פסחים 52 — Soncino English Talmud

¹in inhabited places I do not work, because it is a change [which would lead to] strife. [But] how is it in the wilderness? — Said he to him, Thus did R. Ammi say: In inhabited regions it is forbidden; in the desert it is permitted. R. Nathan b. Asia went from Rab's academy [in Sura] to Pumbeditha on the second Festival day of Pentecost, [whereupon] R. Joseph put him under the ban. Said Abaye to him, Yet let the master punish him with lashes? — Said he to him, I have treated him more severely, for in the West [sc. Palestine] they take a vote for punishing a disciple with lashes, yet they do not take a vote on the ban. Others say, R. Joseph had him lashed. Said Abaye to him, Yet let the Master ban him, for Rab and Samuel both said: We impose the ban for [the violation of] the two Festival days of the Diaspora? — Said he to him, That refers only to an ordinary person, but here it is a scholar, so I did what was better for him, for in the West they take a vote for punishing a disciple with lashes, yet they do not take a vote on the ban. SIMILARLY, HE WHO TRANSPORTS SABBATICAL-YEAR PRODUCE etc. Does then R. Judah not accept what we learned, WE LAY ON HIM THE RESTRICTIONS OF THE PLACE WHENCE HE DEPARTED AND THE RESTRICTIONS OF THE PLACE WHITHER HE HAS GONE? — Said R. Shisha the son of R. Idi, R.Judah says a different thing, and this is its meaning: or from a place where it has not ceased to a place where it has not ceased, and then he heard that it had ceased in his town, he is bound to remove it. R. Judah said: [He can say,] ‘Do you too go out and procure [produce] for yourself from the place whence I have obtained it’, since it has not ceased for them. Shall we say that R. Judah [thus] rules leniently? But surely R. Eleazar said, R. Judah did not rule otherwise than stringently? Rather, reverse it: He is not bound to remove it. R. Judah said: [His townspeople can say to him], ‘Do you too go out [now] and obtain [produce] from the place whence you brought it [the produce you possess], and lo! it has ceased’. Abaye said: In truth it is as taught, and this is what he states: Or from a place where it has not ceased to a place where it has ceased, and [then] he brought it back to its place, and it has still not ceased [there], he is not bound to remove it. R. Judah said: [They can say to him,] ‘Go out and do you too bring [produce] from the place whence you have [now] brought it, and lo! it has ceased [there]’. To this R. Ashi demurred: According to R. Judah, has he then caught them [these restrictions] up on the back of an ass! Rather, said R. Ashi, [This enters] in the controversy of the following Tannaim. For we learned: If a man preserves three [kinds of] preserves In one barrel, — R. Eliezer said: One may eat [in reliance] upon the first [only]; R. Joshua said: Even [in reliance] upon the last; R. Gamaliel said: Whatever kind has ceased from the field, he must remove that kind from the barrel, and the halachah is as his ruling. Rabina said, [It enters] into the controversy of the following Tannaim. For we learned: One may eat dates until the last in Zoar is finished; R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said:^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ

^ᵃnote:On the second day of Festivals. [I.e., when I happen to be in Babylon, v. infra p. 52a.]
^ᵇnote:[Var. lec. ‘Biram’ on the West bank of the Euphrates. v. Asheri and MS.M. In Biram, which was the home of R. Nathan b. Asia, only a one day Festival was observed, v. R.H., Sonc. ed. p. 100, n. 2 and Obermeyer, p. 99].
^ᶜnote:As the ban would damage his prestige more than corporal punishment. This proves that the ban is a severer punishment.
^ᵈnote:[Var. lec. omit ‘R. Judah’ the reference being to the first Tanna, v. Rashi.]
^ᵉnote:To the people of the place whence he came.
^ᶠnote:Thus, he does not regard the practice of his own town, since they too can do as he.
^ᵍnote:In this connection.
^ʰnote:I.e., insert the addition in the Mishnah thus: Or if he goes from a place where it has not ceased to a place where it has not ceased, and he then learns that it has ceased in his own town, he is not bound to remove it, as one cannot speak of the restrictions of the place whence he came, for when he left it there were as yet no restrictions.
