Pesachim 111

ואוכלין מתחת הנשרים בשבת ונותנין פאה לירק ומיחו בידם חכמים:

AND THEY ATE THE FALLEN FRUIT FROM BENEATH [THE TREE] ON THE SABBATH, AND THEY GAVE PE'AH<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. Pe'ah is exempt from tithes, and the poor, by eating the vegetables without tithing them in the belief that they were Pe'ah, ate tebel (v. Glos.) .');">¹</span> FROM VEGETABLES; AND THE SAGES FORBADE THEM. <big><b>GEMARA: </b></big>Our Rabbis taught: Six things King Hezekiah did; in three they [the Sages] agreed with him, and in three they did not agree with him - He dragged his father's bones [corpse] on a rope bier,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Instead of showing him the honour due to a king. He did this in order to effect atonement for him, his father (Ahaz) having been very wicked.');">²</span> and they agreed with him; he crushed the brazen serpent,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Set up by Moses, Num. XXI, 8f; v. II Kings XVIII, 4.');">³</span>

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> ת"ר ששה דברים עשה חזקיה המלך על שלשה הודו לו ועל שלשה לא הודו לו גירר עצמות אביו על מטה של חבלים והודו לו כיתת נחש הנחשת והודו לו גנז ספר רפואות והודו לו

and they agreed with him; [and] he hid the book of remedies,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because they cured so quickly that illness failed to promote a spirit of contrition and humility. V. Ber. 10b.');">⁴</span> and they agreed with him. And in three they did not agree with him: He cut [the gold off] the doors of the Temple<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or, he cut down the doors etc.');">⁵</span> and sent them to the King of Assyria,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sennacherib, as a bribe to leave him in peace; v. II Kings XVIII, 16.');">⁶</span>

ועל שלשה לא הודו לו קיצץ דלתות של היכל ושיגרן למלך אשור ולא הודו לו סתם מי גיחון העליון ולא הודו לו עיבר ניסן בניסן ולא הודו לו:

and they did not agree with him; and he closed up the waters of Upper Gihon,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' v. II Chron. XXXII, 1-4.');">⁷</span> and they did not agree with him;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In both cases he should have trusted in God.');">⁸</span> and he intercalated [the month of] Nisan in Nisan,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXX, 1-3. The Talmud holds that he effected this by declaring Nisan an intercalated month, calling it the second Adar, after it (Nisan) had already commenced. (Since the Jewish year which is lunar is some eleven days shorter than the solar year, it is necessary periodically to lengthen it by the intercalation of a second Adar, the last month of the civil year. In ancient times this was done not by mathematical calculation, as nowadays, but according to the exigencies of the moment, but this had to be done before Nisan actually commenced, v. Sanh. ');">⁹</span> and they did not agree with him.

מרכיבין דקלים כל היום וכו': היכי עבדי אמר רב יהודה מייתי אסא דרא ושיכרא דדפנא וקימחא דשערי דרמי במנא דלא חלפי עליה ארבעין יומין ומרתחי להו ושדו להו לדיקלא בליביה וכל דקאי בארבע אמות דידיה אי לא עבדי ליה הכי צאוי לאלתר רב אחא בריה דרבא אמר מנחי כופרא דיכרא לנוקבתא:

THEY GRAFTED PALM TREES ALL DAY. How did they do it? - Said Rab Judah: They brought a fresh myrtle, the juice of bay-fruit and barley flour which had been kept<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'cast'.');">¹⁰</span> in a vessel less than forty days,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'over which forty days had not passed'.');">¹¹</span> and boiled them together and injected [the concoction] into the heart of the palm tree; and every [tree] which stands within four cubits of this one, if that is not treated likewise immediately withers.

וכורכין את שמע: היכי עבדי אמר רב יהודה אומרים (דברים ו, ד) שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד ולא היו מפסיקין רבא אמר מפסיקין היו אלא שהיו אומרים היום על לבבך דמשמע היום על לבבך ולא מחר על לבבך: ת"ר כיצד היו כורכין את שמע אומרים שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד ולא היו מפסיקין דברי רבי מאיר רבי יהודה אומר מפסיקין היו אלא שלא היו אומרים ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד

R'Aha the son of Raba said: A male branch was grafted on to a female [palm tree].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jast. translates: they put the male flower (scatter the pollen) over the female tree. - But he does not regard the operation described by Rab Judah as grafting.');">¹²</span> THEY 'WRAPPED UP' THE SHEMA'. What did they do? - Rab Judah said, They recited, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. VI, 4. sjt');">¹³</span> and did not make a pause.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Before proceeding with the next verse, And thou shalt love etc.: 'One' (Heb.) must be prolonged in utterance, which creates a pause, but they did not do thus (Rashi) . Tosaf.: they did not pause between 'Hear O Israel' and 'the Lord' etc. thus read together it is a prayer that God may hearken to Israel, which of course gives a completely wrong sense in this instance.');">¹⁴</span>

ואנן מאי טעמא אמרינן ליה כדדריש ר' שמעון בן לקיש

Raba said: They did make a pause, but [the meaning is] that they said [And these words, which I command thee] this day shall be upon thy heart,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. VI, 6. Reading it without a pause at 'day' as is indicated in the E.V.');">¹⁵</span> which implies, this day [shall they be] upon thy heart, but to-morrow [they shall] not [be] upon thy heart. Our Rabbis taught: How did they 'wrap up' the shema'? They recited 'Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One' and they did not make a pause: this is R'Meir's view.

