Pe'ah 050

2:
Nevertheless, the reisha of our mishnah does seem to belong here because the three mishnayot whose sequence began with 4:11 and of which this is the last do have a common theme. They are about resolving a clash between the rights of the owner of the field and the rights of the indigent when a situation arises when these two rights seem to be in conflict.

3:
In order to understand the reisha of our mishnah let us imagine a situation in which the farmer has harvested a section of his field. His workers have stacked the harvested stalks ready for binding into sheaves. This stacking involves the physical removal of stalks of grain from the area where they were reaped to another area of the field. Now that the area has been cleared it becomes apparent that there are some stalks which somehow escaped the workers' scythe and are still standing. All things being equal we would say that the workers may not retrieve these stalks because they come under the category of 'forgotten' produce, which rightly belongs to the poor. However, in our present case not all things are equal: some part of such a stalk is in physical contact with still standing grain that is yet to be reaped. The farmer will claim that such stalks are adjacent to unreaped grass and when his workers reap this next section of the field they will be able to reap this grain together with it because it is physically adjacent: for instance, the ear of a 'forgotten' stalk is drooping onto the ear of an as yet unreaped stalk. The indigent will wish to claim their rights: if the grain was left over after the harvesters cleared the section it is ours!

4:
The resolution of this conflict of interests is clear: if it is possible to reap the disputed stalk together with other stalks which have yet to be reaped the owner is entitled to do so. (Imagine a reaper coming along to harvest the new section: he can gather into his left arm a bundle of grass which includes that left over from the harvesting of the previous section; and the scythe which is in his right hand can cut all the stalks together. The reisha of our mishnah rules that such stalks of grain belong to the owner of the field.) However, if it is not possible to reap these stalks together with the new section of the field they belong to the poor.

To be continued.

Ed Spitz, who in his professional life is an allergist, writes:

What is the Hebrew for "nettle"? In English nettle is a plant and the leaves contain a substance like histamine which stings when you rub against it. If you cut a nettle and hold it with your hand you will get a rash that burns and looks like hives, almost instantly and certainly may cause you to drop other things you are holding.

I respond:

In my ignorance it seems that I have misled you. I thought that terms such as 'thorn' and 'nettle' were synonymous. Mishnah 4:10 definitely speaks of a thorn [kotz] and not of a sirpad, which my dictionary tells me is the term which indicates a nettle. My apologies. The mishnah definitely intended to indicate that the hapless reaper was pricked by a thorn and not that he was stung by a nettle.