Pe'ah 079

נושא: Pe'ah

Pe'ah 079

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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[Directly] from the threshing-floor we do not give the indigent less than one half of one kav of wheat and one kav of barley (Rabbi Me'ir says: one half of one kav); one kav and one half of spelt and one kav of dried figs (or one maneh [if as] a fig ring (Rabbi Akiva says: half of one maneh); one half of a log of wine (Rabbi Akiva says: one quarter); one quarter of oil (Rabbi Akiva says: one eighth). Other fruits: Abba Sha'ul says, enough to sell and buy [with the proceeds] food for two meals.

This measure applies to priests, Levites and Israelites [alike]. If he was 'rescuing' he should retain half and give half. If he only had a little [to give] he should set before them [what he has] and they divide it between them.

1:
One of the elements that make up the 'poor dues' is the Indigent's Tithe, and it is this that is the subject of the two mishnayot that are the subject of this shiur. In addition to what belonged to the poor by right from each harvest (Pe'ah, Leket, Shikheĥah, Peret and so forth) there was also a tithe that had to be given to the poor from the harvest in two years of each seven-year cycle, or Shemittah. This tithe is referred to as the Indigent's Tithe.

2:
To very briefly recapitulate what we have explained on several occasions concerning these varies tithes and dues: from what the farmer harvested from his fields, gardens and orchards (excluding what he had to leave unharvested for the poor as Pe'ah etc) he had to give certain 'taxes'. First of all he had to give from each kind of produce in his barns what is called Terumah. This was given to the priest of the farmer's choice. Even though the amount given was dependent on the farmer's generosity, the sages expected the farmer to give between one and two thirds percent and two and one half percent of his crop as Terumah. From what was left after Terumah had been removed from the crop the farmer had to remove ten percent as ma'aser rishon ['first tithe'] and give it to the Levite of his choice. (From his tithe the Levite was required to deduct one tenth and give it to the priest of his choice.)

3:
After this, the farmer was required to deduct a further ten percent from each kind of produce that was left. This 'second tithe' was to be taken and enjoyed in Jerusalem. However, almost everybody would avail themselves of the loophole offered by the Torah and exchange the produce for its value in money and spend the money on a feast in Jerusalem; thus the effect of this loophole was to bolster the economy of the holy city. Regarding this ma'aser sheni the Torah [Deuteronomy 14:22-26] legislates as follows:

You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all the yield of your sowing that is brought from the field. You shall consume the tithes of your new grain and wine and oil … in God's presence, in the place where He will choose to establish His name… Should the distance be too great for you, should you be unable to transport them, because the place where God has chosen to establish His name is far from you … you may convert them into money. Wrap up the money and take it with you to the place that God has chosen, and spend the money on anything you want – cattle, sheep, wine, or other intoxicant, or anything you may desire. And you shall feast there, in God's presence, and rejoice with your household.

4:
However, sometimes this 'second tithe' was to be replaced by the Indigent's Tithe. The Torah says [Deuteronomy 14:28-29] –

Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield of that year, but leave it within your settlements. Then the Levite, who has no hereditary portion as you have, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your settlements shall come and eat their fill, so that your God may bless you in all the enterprises you undertake.

"The stranger, the fatherless and the widow" are the held to be examples of the poor, the indigent, and anyone who is destitute is, in fact, entitled to receive this tithe from the farmers during the harvests of the relevant years – the 3rd and 6th of each Shemittah cycle.

5:
Whereas all the other 'poor dues' ideally and usually were harvested by the poor themselves from the fields, vegetable plots and orchards, the Indigent's Tithe was distributed to them by the farmer himself. Mishnah 5 seeks to define minimum amounts that the farmer must give to each impoverished applicant who visits his threshing-floor, barn or silo.

6:
On several occasions in the past I have tried to offer modern equivalents for the amounts used by the sages in their time. Very briefly: the basic unit of cubic measurement in rabbinic times was 'an egg's bulk' [betzah]. It is nowadays customary to compute this as the equivalent of about 80 cubic centimetres. Six eggs' bulk made up one log, which was therefore somewhat less that half a litre. Since there were four logs in one kav it follows that a kav would yield a little less than 2 litres.

7:
The maneh, on the other hand, was a unit of weight, approximately 400 grams in modern equivalents.

To be continued.

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