Moed Katan 6a — the Talmud in English

And we are still asking:

Why

should we not suspect the opposite?

Perhaps

the

impurity was from within,

in the center of the field,

and the trees

from outside,

around the field, and the place of the impurity was not plowed, only adjacent to the trees.

And we answer:

In a tangled arrangement.

For the trees were not standing only around the boundaries, but were planted without order throughout the entire field, and it was necessary to plow all of it for their sake. Therefore all of it is permitted through blowing, since the trees demonstrate that the grave that was lost in it was plowed.

And if you wish, say:

Since they marked the entire field,

we said

above:

One does not distance a marker from the place of impurity

in order

not to cause the Land of Israel to be lost,

it necessarily follows that the impurity is found throughout the entire field.

And this is why it is considered like a field in which a grave was plowed: since they are adjacent to the impurity, certainly the place was plowed for their sake, and the place of the grave spread.

It was taught in the Tosefta cited above:

Rabbi Yehuda says: Until there is there an elder or a student, for not everyone

is expert in the matter.

Abaye said: Learn from this:

from the fact that it says “not everyone is expert,” and a Torah scholar is needed to testify concerning the grave that had been there, that

a Torah scholar who is in the city,

a Torah scholar who is found in the city—

every matter,

everything that is done and takes place

in the city—

is incumbent upon him,

the responsibility is imposed upon him to know and to act.

Rav Yehuda said: If he found one stone

alone,

marked

with lime—only the place

beneath it is impure—

since the stone is higher than the ground, one may place a marker at the place of impurity, because a person approaching the stone sees the marker before reaching it.

And that which we say, that one makes a marker adjacent to the impurity so that pure objects will not become impure if he does not notice it, refers to when he marks upon the ground itself.

And if he found

two

marked stones,

if there is lime

on the ground

between them,

the place also

between them is impure,

for it is all a marker.

But if there is no lime between them,

only the place beneath them is impure, and

between them is pure.

And even though there is no plowing,

that he never plowed between them, the place between them is pure if there is no lime there.

And we object:

But it was taught

in the Tosefta:

If he found one marked stone, beneath it is impure.

If he found

two, if there is plowing between them, between them is pure.

But if not,

that it was not plowed

between them, it is impure,

even if there is no lime between them, since he marked on both sides, he was not concerned to mark also in the middle.

We see that only because there is plowing between them do we say that between them is pure, and not like Rav Yehuda!

And we answer:

Rav Pappa said: Here,

in the Tosefta, which teaches that even if there is no lime between them, the area between them is impure, it is speaking

when the lime was poured over their tops

of the stones

and spread,

and the lime became divided

this way and that way.

Therefore, only

if there is plowing between them, between them is

pure,

since

we say: it is possible that because of the plowing it peeled off,

that the lime peeled off because of the plowing that was done between them, and this is the lime that fell between them, and it does not constitute a marker for impurity.

But

if not,

that he did not plow between them—

the lime between them is indeed [lime] between them!

The lime was placed between them because of a marker for impurity,

and

therefore between them is

impure.

And Rav Yehuda is speaking of a case in which there was no lime between them at all, and therefore it is pure.

Rav Asi said:

If he found only

one boundary marked—

it is impure, and the entire field is pure,

for one does not distance a marker from the place of impurity.

And likewise if he found

two

marked boundaries—

they are impure, and the entire field is pure.

And likewise

three

marked boundaries—

they are impure, and the entire field is pure.

But if he found a field whose

four

boundaries were marked,

they are pure,

for the marker was made adjacent to the impurity and not upon it,

and

if so

the entire field is impure.

For this reason all its boundaries were marked around it.

And the reason that the entire field is impure, and we do not say that those who marked it distanced the marker from the impurity, so that the edges of the field were found to be pure, is:

For the master said: One does not distance a marker from the place of impurity, so as not to cause the Land of Israel to be lost.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they go out even concerning mixed seeds.

And we object:

And

why,

concerning mixed seeds—

do we go out during the intermediate days of the festival?

And we raise a contradiction from that which we learned in Tractate Shekalim, where they established another time to go out concerning them.

On

the first of Adar—

they announce concerning the shekalim.

The court proclaims that they should bring shekalim to the Temple for the communal offerings.

And concerning mixed seeds,

that is, the court proclaims that they should uproot them, since at that time the seeds have grown somewhat and it is recognizable where there are mixed seeds.

On the fifteenth of it,

of Adar—

they read the scroll in the walled cities,

those walled from the days of Joshua son of Nun.

And they go out to clear the roads of stones and to repair the streets,

since the rainy season has ended and they begin preparing for the arrival of the pilgrims.

And to measure the ritual baths,

so that they should not lack the required measure, and to clean them of the mud of winter.

And they perform all the needs of the public.

And they mark the graves.

And they go out concerning mixed seeds.

It follows that they uproot them already on the fifteenth of Adar; why, then, do they go out again during the intermediate days of the festival?

And the Gemara’s difficulty is concerning mixed seeds that had already been uprooted, since the other public needs, and the repairs of the roads and ritual baths, could deteriorate again in the meantime. Therefore, they return and attend to them during the intermediate days of the festival—Rashi.

And we answer:

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina,

they disagreed in resolving the difficulty:

One said: Here,

where they go out on the fifteenth of Adar, is

the early [crop],

which grows early,

and here,

where they go out during the intermediate days of the festival, is

the late [crop],

which grows late.

And one said: Here,

where they go out on the fifteenth of Adar, is

seeds,

grain, which precedes the growth of vegetables,

and here,

where they go out during the intermediate days of the festival, is

vegetables,

which grow during the season of Passover.

Rav Asi said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan:

That which we learned, that they go out only in Adar and Nisan,

was taught only when a bud is not discernible

before then.

But when a bud is discernible, they go out concerning them,

even before the seasons in Adar and Nisan.

And the Gemara explains:

What is different

that specifically

during the intermediate days of the festival do we go out,

since already at the beginning of Nisan their buds are discernible?

Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Because of the wages of the labor,

for the court must hire workers. And it is preferable to hire them during the intermediate days of the festival, since

they lower the price for us,

when there is no work, and because of the lack of demand the workers are hired cheaply.

Rav Zevid said, and some say Rav Mesharsheya: Learn

from it,

from the fact that we require hiring workers for the court cheaply, that

when we give them wages

for uprooting mixed seeds,

we give them from the chamber’s collection,

and therefore it is necessary to save consecrated funds.

If it should enter your mind that we give it to them from theirs,

that anyone with kilayim found in his possession must pay the wages of the workers who uproot it —

what difference does it make to us from them!?

and we have no need to be concerned for the money of the sinners; rather, the agents should go out on weekdays, and the owners of the kilayim —

however much they want

the workers, will be compelled

to give them!

And

this matter, that we need to uproot kilayim —

until how much

is its measure for prohibiting the field through its mixture?