Bava Kamma 81a — the Talmud in English

1.

that they may pasture

all Israel’s animals

in forests [

forests belonging to individuals, and the owner of the forest will not object to this].

2.

and they may gather wood in their fields

of others; and below it explains with regard to which wood this is said.

3.

and they may gather grasses everywhere

each person in his fellow’s field,

except for

a field of

fenugreek

for which the grasses are beneficial, and one who gathers them damages the fenugreek.

4.

and they may break off saplings [

branches in order to plant them, from the trees

everywhere

each person from his fellow’s trees,

except for olive stumps,

these are stumps that one who cuts down his olive trees leaves to burn, from which the tree grows anew; and one may not break off saplings from these stumps, because he destroys them.

5.

and a spring that emerges initially [

anew—and all the more so an old one that existed at the time of the division of the land—in one person’s portion, all

the residents of the city may draw water from it.

6.

and they may fish with hooks [

each person casts a hook to catch fish

in the Sea of Tiberias,

even though it did not come into their portion, but was in the portion of Naphtali,

provided that he does not spread a net [

a broad vertical net fixed in the sea for catching fish]

and

by means of the net

he causes the boat to stand.

7.

and they may relieve themselves [

relieve themselves]

behind a fence, even in a field full of saffron,

it explains this and proceeds.

8.

and they may walk on the paths of the public domain until the second rainfall descends,

that is: with regard to grain fields after they have gathered the grain in Nisan, and until the time of sowing, which is when the rain descends for the second time, on the seventeenth of Marḥeshvan, the owners of the fields customarily permit shortening the way through their fields, since they are empty of grain; and Joshua stipulated that it be permitted to do so, even though it is not known that the owners of the fields permitted the public to walk through their fields.

9.

and they may move to the sides of the roads because of the road-humps,

that is: during the summer, the mud in the roads dries, and the place where the feet of people and animals walked there in winter becomes like road-humps upon which it is difficult to walk; and it is permitted to turn aside from the road and walk in the fields adjoining the paved road, even if there is grain in the fields.

10.

and one who loses his way among the vineyards may cut through and ascend, cut through and descend,

that is: he severs the tendrils that impede him, and ascends or descends until he finds the road.

11.

and a met mitzva acquires

the

place

where he fell and died—to be buried there, and the owner of the field does not prevent him.

From here onward, the Gemara explains Joshua’s enactments:

1.

that they may pasture in forests:

Rav Pappa said: We said this

that it is permitted to pasture one’s animal in another’s forest only with regard to pasturing an animal

small in a

forest

large [

a forest of trees, for it does not damage the trees],

but

an animal

small in a

forest

small, and

an animal

large in a

forest

large

which destroys the trees,

and all the more so

an animal

large in a

forest

small—it is not.

2.

and they may gather wood from their fields:

The wood that we mentioned,

we said this only with regard to hizmei and higei [

species of thorns]

but with regard to other wood, no; and even with regard to hizmei and higei, we said this only when

for example, they are still

attached, but when detached

by the owner of the field,

no,

because once the owner of the field exerted himself to detach them, it is again forbidden to take them, since his intention is directed toward them.

And even with

thorns

attached as well, we did not say

that it is permitted to gather them,

except when

they are still

moist

—

but when dry, no,

because the owner of the field intends them for fueling the oven.

And

what was permitted was permitted only

provided that he does not uproot them [

that he does not remove the roots].

3.

and they may gather grasses everywhere except in a fenugreek field:

And we raise a difficulty:

is this to say that

a field of

fenugreek is benefited by grasses [

and are grasses beneficial to a fenugreek field]!?

And we oppose

this to what we learned in a Mishna in tractate Kilayim:

Fenugreek that grew together with species of grasses: one does not obligate him to uproot

the grasses on account of kilayim, because ultimately he will remove them from there, since they damage the fenugreek.

It emerges that grasses spoil the fenugreek and are not beneficial

!? Rav Yirmeya said: It is not difficult; here

when the fenugreek stands

for seed [

to be sown],

here

when the fenugreek stands

for fodder,

that is, to eat it, as he explains and proceeds.

When it stands

for seed: grasses are harmful to it, for they weaken it [

grasses are harmful to it, for they weaken it; and the Mishna in Kilayim deals with this].

But

for fodder: grasses benefit it, for when it stands among grasses, it climbs upon them [

grasses benefit it, for when the fenugreek grows among grasses, it climbs and rises upon them; and in such a field it is forbidden to take the grasses without the owner’s permission.

If you wish, say

to resolve the difficulty from the Mishna in Kilayim:

Here—

in the Mishna in Kilayim—when the fenugreek stands

for

food

of a person,

and the grasses are superfluous and harmful.

Here—

the restriction that the Gemara restricted in a fenugreek field, that they may not take grasses from it—when the fenugreek stands

for

food

of an animal, for since it was sown for an animal, it also needs grasses [

since the fenugreek stands for animal food, the animal also needs grasses].

And we explain:

and from where do we know [

from where does a person know for what purpose the fenugreek stands, so that he will know whether it is permitted for him to gather grasses without the owner’s permission]?

Rav Pappa said:

If

it is arranged in plots [

the field is made into plots upon plots], certainly

for a person

it is prepared.

And if

it is not arranged in plots [

the field is not made into plots upon plots], presumably

for an animal

it stands.

4.

and they may break off a sapling everywhere except from olive stumps:

Rabbi Tanḥum and Rabbi Brais explained in the name of one elder:

One who breaks off

from

the tree of

olive:

he leaves from the branch

the size of an egg

adjacent to the trunk.

One who breaks off

from reeds and grapevines:

he may break off

from the knot [

a knot] that is in the branch

and above.

And

with

all the other trees

he may break off:

from its fruit [

its fruit]

of a tree,

that is, from the soft and thin branches,

but not from the tip of the tree,

it is forbidden for him to break off from large and thick branches.

And only

from

the branch

the new one that

still

does not produce fruit, and not from

the

old branch that produces fruit.