^ⁱnote:I.e., the fact remains that by now it has ceased in your own town, and the resultant law applies to yourself too just as to us.
^ʲnote:It refers to two dissimilar places, not to two similar places.
^ᵏnote:So that he brings them back with him! The produce has neither grown in that second town nor does he consume it there: how then can he be subject to the restrictions of that place?
^ˡnote:I.e., three different vegetables. These may ‘cease from the field’ at different times — the reference is to the Sabbatical year.
^ᵐnote:As soon as the first kind ‘ceases from the field’, he must declare the whole free to all, because their being preserved together makes them as one.
^ⁿnote:He may go on eating of all three until the last kind has ceased from the field.
^ᵒnote:Now in the Mishnah there is the same controversy. The first Tanna agrees with R. Joshua's lenient view, and this is what he means: If a man carries various kinds of produce from a place where they have not ceased to a place where all of them have ceased, he is bound to remove them. But if only some kinds have ceased, he may eat even of the kind which has ceased. R. Judah rules, One can say to him, ‘Go out and do you too bring of that kind from the field’, i.e., you will not find of that kind, and therefore you must remove it in accordance with R. Gamaliel.
^ᵖnote:[The teaching that follows is not a Mishnah but a Baraitha, Tosef. Sheb. VII. Read accordingly with MS. M.: ‘It has been taught’.]
^ᵠnote:Dates may be eaten in the whole of Judea until the last palm tree is finished in Zoar, a town near the Dead Sea (Gen. XIII, 10) particularly well-stocked with palm trees (v. Deut. XXXIV, 3, though ‘the city of palm trees’ mentioned there refers to Jericho, not Zoar).

²One may eat [in reliance] on those that are among the upper [overarching] boughs but one may not eat [in reliance] on those that are among the single prickly branches. We learned elsewhere: There are three [separate] districts in respect of removal: Judea, Transjordania and Galilee; and there are three districts in each of them separately. Then why did they say, There are [only] three districts in respect of removal? Because in each one they may eat until it [the produce] has ceased in the last [region] thereof. Whence do we know it? — Said R. Hama b. ‘Ukba in the name of R. Jose b. Hanina, Scripture saith, [And the sabbath-produce of the land shall be food for you...]and for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land: as long as the [wild] beasts can eat in the field, feed the cattle in the house; when there is no more for the beasts in the field, make an end of it for the cattle in the house; and we have it on tradition that the beasts in Judea do not live on the produce of Galilee, and the beasts in Galilee do not live on the produce of Judea. Our Rabbis taught: Produce which went from the Land abroad must be removed wherever it is. R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: They must go back to their [original] place and be removed, because it is said, ‘in thy land’. But you have utilized this? — Read therein, ‘in the land’, ‘in thy land’. Alternatively, [it is deduced] from, ‘that are [asher] in thy land’. R. Safra went from the Land abroad, [and] he had with him a barrel of wine of the Sabbath year. Now, R. Huna the son of R. Ika and R. Kahana accompanied him. He asked them, Is there any one who has heard from R. Abbahu [whether] the halachah is as R. Simeon b. Eleazar or not? — Said R. Kahana to him: Thus did R. Abbahu say: The halachah is as R. Simeon b. Eleazar. R. Huna the son of R. Ika [however] said to him, Thus did R. Abbahu say: The halachah is not as R. Simeon b. Eleazar. Said R. Safra, Accept this ruling of R. Huna, because he is meticulously careful to learn the laws from his teacher, like Rehabah of Pumbeditha. For Rehabah said in Rab Judah's name: The Temple Mount consisted of a double colonnade, [i.e.,] a colonnade within a colonnade. [Thereupon] R. Joseph applied to him [R. Safra] the verse, My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff [makkelo] declareth unto them: whoever is lenient [mekal] to him, to him he concedes [right]. R. Elai cut down date-berries of the Sabbatical year. How might he do thus: the