Pe'ah 043

נושא: Pe'ah

Pe'ah 043

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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If [a farmer] dedicates [the crop while it is still] unreaped and redeems [it while it is still] unreaped, it is liable. If [he dedicates the crop when it is] sheaved and redeems [it when it is] sheaved it is liable. If [he dedicates it while it is still] unreaped and redeems it when it is sheaved it is excused, because it was excused at the moment when it became liable.

1:
Our mishnah is thematically connected with the previous mishnah. Mishnah 6 was concerned with a crop to which the 'poor' laws might not apply because of the status of the crop's owner. Our present mishnah is concerned with the applicability or non-applicability of the 'poor' laws to a crop because of its own status.

2:
We have already had several occasions during our study of this tractate to mention the custom of dedicating things of worth to the Bet Mikdash. Good and honest people would dedicate some of their property to the Bet Mikdash in moments of great joy as a token of their gratitude to heaven; or it might be a moment of great sorrow that prompts such a dedication in the hope that a sincere act of piety might result in an alleviation of pain. We also noted in Peah 031 (in the discussion) that people may have dedicated some of their property to the Bet Mikdash for ulterior motives. Whatever the motives of the donor the status of the dedicated property – hekdesh – is the same. In Peah 012 I wrote:

Hekdesh refers to commodities that owners have donated to the Bet Mikdash. From the moment that the donor so decided in his or her mind, the commodities become the property of the Bet Mikdash and anyone eating or using them them is guilty of sacrilegious embezzlement [me'ilah].

3:
Just as hekdesh had become the property of the Bet Mikdash so it could be redeemed by payment of its value to the treasury of the Bet Mikdash. Furthermore, the redeemer of the hekdesh did not have to be the same person and the one who had originally dedicated it.

4:
In order to make the circumstances of our present mishnah plausible to modern understanding let us assume that in a moment of great joy a farmer dedicates to the Bet Mikdash some portion of the golden wheat that is still growing in his field. Meanwhile, some time before the crop is reaped, he sells his field to another farmer. This new owner would prefer to have the wheat for his own use so he redeems it from the Bet Mikdash by paying its market value (probably with some pious addition). The question that concerns the first clause of our mishnah is whether the crop in question is subject to the 'poor' laws: are the poor entitled to pe'ah from this crop? may they collect gleanings? and so forth. The answer given by our mishnah is that since the status of the crop at the moment of harvesting was that it did not belong to the Bet Mikdash all the laws of pe'ah and so forth apply.

5:
The second clause of our mishnah makes clear that the same logic applies if all this happened after the harvest, during the period when the crop was bundled and sheaved. Our farmer was so happy at the success of his harvest that he dedicates some of his sheaves to the Bet Mikdash. Subsequently, the imaginary farmer who buys this property from him redeems the sheaves from the Bet Mikdash. Our mishnah clarifies that all the laws of pe'ah (and the like) apply because at the moment of harvesting the crop was subject to these laws.

6:
It should now not be very difficult to understand the logic of the last clause of mishnah 7. If the halakhic status of the crop changed between the moment of dedication and the moment of redemption it is not subject to the laws of pe'ah etc. As yet unreaped wheat was dedicated to the Bet Mikdash: from this moment it is 'excused' from the 'poor' laws. After it is reaped and bundled into sheaves ready for stacking the crop is redeemed: the sheaves are still 'excused' from the 'poor' laws because, as our mishnah says, "it was excused at the moment when it became liable".

In Peah 038 we had occasion to mention (in the discussion) the applicability of the laws of terumah and ma'aser [tithes] in modern times. Judith May writes:

I am fascinated by the logistics of giving peah, as well as terumot and maaserot, today. Please tell us more about how it's done, both by the big companies and the home gardener. Who gets the produce, or money?

I respond:

Here is a translation of what I wrote in the siddur Va'ani Tefillati (page 549):

Food that has grown in the soil of Eretz-Israel, whether it is still in its natural state or has since been boiled, dried or baked, or has changed its state to liquid (wines and fruit juices) – it may not be consumed before certain 'taxes' have been removed from it. This is a Torah law [Leviticus 18:30, 32; Numbers 18:19-24; Deuteronomy 14:22-27] and is applicable regardless of whether the food is consumed in Eretz-Israel or in the diaspora…

All the great suppliers (such as Tenuvah) remove these 'taxes' before the goods reach the market: someone who buys from the usual stores and supermarkets need have no concern and may use the products with no further action needed. (Processed products usually have this mentioned on the label.)

When it is not known whether these 'taxes' have been removed or not they must be removed as described below, but no blessing is recited. If it is certain that the produce is 'untaxed' (produce which comes from a private garden, for example) one must do as described below.

A special coin (for example a 10 shekel coin) must be set aside, kept in a secure place and used only for this purpose. Every few months a rabbi should be asked how many times this coin can be used, because the number will vary as the money market changes. On the day before Passover in the fourth and seventh year of each sabbatical cycle these coins are tossed into the sea or otherwise destroyed.

From each kind of produce, separately, an amount slightly in excess of one percent must be removed. For example, one tenth of one orange must be removed from a pile of ten oranges. Then the blessing must be recited (if applicable) and the following said:

I hereby remove all the 'taxes' that apply to these products, according to the text that is printed in the siddur Va'ani Tefillati on page 550.

The pieces that have been removed must be wrapped up and discarded with the trash.

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