1:
In real life nothing is ever as simple and straightforward as a simple rule-book would have it. After having outlined in chapters 1 and 2 what seemed to be all possibilities concerning the nature and definition of a 'field' from which
Pe'ah must be given, chapter 3 finds even more possibilities which must be clarified.
2:
In most cases the agricultural plot that a family possessed was not very large – though, of course, this was not the case with 'the landed gentry'. In mishnaic times the towns and villages were settlements that were usually enclosed by a protecting wall; outside the wall was a free area in which nothing could be built or planted [Tractate Bava Batra, chapter two]. The Gemara there [Bava Batra 24b] says that this was for aesthetic reasons, though in all probability there were also security considerations involved. This free area was surrounded by allotments, so that every inhabitant who wanted to could have a plot of land on which to grow produce – vegetable gardens, orchards and vineyards, olive groves, cereal crops and so forth. These plots were a part of the family's freehold inheritance and were passed down from generation to generation. Thus the inhabitants could use the produce that they grew for their own sustenance, for selling at a profit, or both. (Certain kinds of livestock were permitted within the towns and villages and other kinds were not permitted even in the allotments – for ecological and social reasons.)
3:
In the allotments just outside the towns, as we have mentioned, the amount of space was not very large, so most of the inhabitants would use their plot of land for more than one purpose. We have already seen that olive trees, which were very lucrative financially, took up a lot of space, so under these circumstances it is almost inevitable that someone who had olive trees in his allotment would also want to grow something else (probably wheat, barley or rye) on the site as well. It is to such a phenomenon that our present mishnah refers: someone who has beds of cereal crops growing between the trees. This, of course, raises the question as to the nature of these beds: is each one to be considered a field in itself, which means that Pe'ah must be given separately from each one, or can the whole allotment be considered one field as far as the cereal crops are concerned?
4:
Two views are given as a response to this question, that of Bet Shammai (the 'school' of Shammai) and that of Bet Hillel (the 'school' of Hillel). I have used the term "school" for the Hebrew "Bet Shammai" and "Bet Hillel" in the sense of a school of thought rather than an educational establishment. While it is more than probable that during the lifetime of these two sages they did have students studying in their own Bet Midrash, afterwards, these two streams became part of the very fabric of Tannaitic society. The fact that the presidency of the Sanhedrin was made hereditary in the House of Hillel (i.e. his descendants) is sufficient to indicate that the school of Hillel was much more widespread than the school of Shammai during the whole of the first century CE. When votes were taken in the Sanhedrin to determine halakhah, the school of Hillel was almost invariably in the majority. (One terrible exception was the bloody day some time during the 50's of the first century CE when an artificial Shammuti majority was obtained at sword point in order to pass 18 pieces of anti-Roman legislation. In the 60's the Shammutis were on the side of the nationalists whereas the Hillelites supported the peace-camp.) Rabbi Eli'ezer Finkelstein z"l may be right in assuming that social and economic factors also distinguish the views of these two schools of halakhic thought, and the school of Shammai was more 'bourgeois' as it were while the school of Hillel was more 'proletarian".
To be continued.
Lawrence Charap substantially supported by Gabrielle Harris) writes:
In going over earlier material a question occurred to me that I would like to ask. How is it determined that someone is entitled to collect Pe'ah? In addition to classes of individuals who have no ordinary means of support (certain widows, for example), is there a "minimum wage" beneath which one is entitled to collect Pe'ah? My apologies if this has already been answered, or if it will be addressed in an upcoming lesson.
I respond:
No need for apologies! This most pertinent issue is discussed in our tractate, but I am afraid that we shall have to wait until the very last chapter, because the issue is pertinent not only to Pe'ah but also to other matnot aniyyim [poor dues] which are dealt with later in the tractate.