Merciful One said, [It . . . shall be] for food, but not for destruction? And should you answer that is only where it has reached [the stage of] fruit, but not where it has not reached [the stage of] fruit, — surely R. Nahman said in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name: The calyxes of ‘orlah are forbidden, because they became a guard for the fruits. Now, when is it a guard for the fruits? When they are unripe berries, yet he calls them fruits! — R. Nahman ruled as R. Jose. For we learned, R. Jose said: The [berries of ‘orlah] in the budding stage [semadar] are forbidden, because they count as fruit; whereas the Rabbis disagree with him. To this R. Shimi of Nehardea demurred; yet do the Rabbis disagree with R. Jose in respect to other trees, — surely we learned, From when may you not cut down trees in the Sabbatical year? Beth Shammai maintain: All trees [may not be cut down] from when they bring forth; but Beth Hillel rule: The carob trees from when they form chains [of carobs]; the vine trees,^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ^ᵃʳ^ᵃˢ^ᵃᵗ

^ʳnote:The lower portion of the palm tree near the roots is surrounded with single prickly, thorn-like branches. Now, when a wind blows, the falling dates are retained both among the ordinary (upper) branches as well as the prickly ones. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel rules that you may eat only as long as there are dates among the higher branches, which are accessible; but those (in the prickly branches must be disregarded, since animals cannot take them because of the prickles. In our Mishnah the first Tanna means: When they have completely ceased, even from the prickly branches, he must remove them. Whereas R. Judah maintains that unless one can go and bring them, i.e., unless they are accessible, he must remove them, which means even if there are still dates on these thorn branches.
^ˢnote:Lit., ‘countries’.
^ᵗnote:In each the time of removal is when the produce has ‘ceased from the field’ in that particular district.
^ᵘnote:The produce ceasing in each at a different time.
^ᵛnote:Instead of nine.
^ʷnote:Rash: until it has ceased in the last subdivision. Tosaf. explains it differently v. Shebi. IX, 2-3.
^ˣnote:Lev. XXV, 6f.
^ʸnote:I.e., domestic animals.
^ᶻnote:I.e., you must no longer keep the produce in the house for your private needs.
^ᵃᵃnote:I.e., they do not stray so far in search of food (Rashi).
^ᵃᵇnote:I.e., Palestine, ‘the Land’ par excellence.
^ᵃᶜnote:Lit., ‘to without the Land.’
^ᵃᵈnote:The law of sabbatical produce, being dependent on the soil, is binding in Palestine only, v. Kid. 36b; yet it is also binding upon Palestine produce, even when transplanted elsewhere. Nevertheless, he is not bound to take it back to Palestine for removal, but can do it wherever he is.
^ᵃᵉnote:To show that one district cannot rely on another.
^ᵃᶠnote:I.e., Scripture could have written ‘in the land’, which would suffice for the present exegesis. In thy land intimates both.
^ᵃᵍnote:Asher is superfluous; hence it can be used for this purpose.
^ᵃʰnote:Who was his teacher.
^ᵃⁱnote:Lit., ‘hold . . . in your hand’.
^ᵃʲnote:V. supra 13b and Bezah, Sonc. ed. p. 54, n. 9. The point of the quotation is not clear. In Ber. 33b Rashi explains that Rehabah was careful to use the word setaw, the exact word used by his teacher, though the passage is based on a Mishnah (v. Supra 11b), where the word iztaba is used.
^ᵃᵏnote:Hos. IV, 12.
^ᵃˡnote:A humorous play on words, connecting makkel, a staff, with mekal, he is lenient.
^ᵃᵐnote:I.e., before they ripened and were fit for food (R. Hananel); Rashi: he cut down the palm tree before the dates had ripened.
^ᵃⁿnote:Lev. XXV, 6.
^ᵃᵒnote:Lit., ‘descended to’.
^ᵃᵖnote:I.e., when it is ripe.
^ᵃᵠnote:Which surround the date in its early stage.
^ᵃʳnote:Apart from the vine, to which the above refers.
^ᵃˢnote:As stated above, they must be used for food, not for destruction. Now the question is: at what stage are their fruits regarded as food, so that the tree must not be cut down, but left until its fruit ripens.
^ᵃᵗnote:Rashi explains here: the first leaves (preceding the fruits); but in Ber. 36b Rashi explains: when they bring forth the fruit; Strashun accepts the latter view.