(Introduction)
Seder Behar Sinai

(1) AND THE ETERNAL SPOKE UNTO MOSES IN MOUNT SINAI. "What has the subject of the Sabbatical year [stated here in this section] to do with that of Mount Sinai? Were not all the commandments declared on Sinai? [It is to teach us that] just as [this law of] the Sabbatical year was ordained on Sinai with its general rules, its specific prescripts and its minute details, so also were all [the commandments] ordained on Sinai with their general rules, and their specific prescripts and their minute details. Thus it is taught [here] in the Torath Kohanin. It appears to me that the following is the interpretation thereof: Since we do not find the law of the resting of the soil [in the Sabbatical year] repeated in the plains of Moab [when Moses restated the law, as contained in the Book of Deuteronomy], we must deduce that all the general rules and specific prescripts [of the Sabbatical year, including those of the resting of the soil] were declared on Sinai. [Why then was it necessary for Scripture to state here in Mount Sinai, since it is self-understood that this entire law was promulgated on Sinai, since the law of the resting of the soil is not mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy? We must say that the reason] Scripture mentioned [the phrase in Mount Sinai] here is in order to teach that every communication [i.e., commandment] that was spoken to Moses on Sinai, was given at Sinai together with its general rules and minute details, and they were [merely] repeated and taught again in the plains of Moab.⁠" Thus far is the language of Rashi.
But this does not appear to me to be correct at all. For there are many commandments like the Sabbatical year which were not repeated in the plains of Moab, and [all] we know about their general rules and specific prescripts is that they were promulgated either on Sinai or in the Tent of Meeting [but not specifically on Sinai, as Rashi said]!⁠ Moreover, how do we know that the other commandments which were repeated in the plains of Moab are to be likened to the Sabbatical year [which was not repeated? Perhaps this analogy applies only to those commandments which were not repeated in the plains of Moab, like the Sabbatical year; but how do we know that the analogy applies also to those that were repeated by Moses in the plains of Moab, as contained in the Book of Deuteronomy? And how do we know that in the case of those commandments that were repeated by Moses], that only the general rules were declared on Sinai but the specific prescripts were given in the plains of Moab! And indeed it would be more logical to say so, that those commandments which were repeated by Moses, were restated for the sake of explaining their specific prescripts, since on Sinai only their general rules had been declared!
But the interpretation of the above Beraitha is clear: The general rules of the Sabbatical year were declared on Sinai, as it is written in the section of 'V'eileh Hamishpatim' (And these are the ordinances):⁠ And on the seventh year thou shalt let it [i.e., the Land] rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat etc.⁠ These are the laws of the Sabbatical year in a general way. Here He went back [to this subject] and said that in Mount Sinai all its specific prescripts were also given, since all of them are mentioned in this section. And at the end of this subject it is written, These are the commandments, which the Eternal commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai,⁠ in order to liken all the commandments to the Sabbatical year [previously] mentioned, [teaching] that all of them, likewise, were stated in general terms and with their particular details — that is, all were declared on Sinai. And thus it is taught there in the Torath Kohanim:⁠ "These are the commandments.⁠ Henceforth no prophet may promulgate any new thing.⁠ Which the Eternal commanded Moses.⁠ The messenger was [found] deserving before Him Who sent him [since he was the most perfect of all human beings].⁠ Moses for the children of Israel. It was the merit of Israel that caused [the Divine Glory to rest upon Moses].⁠ In Mount Sinai,⁠ [this teaches] that all commandments originated at Sinai.⁠" Thus far is the text in the Torath Kohanim. But the reason [that the laws were repeated] in the plains of Moab was only for the purpose of explaining the Torah to the children [of those who had left Egypt, who were born in the wilderness after the Giving of the Torah at Sinai]. This appears to me to be the interpretation [of the Beraitha of the Torath Kohanim mentioned] and "it is well and nicely said.⁠"
Now the reason why this section [of the laws of the Sabbatical year] was written here, Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained to be as follows: This is the covenant which was written in the section of 'V'eileh Hamishpatim' (And these are the ordinances),⁠ and when the people accepted it upon themselves [by saying] we will do, and obey,⁠ then the covenant was made,⁠ and [Moses] told them this whole section [containing the laws of the Sabbatical year]. Scripture mentioned it in this place in order to put in proximity all the conditions [He laid down for Israel's inheriting] the Land; for just as He said with reference to forbidden sexual relations that on account of them the Land will vomit them out,⁠ so He said in the section of 'Im Bechukothai' (If ye walk in My statutes)⁠ with regard to [not keeping the laws of] the Sabbaths of the Land,⁠ and therefore it was necessary that He mention [here] first [what are the laws of] the Sabbatical years.