דאמר רשב"ל (בראשית מט, א) ויקרא יעקב אל בניו ויאמר האספו ואגידה לכם ביקש יעקב לגלות לבניו קץ הימין ונסתלקה ממנו שכינה אמר שמא חס ושלום יש במטתי פסול כאברהם שיצא ממנו ישמעאל ואבי יצחק שיצא ממנו עשו אמרו לו בניו שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד אמרו כשם שאין בלבך אלא אחד כך אין בלבנו אלא אחד באותה שעה פתח יעקב אבינו ואמר ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד

R'Judah said: They did make a pause, but they did not recite, 'Blessed be the name of His glorious Kingdom for ever and ever.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Before 'and thou shalt love' etc.');">¹⁶</span> And what is the reason that we do recite it? - Even as R'Simeon B'Lakish expounded. For R'Simeon B'Lakish said: And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you [that which shall befall you in the end of days].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XLIX, 1.');">¹⁷</span> Jacob wished to reveal to his sons the 'end of the days',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The final universal redemption, v. Dan. XII, 13.');">¹⁸</span>

אמרי רבנן היכי נעביד נאמרוהו לא אמרו משה רבינו לא נאמרוהו אמרו יעקב התקינו שיהו אומרים אותו בחשאי אמר רבי יצחק אמרי דבי רבי אמי משל לבת מלך שהריחה ציקי קדירה אם תאמר יש לה גנאי לא תאמר יש לה צער התחילו עבדיה להביא בחשאי

whereupon the Shechinah departed from him. Said he, 'Perhaps, Heaven forfend! there is one unfit among my children,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'in my bed'.');">¹⁹</span> like Abraham, from whom there issued Ishmael, or like my father Isaac, from whom there issued Esau.' [But] his sons answered him, 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is One:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Israel' referring to their father.');">²⁰</span>

אמר רבי אבהו התקינו שיהו אומרים אותו בקול רם מפני תרעומת המינין ובנהרדעא דליכא מינין עד השתא אמרי לה בחשאי:

just as there is only One in thy heart, so is there in our heart only One.' In that moment our father Jacob opened [his mouth] and exclaimed, 'Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.' Said the Rabbis, How shall we act? Shall we recite it, - but our Teacher Moses did not say it.

תנו רבנן ששה דברים עשו אנשי יריחו שלשה ברצון חכמים ושלשה שלא ברצון חכמים ואלו ברצון חכמים מרכיבין דקלים כל היום וכורכין את שמע וקוצרין לפני העומר ואלו שלא ברצון חכמים גודשין לפני העומר ופורצין פרצות בגנותיהן ובפרדסותיהן להאכיל נשר לעניים בשני בצורת בשבתות וימים טובים ומתירין גמזיות של הקדש של חרוב ושל שקמה דברי רבי מאיר

Shall we not say it - but Jacob said it! [Hence] they enacted that it should be recited quietly. R'Isaac said, The School of R'Ammi said: This is to be compared to a king's daughter who smelled a spicy pudding.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And conceived a strong desire for it.');">²¹</span> If she reveals [her desire], she suffers disgrace;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Through her lack of self-control.');">²²</span> if she does not reveal it, she suffers pain.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Through her restraint.');">²³</span>

אמר לו רבי יהודה אם ברצון חכמים היו עושין יהו כל אדם עושין כן אלא אלו ואלו שלא ברצון חכמים היו עושין על שלשה מיחו בידם ועל שלשה לא מיחו בידם

So her servants began bringing it to her in secret. R'Abbahu said: They [the Sages] enacted that this should be recited aloud, on account of the resentment of heretics.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. min, sectarian. They might think that the Jews were cursing them.');">²⁴</span> But in Nehardea, where there are no heretics so far, they recite it quietly. Our Rabbis taught: Six things the inhabitants of Jericho did, three with the consent of the Sages, and three without the consent of the Sages.

ואלו שלא מיחו בידם מרכיבין דקלים כל היום וכורכין את שמע וקוצרין וגודשין לפני העומר ואלו שמיחו בידם מתירין גמזיות של הקדש של חרוב ושל שקמה ופורצין פרצות בגנותיהן ופרדסיהן להאכיל נשר לעניים בשבתות וימים טובים בשני בצורת נותנין פיאה לירק ומיחו בידם חכמים

And these were with the consent of the Sages: They grafted palm trees all day [of the fourteenth], they 'wrapped up' the shema', and they harvested before the 'omer.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 277, n. 6.');">²⁵</span> And these were without the consent of the Sages: They stacked [the corn] before the 'omer,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As it is quite unnecessary, for the produce will not suffer loss if it is left unstacked until after the 'omer, and while engaged in stacking it, they might come to eat it.');">²⁶</span> and they made breaches in their gardens and orchards to permit the poor to eat the fallen fruit in famine years on Sabbaths and Festivals, and they permitted [for use] the branches of carob and sycamore trees belonging to hekdesh: this is R'Meir's view. Said R'Judah to him, If they did [these things] with the consent of the Sages, then all people could do so! But they did both without the consent of the Sages, [save that] three they forbade them [to do], and three they did not forbid them [to do].

וסבר רבי יהודה קצירה שלא ברצון חכמים היא והתנן אנשי יריחו קוצרין לפני העומר ברצון חכמים וגודשין לפני העומר שלא ברצון חכמים ולא מיחו בידם חכמים

And it is these which they did not forbid them: They grafted palm trees the whole day, and they 'wrapped up' the shema', and they stacked [the corn] before the 'omer. And it is these which they forbade them to do: They permitted [for use] branches of hekdesh of carob and sycamore trees, and they made breaches in their garden and orchards to permit the poor to eat the fallen fruit in famine years on Sabbaths and Festivals; they gave pe'ah from vegetables; and the Sages forbade them. Yet does R'Judah hold that the reaping was not with the consent of the Sages? Surely we learned: The inhabitants of Jericho reaped before the 'omer with the consent of the Sages and stacked before the 'omer without the consent of the Sages, but the Sages did not forbid them to do it.