Moed Katan 4a — the Talmud in English

that enters the seventh year

that is, he should not plow on the eve of the seventh year a plowing that will benefit the seventh year.

And

so too,

the harvest of the seventh year that went out into the conclusion of the seventh year

produce that brought forth a third during the seventh year acquires the laws of the seventh year, even though it is harvested in the eighth year.

Rabbi Ishmael says:

the entire verse always speaks of Shabbat.

And “and at plowing and at harvest you shall rest” comes to teach us:

just as plowing

is always plowing of

optional work.

For we do not find a mitzva to plow.

So too, harvest

that is forbidden on Shabbat is only harvest of

optional work.

The harvest of the Omer, which is a mitzva, is excluded,

for even if he found standing harvest, it is a mitzva to harvest; and we learn from here that the mitzva of harvesting the Omer overrides Shabbat [unlike plowing, and likewise sowing, for if he found it already sown, it is fit for the Omer].

We see that Rabbi Akiva, who learned this verse regarding the seventh year, learns the addition of the seventh year from this verse. And necessarily there is no halakha given to Moses at Sinai regarding the addition.

And we answer:

Rather, said Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: when

they learned the halakha

given to Moses at Sinai—

to permit

plowing for a young planting called

a young tree.

That is, to permit plowing for ten young trees in an orchard field of a beit se’a.

But

the verses,

from which we learned an addition of thirty days, came

to forbid

plowing in an ordinary orchard field, which is called

an old field.

And because the prohibition of the addition in an old field is from the Torah, we needed the halakha given to Moses at Sinai to permit plowing during the addition of the seventh year for “ten young trees.”

And we still raise a difficulty:

And since

we heard

a halakha to permit a young tree,

to permit plowing during the addition of the seventh year for ten young trees, is it

not automatically

understood from it that plowing for the sake of

an old field is forbidden

during the addition? And if so, why do I need a verse for the addition?!

And we answer:

Rather, the halakha

came

for Rabbi Ishmael.

According to him, the addition of the seventh year does not emerge from the verses, since he needs “at plowing and at harvest” to permit the harvesting of the Omer on Shabbat, and we require a halakha given to Moses to forbid the addition of the seventh year .

And that we seek to learn the addition of the seventh year from

verses

is specifically

for Rabbi Akiva,

who learns from the end of the verse the addition of the seventh year. And Rabbi Akiva did not hear of a halakha given to Moses at Sinai concerning this .

And we further answer the difficulty of how Rabban Gamliel and his court could annul the addition of the seventh year:

And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Rabban Gamliel and his court found a support from the Torah

for

they annulled it,

and although there is a halakha given to Moses at Sinai to permit plowing for the sake of plantings during the addition of the seventh year, it apparently implies a prohibition in “old fields.”

What is the reason,

from where did they find support for this in the Torah?

He learned

this through a gzera shava,

“rest, rest,”

“the rest of the land”

from the rest of Creation.

Just as there,

on the Shabbat of Creation, only

it

itself

is forbidden

in labor, but

before it and after it are permitted

in labor ,

so here,

on the rest of the land, only

it,

the seventh year itself,

is forbidden

in labor, but

before it and after it are permitted.

And from here they learned from the Torah that there is no prohibition of landwork during the addition of the seventh year, not even thirty days before Rosh Hashanah.

Rav Ashi challenged him:

for

the one who says

that

the halakha

forbids thirty days before Rosh Hashanah—is it possible that

a gzera shava comes and uproots a halakha!?

And

likewise for

the one who says

that from

the verse

we learn the addition—is it possible that

a gzera shava comes

and uproots a verse!?

For a person may not derive a gzera shava on his own, and there cannot be a traditional gzera shava that contradicts a verse or a halakha given to Moses at Sinai .

Rather, said Rav Ashi

another answer to the difficulty of how they annulled the addition:

Rabban Gamliel and his court hold like Rabbi Ishmael, who says: a halakha

given to Moses at Sinai

was learned by them

concerning the addition, and it is not learned from the verse “at plowing and at harvest you shall rest.”

And

however,

when they learned the halakha

to forbid, it was only

when the Temple is standing, analogous to the water libation,

which applies only when the Temple is standing, for we learn them from one another .

But when the Temple is not standing, no

halakha was stated to forbid the addition. Therefore Rabban Gamliel and his court could annul it .

We learned in the Mishna:

but not

do they irrigate

from rainwater, and

not

from water of the cistern,

which must be drawn from the pit with a bucket.

And we inquire about it:

Granted, water of the cistern

it is forbidden to irrigate from it, since

there is excessive exertion

to draw it from a deep pit.

But rainwater,

collected beside the field, for which one need only open an opening to the channel, and through it the water irrigates the field by itself—

what exertion is there?

And why is it forbidden?!

And the Gemara brings two answers:

1.

Rabbi Ila’a said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: a decree concerning rainwater on account of water of the cistern.

That is, even in a place where there is no concern that the rainwater will stop, and concerning irrigation from the rainwater itself there is no reason to decree [and there is no exertion in irrigation from rainwater], nevertheless they forbade irrigating from it, lest one also irrigate from water of the cistern, for irrigation from it involves exertion. There is a similarity between them, in that they are collected beside the field. And both are rainwater.