In my opinion this section is written here in its proper order, for the expression in Mount Sinai means when Moses went up there to receive the second Tablets [and does not refer, as Ibn Ezra interprets it, to the time immediately after the Giving of the Torah, even before Moses went up the mountain to receive the first Tablets of the Law], and the explanation of the matter is as follows: At the beginning of the first forty days of the first Tablets, Moses wrote in the Book of the Covenant all the words of the Eternal and all the ordinances stated there [in that section],⁠ and he sprinkled the blood of the covenant upon the people.⁠ But when the people sinned with the [golden] calf and the Tablets were broken, that was equivalent to a breaking of the covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He. Therefore when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to Moses by giving him the second Tablets, He commanded him concerning a new covenant, as it is said, Behold, I make a covenant; and He repeated there the stringent commandments that had been said in the section of 'V'eileh Hamishpatim' (And these are the ordinances)⁠ at the first covenant, and He [now] stated, Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.⁠ Now the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to make this second covenant with them with greater stringency, and that it should be upon them by means of oaths and curses, and that it should cover, like the first one, all the original commandments and all the ordinances, as it is said of the first covenant, And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal, and all the ordinances.⁠ Therefore Scripture states here at the end of the exhortations, These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which the Eternal made between Him and the children of Israel, in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses,⁠ this being an allusion to all the commandments and ordinances which had been said at the first covenant, in the section of 'V'eileh Hamishpatim' (And these are the ordinances),⁠ for they were all embodied in this [second] covenant.
Now in the Book of the first Covenant, the law of the Sabbatical year was stated in a general way as I have mentioned, as it is said, And on the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow etc.,⁠ and now in this second convenant it was said with its specific prescripts, its minute details, and its penalties. At the time of the first covenant, during the first forty days [after the Giving of the Torah, when Moses went up to the mountain], Moses was commanded concerning the building of the Tabernacle; and when the Holy One, blessed be He, became reconciled to him and commanded him to make a second covenant for them, Moses came down [from the mountain] and he gave them in commandment all that the Eternal had spoken with him in Mount Sinai,⁠ including the making of the Tabernacle. Then Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them as at first, These are the words which the Eternal hath commanded that ye should do them,⁠ when making the Tabernacle. Now they accepted the charge joyfully, and departed from his presence at once, and they all came back and brought the donations, and made the Tabernacle and completed its construction. And as soon as it was set up, He immediately called unto Moses, and the Eternal spoke unto him out of the Tent of Meeting,⁠ and He commanded him regarding the offerings and the whole Torath Kohanim ["law of the priests,⁠" i.e., the Book of Leviticus], and Moses immediately commanded them all to Aaron and his sons and to all the children of Israel. When he had finished, he said to them: "G-d further commanded me in Mount Sinai to explain to you [the laws of] the Sabbatical year and of the Jubilee, and to make a new covenant with you concerning all the commandments and ordinances, by means of adjuration and oath.⁠" It was not necessary now [for Moses] to slaughter offerings and sprinkle half of the blood upon the people and half upon the altar, as he had done at the first covenant,⁠ because now they were [again] accepting upon themselves the original covenant, with these oaths and adjurations. This is the sense of the expression, which the Eternal made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai,⁠ for it was He Who made with them this [second] covenant, having forgiven them on the basis of these conditions [i.e., the oaths and adjurations mentioned further on in Chapter 26], as I have explained at the end of [Seder] Ki Thisa.⁠ Similarly, the covenant at the plains of Moab was made likewise, by means of the people accepting upon themselves the Torah with those oaths and adjurations [mentioned in Deuteronomy Chapter 28], this being the covenant, as it is said, These are the words of the covenant which the Eternal commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.⁠ The Rabbis of blessed memory have spoken the truth in saying that among the conditions on which the Land [was given by G-d to Israel] are [those of observing the laws of] the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee, as He will mention in the exhortations,⁠ and they are clearly expressed in this second covenant [as referring to the commandments in this section].

