Sukkah

and [the purchaser] eats the fruit1 [as though it has] the sanctity of the Sabbatical Year. This2 however, applies only where one buys from what is hefker,3 but if one buys from protected produce4 it5 is forbidden [to buy] even for as little as half an issar. R. Shesheth objected, And [if a man buys] from what is hefker [may he pay, you say, for] three meals and no more? I will point out contradictions: Rue, asparagus, fenugreek,6 coriander of the mountains, water-parsley and meadow-eruca are always exempt from tithe and may be bought from anyone7 in the Sabbatical Year, since the like of these is not guarded.8 He9 raised the objection and he himself replied to it: They10 taught [that only as much as is] sufficient for one's food11 [may be bought]. And so said Rabbah b. bar Hana in the name of R. Johanan. They10 taught [that only as much as is] sufficient for food11 [may be bought]. (How do we know that ‘man’12 means food? — Since it is written, And the king appointed13 for them a daily portion of the king's food.)14 But if so,15 the lulab also16 [should not be bought]?17 — The lulab is a product of the sixth year which entered the seventh.18 But if so, is not the ethrog also a product of the sixth year which entered the seventh? — In the case of the ethrog we compute from the time of its gathering.19 But surely, both R. Gamaliel and R. Eliezer20 agree that as regards the Sabbatical Year we compute the year of the ethrog from its time of blossoming, as we have learnt, The ethrog is like a tree in three respects, and like a vegetable in one. It is like a tree in three respects, as regards the laws of ‘orlah,21 of the Fourth Year, and of the Seventh Year;22 and like a vegetable in one respect of the produce, in which case there is no need to suspect that the ‘am ha-arez intended to keep all the produce for himself. intends keeping all of it for himself. merely for three meals. prescribed maximum. Sabbatical Year even as late as the fourteenth day of Tishri (the eve of Tabernacles) must, since this month is the first of the year, inevitably have blossomed in the sixth year that preceded it.