Moed Katan

MISHNAH. AN IRRIGATED FIELD1 MAY BE WATERED DURING THE FESTIVAL2 [WEEK] OR IN THE SABBATICAL YEAR3 BOTH FROM A NEWLY-EMERGING SPRING AND FROM A SPRING THAT IS NOT JUST EMERGED, BUT NOT WITH WATER FROM STORED RAIN, NOR FROM A SWIPE-WELL;4 NOR MAY SMALL BASINS5 BE FORMED ABOUT THE VINES. R. ELEAZAR B. AZARIAH SAYS THAT A [WATER] CHANNEL MAY NOT BE NEWLY MADE DURING THE FESTIVAL [WEEK], NOR IN THE SABBATICAL YEAR; BUT THE SAGES SAY THAT A CHANNEL MAY BE NEWLY MADE IN THE SABBATICAL YEAR AND ONE THAT HAS GOT OUT OF ORDER MAY BE REPAIRED DURING THE FESTIVAL [WEEK]. AND IMPAIRED WATER WORKS6 IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN MAY BE REPAIRED OR CLEANED OUT; AND ROADS, BROADWAYS AND [RITUAL] POOLS7 MAY BE PUT IN ORDER. AND ALL PUBLIC NEEDS MAY BE PERFORMED,8 AND GRAVESIDES MAY BE MARKED,9 AND [PUBLIC COMMISSIONERS] MAY SET OUT ALSO10 TO INSPECT DIVERSE11 SEED-CROPS. GEMARA. Now, one might argue that after [having permitted] watering FROM A NEWLY EMERGING spring — which is apt to come along tearing up [the soil]12 — need further mention be made of [drawing from] A SPRING THAT IS NOT NEWLY EMERGING-which is unlikely to come tearing up [the soil]?13 — I may answer that it is necessary [to mention the latter]; for if [the Tanna] had mentioned only the newly emerging spring I might have said that only here [where it is] for an irrigation plot it is permitted — but not for a Baal-plot,14 because it is apt to come tearing up [the soil]; but [on the other hand], from a spring that is not newly emerging, which is unlikely to come tearing up [the soil], I might say that even a Baal-plot [may be watered]; therefore he informs us15 that there is no difference; be it a spring newly emerging, or a spring not newly emerging, an irrigation plot may be watered therefrom, but a Baal-plot may not be.16 And whence [know we] that the term BETH HA-SHELAHIN17 denotes a ‘thirsty’18 field? — It is written: When thou wast faint and weary,19 and we render the word ‘faint’ [in Aramaic] by meshalhi.20 And whence [know we] that Beth ha-Baal21 denotes ‘settled’ soil? — It is written: For as a man be the husband [yib'al] of a maiden, so shall thy sons be as husbands unto thee22 and we render [in Aramaic], ‘Behold as a young man settles down with a maiden, thy sons shall become settled23 in the midst of thee’. Who may be the [unnamed] Tanna24 who maintains that [work25 to prevent] loss is allowed,26 but [to augment] profit27 is not allowed; and that even in [averting] loss we should not do any laborious work?28 Said R. Huna: It is [the view of] R. Eliezer b. Jacob, as we learned:29 R. Eliezer b. Jacob says: Water may be trained along from tree to tree, provided that one does not water thus the entire field.30 I grant31 you may understand R. Eliezer [b. Jacob]32 to disallow exertion to enhance profit,33 but could you also understand him [from here] to disallow exertion [even] where loss is [involved]? Rather, said R. Papa, (whose view is it)?34 It is R. Judah's, as it is taught: ‘A spring newly emerging may be [used for] watering even (a field that is)35 a Baal-plot. So R. Meir; R. Judah36 says, None but (a field that is)35 a ‘languid plot’ that has dried up may be watered [therefrom]. R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah says, Neither one nor the other.37 R. Judah38 went even further and said, ‘A person may not clean out a water channel39 and [with the dredging] water his garden of debris — [heap]40 during the festival week’. [Now] what is [meant by a ‘languid plot’] that dried up?41 If you say, literally dried up’ what is the good of watering it? — Said Abaye, It means that this [old] spring has run dry42 and another has [just] emerged [instead].43 ‘R. Eleazar b. Azariah says, Neither one nor the other’. [By this he means to say that] it makes no difference whether the [old] spring has run dry or has not run dry, a newly emerging spring is not to be used. But how [do you arrive at this conclusion]? Perhaps when R.Judah said that a languid plot may be watered from a newly emerging spring and a Baal-plot may not be, the soil requires to be watered artificially. It is often a laborious process and at times of vital importance to the crop. of Tabernacles, v. Introduction. for the land, when the regular processes of agriculture for its improvement were to be suspended. V. Ex. XXIII, 10-11; Lev. XXV, 2ff and infra 3a. shadoof in Egypt and the denkli or paecottah in India. The reason for the objections is stated in the Gemara. water. V. infra 4b. cloaculae, Baneth). 24-40; XXII, 1-7. be sown nor preserved by active process. Infra 2b, 6a and cf. Kil. I, 1, 9; Shek. I, 1, a. Lord of the heavens’, Baal-Shamen, with fertilizing rain and sunshine. V. Cooke's N.S.I. p. 45, n. 1 etc. and Robertson Smith's Religion of the Semites (ed. 1894) pp. 96-97. Cf. Isa. LV, 10 and Ta'an. 6b: ‘Rain is earth's husband’; also Krauss, TA II, p. 546, n. 115. (the gutturals v and j interchanging), ‘weary’, ‘exhausted’. V. n. 2. exhaustion and thirst. Cf. Isa. XXIX, 8 and Ps. LXIII, 2. 271 it is more correctly connected with the root in the sense of sending water across the fields in channels. Cf. Ezek. XXXI, 4;. Ps CIV, 10; Job V, 10. It is surmised that the name of the Pool of Siloam (jak) is derived from the same root. V. Krauss, TA. II, p. 547, n. 117. its fertility. been adopted in the Mishnah. Obviously, the Babylonian teachers engaged in this critical discussion did not have that reading. nor in a ‘languid field’ even where it has replaced a dried-up old spring (against R. Judah's view). discussed infra 4b. the old spring having dried up, whereas R. Judah permits watering from the new spring that has emerged but not from rain-water or a swipe-well, which is in agreement with our Mishnah].