A SABBATH UNTO THE ETERNAL, "[This means] in honor of the Eternal [and that it is not primarily intended for man's benefit],⁠ in the same sense as this expression is used in the case of the Sabbath of Creation" [i.e., the weekly Sabbath, of which it is also said, a Sabbath unto the Eternal].⁠ This is the language of Rashi. But this was not the intention of the Rabbis in their interpretation,⁠ for all [weekly] Sabbaths, and also the festivals, are in honor of the Eternal, and yet in not one of them [i.e., the festivals] does Scripture say that they are "unto the Eternal.⁠" Instead, it says it shall be a solemn rest unto you,⁠ and in the case of the Day of Atonement it states, It shall be unto you a Sabbath of solemn rest.⁠ The text of the Beraitha in the Torah Kohanim [quoted by Rashi] is as follows:⁠ "A Sabbath unto the Eternal. Just as it says with reference to the Sabbath of Creation, so is it said regarding the Sabbatical year, a Sabbath unto the Eternal.⁠" But the meaning of a Sabbath unto the Eternal thy G-d stated in connection with the Sabbath of Creation, is that on it He ceased from work and rested and therefore thou shalt not do any manner of work.⁠ It was with reference to that idea that the Sages, of blessed memory, said that the same expression is also stated in the case of the Sabbatical year, since it is the seventh in [the cycle of] the years [just as the weekly Sabbath is the seventh day in the cycle of days; and the meaning thereof here is that since the seventh year is a Sabbath to the Eternal, as will be explained, we are to desist from working the land].
Now here [in the Torath Kohanim mentioned above, the Rabbis] have roused our attention to one of the great secrets of the Torah.⁠ Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra has already given us a hint of it when he wrote: "The meaning of a Sabbath unto the Eternal is like that of the Sabbath-day.⁠ The secret of the years of the world is alluded to in this place.⁠" [Thus far is Ibn Ezra's comment.]
Bend now your ear to understand that which I am permitted to inform you about it in the words that I will cause you to hear, and if you will be worthy, you will contemplate them [and understand them]. I have already written in Seder Bereshith that the six days of creation represent [all] the days of the world, and the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Eternal thy G-d,⁠ for on it will be the Sabbath to the Great Name, just as we have been taught [in a Mishnah]:⁠ "On the seventh day what psalm did the Levites sing [in the Sanctuary? They sang] A Psalm, a Song. For the Sabbath-day — [a song] for the World to Come, which will be wholly a Sabbath, and rest for life everlasting.⁠" Thus the [seven] days [of the week] allude to that which He created in the process of creation, and the [seven] years [of the Sabbatical cycle] refer to that which will occur during the creation of all "the days" of the world. It is for this reason that Scripture was more stringent regarding [the transgression of the laws of] the Sabbatical year than with respect to those guilty of transgressing all other negative commandments, and made it punishable with exile, just as He was stringent with respect to forbidden sexual relations [for which the punishment of the people, as opposed to that of the individual, is also exile];⁠ as it is said, Then shall the Land be paid her Sabbaths,⁠ and He repeated this matter many times: As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest,⁠ and it is further said, And the Land shall lie forsaken without them, and shall be paid her Sabbaths.⁠ "And so we have been taught [in a Mishnah]:⁠ "Exile comes for the delaying of justice, and for the perversion of justice, and for [the neglect of] the year of rest for the Land.⁠" [This stringency of punishment is] because whoever denies it [i.e., the law of the Sabbatical year], does not acknowledge the work of creation and [life in] the World to Come. Similarly the prophet [Jeremiah] was stringent, and decreed exile for neglecting to send [Hebrew] servants to freedom in the seventh year [of their service], as it is said, I made a covenant with your fathers … At the beginning of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother etc.,⁠ for in the case of a servant the seventh year is also like a [complete] Jubilee; and the Jubilee is known also [at the very beginning of the Torah] — from 'Bereshith' (In the beginning) to 'Vayechulu' (And there were finished)⁠ — intimating that in the Jubilee everything is to return [to its origin], every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family.⁠ For it is a sure foundation, and he that believeth shall keep silence. This is what is meant in saying, 'v'shavtah ha'aretz shabbath' (and 'the land' shall keep a Sabbath);⁠ and ye shall proclaim liberty 'ba'aretz' (throughout 'the land'),⁠ for the reference here is to "the land of eternal life" which is alluded to in the first verse [of the Torah],⁠ and of which it is said, 'v'ha'aretz ezkor' (and I will remember 'the land').⁠ I have already mentioned this several times.⁠ Perhaps it is to this that our Rabbis alluded in saying:⁠ "Fifty gates [degrees] of understanding were created in the world, and all were transmitted to Moses with one exception.⁠" For each cycle of seven years constitutes "the gate of one house" [creation], and thus He informed him of all existence from beginning to end, with the exception of the holy Jubilee.

