph said: My former statement was incorrect,29 for Rab sowed the scholars’ garden30 in separate beds.31 What is the reason? Surely in order [to avoid] the mixture of kil'ayim?32 Said Abaye to him: Now that were indeed well if we were informed applied to Samuel: he was king, but not in ritual law. When Rab and Samuel differ in respect to civil law, the halachah agrees with Samuel; in ritual law, with Rab. V. Shab. 53a Marginal glosses. [S. Funk, Die Juden in Babylonian, I. p. 42, n. 2. takes the term to denote ‘the Tall’, and as a variant of Arika, a cognomen by which Rab was known, on account of his extraordinary stature.] supply me (with certain ‘orlah), Levi holding that the prohibition of ‘orlah is inoperative in the Diaspora. law in question was actually handed down from Moses. Others understand it more figuratively in the sense of a traditional law, whilst its alleged Mosaic origin is not to be taken literally’. V. Weiss, Dor., I. [For a full discussion of this phrase as well as of all the passages where it occurs, v. Bacher, W., Kohler-Festschrift pp. 56ff.] general principle that when in doubt, we are stringent if the law is Biblical or Mosaic, lenient if it is only Rabbinical). Jose was a Tanna of an earlier generation, and so the Wilna Gaon deletes it. But Asheri reads: R. Eleazar said to R. Assi, which will refer to R. Eleazar b. Pedath, his contemporary. the vineyard diverse seeds are grown near each other, and though their roots may even intertwine, there is no actual grafting; that is forbidden by Rabbinic law only. does translate thus, disregards the order of the Hebrew) but gives precedence to ‘my statutes,’ implying that they were already long in existence. the verb ‘to sow’ is more applicable to the sowing of seeds, and with that ‘thy field’ is linked. Nevertheless the analogy, which intimates that grafting is referred to, which is possible only in the case of trees, also shews that grafting is forbidden in the Diaspora too. soil. produce.