2.

Rav Ashi said:

we are concerned that

the rainwater itself—

will come to be water of a cistern.

Perhaps they will irrigate from it until the rainwater is depleted, and they will not be able to irrigate from it through the channel without exertion, and they will come to draw it with exertion. But there is no place to decree against every irrigation with rainwater because of the concern that they will err and irrigate with water of a cistern found in a pit.

And the Gemara explains:

And they disagree concerning

this

that Rabbi Zeira said.

Rabbi Zeira said.

For Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rabba bar Yirmeya in the name of Shmuel: rivers that draw water from lakes—

it is permitted to irrigate from them during the intermediate days of the festival.

One master,

Rav Ashi, who does not decree concerning rainwater because of the possibility that they will come to use water of a cistern from the pit,

holds Rabbi Zeira’s view,

that he did not decree concerning lakes on account of water of a cistern.

And one master,

Rabbi Ila’a in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan, who decreed rainwater on account of water of a cistern, and even when there is no concern that it will be depleted it is forbidden—

does not hold Rabbi Zeira’s view,

for Rabbi Yoḥanan forbade it in every case, whereas Rabbi Zeira permits it.

The matter itself: Rabbi Zeira said, Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rabba bar Yirmeya in the name of Shmuel: rivers that draw water from lakes—it is permitted to irrigate from them during the intermediate days of the festival.

Rabbi Yirmeya raised an objection to Rabbi Zeira

from that which is in the Mishna:

“But not from rainwater and not from water of the cistern,”

which implies that we are concerned that it will stop.

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira:

Yirmeya, my son,

my son,

these are the lakes in Babylonia

from which I permitted irrigation.

They are like water that does not stop,

and there is no concern about exertion. And that which we learned in the Mishna, that one may not irrigate from rainwater, refers to water that stops, and they come to the status of water of a cistern. And this is like Rav Ashi .

The Sages taught: the reservoirs,

unbuilt pools,

and the built pools,

even

if they were filled with water

from the rains

on the eve of the festival day, it is forbidden to irrigate from them during the intermediate days of the festival.

And if a water channel passed between them,

between the pools,

it is permitted

to irrigate from them, even though they may become depleted, because there is no concern about exertion, for he can irrigate from the water channel .

Rav Pappa said: and this,

that the water channel permits irrigation from the pools, applies only when

the majority of that field drinks from that water channel

at one time.

But if the water channel is not sufficient to irrigate the majority of the field at once, we are concerned that the pools will stop, and it is forbidden to irrigate from them, for he will come to exert himself and draw.

Rav Ashi

disagrees, and

said: even though the majority of the field does not drink

at once from the water channel, it is permitted to irrigate from the pools when a channel passes between them.

Since

all the time

it continues to flow,

it fills and conveys water,

and it comes

to the entire field, we are not concerned that he will exert himself to bring water from another channel, for

he says,

the owner of the field,

if it does not drink in one day—

let it drink for two or three days.

The Sages taught:

if there were two irrigated fields, one high and next to it another low. And in the high one a spring was flowing, and it was irrigated from it, and beside the low one they made

a pool that

was

dripping water,

with drops dripping into it

from

the irrigation water of

the upper irrigated field

—

this one, it is permitted to irrigate from it another irrigated field

—the lower one, which is beside it.

And we raise a difficulty:

but

the pool

is liable to stop

its water, and there is concern that he will exert himself to bring it from another place?!

And we answer:

Rabbi Yirmeya said: and it is still

dripping,

with water dripping from the upper irrigated field, and certainly it has not stopped .

Abaye said, and

this permission

is

only when

the first upper spring has not stopped. But if the spring has stopped, even though it is still dripping from the upper field at the time of watering, it is forbidden to water from the lower pool, lest it stop and he exert himself and draw water from another place.

. But if the spring has stopped, then even if water is still dripping from the upper field while the irrigation is taking place, it is forbidden to irrigate from the lower reservoir, lest it dry up and he be forced to draw water from another place.

It was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya says: Two garden beds

in one field,

one higher than the other, he may not draw from the lower one and water the upper one,

since it is exertion.

More than this, Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon said: Even one garden bed, half of which is low and half of which is high, he may not draw from a low place and water a high place,

for this too is exertion.

The Sages taught: One may draw

water and water

for vegetables in order

that they will be soft and good

to eat them

during Chol HaMoed.

And if

only

in order to beautify them,

so that they will grow after the festival, and his intention is not to eat them during the festival,

it is forbidden,

for it is an enhancement, and exertion is forbidden in it.

Ravina and Rabbah Tosafa were going along the road.

.

They saw a certain man who was drawing a bucket —

drawing buckets of water for vegetables

during Chol HaMoed.

But the Sages permitted this only for an irrigated field.

Rabbah Tosafa said to Ravina: Let the Master come and excommunicate him,

he is fit to be excommunicated because he is transgressing a prohibition.

He said to him,

Ravina:

But was it not taught: One may draw water for vegetables in order to eat them,

and perhaps his intention is to eat them during the festival, and it is permitted to water for this purpose.

He said to him,

Rabbah Tosafa:

Do you think that what is meant by “

drawing” is

drawing water?

It is not so!