SIX YEARS THOU SHALT SOW THY FIELD. Such is the way of Scripture to state [i.e., it is not a command that is expressed here, but it is merely the style of Scripture], just as it says, Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest.⁠ According to the way of our Rabbis [the verse is to be interpreted as follows:⁠ "Six years thou shalt sow thy field — but not in the seventh year — this being a negative commandment which is derived from a positive commandment, and carries the force of a positive commandment.⁠" Thus he who sows [his field] in the seventh year violates this positive commandment, and also the negative commandment [expressed in the verse, thou shalt not sow thy field].⁠ A homiletic exposition of the Rabbis is as follows:⁠ "Rabbi Yishmael says: When Israel does the will of G-d, it has to observe only one year of rest [of the soil] in a seven-year cycle, as it is said, Six years thou shalt sow thy field. But if the people do not do the will of G-d, they have to make four 'years of rest' of the soil in one seven-year cycle. How so? He plows for one year and cannot sow until the next year, again he plows for one year and cannot sow until the next year. Thus there are four 'years of rest' in one seven-year cycle.⁠"

ETH S'FIACH K'TZIRCHA' (THAT WHICH GROWETH OF ITSELF OF THY HARVEST) THOU SHALT NOT REAP. "Even if you did not sow it, but it grew from the seed that had fallen [into the ground] at the time of the harvest [of the sixth year], and it is that which is called 's'fiach' (aftergrowth) — thou shalt not reap, to take possession of it like other harvests, but is to be free for everyone. AND THE GRAPES OF 'N'ZIRECHA' — which you have barred and separated from people, and not declared ownerless — THOU SHALT NOT GATHER them. You may only gather them after they have been declared free for all.⁠" Thus the language of Rashi.
The Rabbi's [i.e., Rashi's] meaning by [writing] this is because he is of the opinion that if a person guards his field and his fruits in the Sabbatical year [at the time of growth, and afterwards he declares them free for all], the produce does not become prohibited [as food]. So also did he [Rashi] write in his commentaries to Tractate Yebamoth and to Tractate Succah.⁠ This is indeed so according to the law of the Torah, as is established by clear proofs. And that which is taught in the Torath Kohanim:⁠ "And the grapes of 'n'zirecha' thou shalt not gather. From that which was guarded when in the soil [i.e., when it is in the process of growth] you shall not gather, but you may gather from that which was made free for all" — the Rabbi [Rashi] will explain it in the following way: "Grapes which have been kept away from people you may not gather as long as they are so barred; you must rather declare them all ownerless, and then you may gather them together with the poor.⁠"
The correct interpretation of the verse is that the expression the grapes of 'n'zirecha' is like 's'fiach' of thy harvest, and thou shalt not gather is like thou shalt not reap, for the purport of the whole section is to state a twofold law to the Israelites — warning with respect to fields and warning again with reference to vineyards. Thus: thou shalt sow thy field … thou shalt prune thy vineyard; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.⁠ Similarly, And six years thou shalt sow thy Land … but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow … In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard.⁠ And the meaning of the verse [here] is that that which grows by itself in a field without intentional plowing and sowing is called "s'fiach of the harvest,⁠" because it is "attached" to the harvest of the past year, this term being of the root, 'v'nispechu' (and they shall cleave) to the house of Jacob.⁠ Likewise the vine which has not been cultivated, nor hoed or pruned, is called nazir, because [the owner] "held himself aloof and put it away from him" as if it were not his, of the root, because 'nazoru' from Me through their idols,⁠ [which means] "they separated themselves from Me.⁠" Similarly, 'v'yinazru' (and they separate themselves) from the holy things of the children of Israel.⁠ And Onkelos [also] translates here [and the grapes of 'n'zirecha'] as shivkach, which means [those grapes that] "you have left" to be for briers and thorns.⁠
It is possible that the custom in Israel was that a vineyard which was uncultivated, neither pruned nor hoed, and in which briers and thorns grew up, they called nazir, that is to say, it is a vineyard of the Nazirite, since the Nazirite is forbidden to drink wine nor eat fresh grapes or dried,⁠ and he does not cultivate his vineyard. They also gave a name to long hair derived from the Nazirite, as it is said, Cut off 'nizreich' (thy hair) and cast it away.⁠ This then is the sense of [the expression here] the grapes of 'n'zirecha,' the general purport thereof being that they are the grapes which grow without cultivation of the vineyard. Thus Scripture is stating that that which grows by itself in the field he may not reap, and the grapes which grow in the vineyard without work he may not gather. And the meaning of these negative commandments is that you may not reap them alone for your own needs, nor are you to gather the grapes for yourself [only], but it shall be a year of solemn rest for the Land from sowing and pruning, and the Sabbath-produce of the Land,⁠ that is, whatever the Land brings forth in its rest, whether s'fiach or nazir [as explained above] shall be unto all of you together for food, for thee,⁠ and for thy poor, and for the beast and for the cattle.⁠
Now I will return to explain the Beraithoth taught in the Torath Kohanim on this subject, because they are misleading [in their plain sense]. On the verse, And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase,⁠ the Rabbis taught there [in the Torath Kohanim]:⁠ "If people do not sow, what is there to gather? [So why then did Scripture prohibit gathering the increase, since there can be none to gather without sowing?] Said Rabbi Akiba: It is from here that the Sages found a Scriptural source for s'fichin (aftergrowths), [indicating] that they are forbidden in the Sabbatical year.⁠" This Beraitha is quoted in the Gemara [of Tractate Pesachim] in the Chapter Makom Shenahagu ("A place where the custom is").⁠ And it is further taught in the Torath Kohanim:⁠ "But the Sages say: Aftergrowths are not forbidden by law of the Torah, but only by decree of the Scribes. If so, why is it said, behold, we may not sow, nor gather? [It means as follows:] You have told us not to sow, and what there is for us to gather — [the aftergrowths] — we may not bring in for storage [after the time of the Removal];⁠ and then You have told us, 'Remove it [from the house],' what then shall we eat from the time of the Removal onwards?⁠" Thus far [are the words of the Torath Kohanim].
Thus it is clear that according to the words of the Sages the prohibition of aftergrowths is only by law of the Rabbis, that is to say, it is they who decreed that they be prohibited altogether, because of the suspicion that the owners might sow and say that these are aftergrowths. It is for this reason that the Rabbis have said in the Yerushalmi:⁠ "Rabbi Yannai said: All aftergrowths are forbidden [under the law forbidding theft, i.e., since they belong to the owner of the field, they may not be taken by a stranger during the non-Sabbatical years], except for those which come up in an uncultivated field, a plowed field, a field containing a vineyard, or a field sowed [with fenugreek]. [The aftergrowths of] an uncultivated field [are permissible to a stranger] because the owner pays no attention to such a field [and therefore it is considered ownerless]. A plowed field — the owner desires to clear of all growths. A field containing a vineyard — the owner does not want to forfeit his vineyard [because the aftergrowths of the grain in the vineyard constitute diverse kinds which are forbidden, and so he welcomes their being taken out by anyone]. A field sowed [with fenugreek] — the owner does not want to maintain aftergrowths therein [because they harm the fenugreek].⁠"
It is on the basis of this division of opinion [between Rabbi Akiba, who says that aftergrowths are forbidden in the Sabbatical year by law of the Torah, and the Sages, who are of the opinion that they are forbidden only by Rabbinical decree], that it is taught there in the Torath Kohanim:⁠ "That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap. It is from here that they found a Scriptural source for forbidding aftergrowths in the Sabbatical year.⁠" They thus gave their teaching in accordance with the words of Rabbi Akiba, [who explains the phrase] thou shalt not reap as [prohibiting] altogether [any reaping, even of aftergrowths, by law of the Torah], But according to the words of the Sages [the verse means] that you are not to reap them [solely] for yourself, nor are you to gather the grapes [of your undressed vine solely] for yourself, but you are to treat them as if they were ownerless property. Similarly, and we do not gather in our increase means that we do not gather [entirely] into our homes the fruits of the tree [which grow by themselves] nor the aftergrowths [of crops], because we must declare them ownerless for the poor, the beasts and the cattle, and at the time of Removal,⁠ [and therefore one might say that] we are not able to live on them [since we cannot use them entirely as our own possession.]!
Now these aftergrowths which are forbidden according to Rabbi Akiba are those which have grown in the forbidden season. [i.e., the Sabbatical year]: in grain, all that has reached a third of its growth in the Sabbatical year, and in the case of vegetables, whatever has sprouted in the Sabbatical year are forbidden by law of the Torah. But according to the Sages they are forbidden by decree of the Scribes, except for those [aftergrowths] which come up in any of those [four kinds of] fields mentioned in the Yerushalmi which we have quoted above. However, vegetables that sprouted in the sixth year but were harvested in the seventh, are also subject to all the laws of the sanctity of the Sabbatical year [regarding Seventh year produce, which are as follows]: they must not be wasted [as they were given for food;⁠ their money substitute may not be used] for [obligatory] offerings;⁠ [they may not be used] for the purpose of trade, and they are subject to the law of Removal.⁠ For even though these vegetables grew completely in the sixth year [nonetheless if they were harvested in the seventh year, they are subject to the laws of the Sabbatical year], because we follow in the case of vegetables the time of collecting them in, whether for tithes or for the Sabbatical year. But the law of aftergrowths does not apply to them, for they are not aftergrowths of the Sabbatical year since they grew in the sixth year, and even if they continued [their growth] in the seventh year, the law of aftergrowths does not apply to them. It is with reference to such vegetables that we were taught [in the Mishnah]:⁠ "If a man said to a laborer [in the Sabbatical year], 'Here you have an issar [a coin equivalent to one twenty-fourth of the silver dinar], and gather me vegetables today', his payment is permitted etc.⁠" And similarly we were taught [there] in a Mishnah:⁠ "A man may not gather in the [wild] vegetables in a field and sell them in the market; but he may gather them in and his son may sell them for him;⁠" and we were also taught there:⁠ "Rue, goosefoot, etc. may be bought from anyone in the Sabbatical year, since no watch is kept over the like of these" [wild vegetables, and, since they are ownerless, the sanctity of the Sabbatical year does not apply to them].
Now some [scholars] say that [in the case of] these vegetables mentioned [in the above Mishnah] and all similar ones, which people do not usually sow, but which grow by themselves on mountains and near rivers, the prohibition of aftergrowths does not apply to them at all even though they grew in the Sabbatical year, since the Rabbis only forbade [the aftergrowths of] those things which are normally planted, in order that one should not plant them [in the Sabbatical year and then say that they grew by themselves]. And so it appears from the Gemara of the Yerushalmi [mentioned above]. This is the subject of "aftergrowths" whenever the Sages mention it [in the Talmud].
Similarly it is [forbidden by law] of the Torah for a person to guard his field and lock it up from the poor in the Sabbatical year, even if he intends to declare them free for all at the time of gathering them in; instead, the field is to be ready and free for the poor throughout the year. Thus the Sages taught in the Mechilta:⁠ "That the poor of thy people may eat.⁠ 'Why did the Torah say this? Was it not so that the poor may eat it? If so, I am going to gather in the fruit and distribute it among the poor'. Therefore Scripture states, But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow.⁠ This teaches that the owner is even [obliged] to make breaches in the fence [so that everyone may come and take]. The Sages, however, as a precaution for the general good, allowed him to keep the fence.⁠" Now the restraining measure which the Sages established was only that he need not make breaches in the fences of his field and vineyard, but not that he may guard his field and gather in the fruits, thereby transgressing the words of the Torah. Moreover, the Sages even decreed against buying fruits which have been guarded, or even from one who is under suspicion of so [guarding]. It is with reference to this that we have been taught in the Mishnah:⁠ "[The wild vegetables mentioned] may be bought from anyone in the Sabbatical year, since no watch is kept over the like of these.⁠" And in Tractate Succah the Rabbis have said:⁠ "One may not hand over to those ignorant of the law more of the monetary equivalent of fruits of the Sabbatical year than that needed for three meals.⁠ This applies only where he buys [the fruits] from a field which was free for all,⁠ but if he buys from a guarded field, even the value of half an issar is forbidden.⁠" And the reason for this is as follows: When the purchaser buys it from a field which was free for all — that is to say, from things which people usually bring from ownerless property, or if it is known that he brought them from a place which was declared free for all — then [the purchaser who knows and observes the law] is permitted to buy the fruit. However, if he gives the owner more money than is needed for his [three] meals on that day, we suspect that the [seller who is] ignorant of the law might use [this money] for the purpose of business [which he is forbidden to do]. But if he buys things which it is customary to guard, then even if it is [no more than the value of] half an issar, we suspect that [the seller, being ignorant of the law], guarded them, in which case it is forbidden to buy from him. However if he buys a perutah's worth of fruits, or less than half an issar, the Sages did not prohibit this, because it is customary for people to gather them in from any [unguarded] place, even during the other years of the Sabbatical cycle.
It is referring to this that the Sages have taught:⁠ "If a non-Jew was selling fruits in the market, and he said [by way of praising his products], 'These fruits are orlah [of the first three years' growth, and are therefore better than the fruit of an old tree], or 'they are of azeikah' [a term explained further on], he has said nought [i.e., we do not believe his statement that the fruits are orlah etc., and hence forbidden; instead we say that these fruits come from the majority of trees which are nor orlah, and they therefore may be eaten]. For the seller only intended to praise his products.⁠" Now Rashi explained there in the name of the early scholars,⁠ [that the term azeikah means that the fruits come] from an orchard "that is enclosed" with a fence around it, and it happens to be the Sabbatical year. Now if we were to believe him [the non-Jewish seller], it would be forbidden to buy the fruits from him in a city wherein most [of the inhabitants] are Jews, lest he is a tenant-laborer of a Jew and guards the field for him; or we would suspect that he may have gathered [these fruits] from a field belonging to a Jew [who has not declared them free for all] and he sells them; or that the fruits belong to a Jew and he is selling them for him. Or perhaps [even if the land belongs to the seller], a gentile cannot make such an acquisition in the Land of Israel as to negate the laws of the Sabbatical year [from his produce]. The Rabbis therefore decreed that the fruits of his field are to be regarded as those of an Israelite [and hence subject to all the laws of the Sabbatical year]. Nonetheless, the Sages did not prohibit the fruits of a guarded field [in the Sabbatical year] to everybody, but only [decreed] that one should not buy them directly from the owner who guarded them [but it is not the fruits themselves of a guarded field which are prohibited; thus if they have already been sold to a first purchaser, another Jew may buy them from him]. Therefore the Rabbis taught in the Torath Kohanim:⁠ "And the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather. From that which was guarded when in the land you are not to gather, but you may gather from that which was free for all. Thou shalt not gather, in the [ordinary] manner of those who gather grapes. It was on the basis of this that the Sages said: 'Seventh-year figs may not be cut with a special fig-knife [but may be cut with an ordinary knife]; grapes may not be pressed in a wine-press, but one may press them in a vat.'" And the meaning thereof is as follows: Since it is not written "the grapes of the undressed vine thou shalt not reap,⁠" but instead it is written 'thy' undressed vine, it is to be interpreted that you are not to gather them in the way you usually gather your grapes, but you may gather them together with the poor in the way that they gather them, meaning to say that he is not to guard them for himself, but he is to gather them with the poor as if they were ownerless. Similarly he is to treat them [after he has gathered them in] as the poor do, and press them in a vat. And it is further taught there [in the Torath Kohanim]:⁠ "And the Sabbath-produce of the Land shall be for food for you.⁠ You are to eat from that which rested in the land [as will be explained], but you may not eat from that which was guarded. Hence the dictum of the Sages:⁠ The School of Shammai say, one may not eat from the produce of a field which has been industriously tilled.⁠ But the School of Hillel say that one may eat of it.'" That is to say, since the Torah stated that the produce of the Sabbath should be for us for food, and not that which was guarded, the School of Shammai say that the fruits themselves become prohibited [and therefore the produce of a field which was tilled twice, and considered as a field that was guarded, may not be eaten]; but the School of Hillel are of the opinion that the fruits themselves are not prohibited, for Scripture's intention is only to forbid us to guard [our produce], in order that our crops should be from a field in which the Sabbatical rest was observed. Similarly when the Rabbis have said that seventh-year figs may not be cut with a [special] fig-knife, and grapes may not be pressed in a wine-press, [these laws are] a "fence" and guard of Rabbinic origin, in order that people should not come to guard and gather in their crops, and rob them from the poor. This is [the meaning of] that which is taught here in these Beraithoth [of the Torath Kohanim], and it is the best and clearest exposition of the discussions in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Gemara. The scholar who is acquainted [with the Talmud] will succeed in finding these texts.