Moed Katan 6b — the Talmud in English

Rav Shmuel bar Yitzhak said: It is like that which we learned

in tractate Kilayim:

Every se'a that contains ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location")

a quarter

of a kav

of seed of another species—

he must reduce it!

That is, he must uproot it, since a quarter-kav makes an entire se'a kilayim.

And we object:

But it was taught: They instituted that

the agents

declare ownerless

when kilayim is found

the entire field,

as a penalty for not uprooting the kilayim after they announced concerning them on the first of Adar that they should be uprooted .

And how, then, did we learn that it is sufficient to reduce the kilayim in order to permit it?

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

Here,

where he need only reduce it, and that is sufficient—

before

the enactment

that they instituted to declare it ownerless.

And here,

where we learned that they should declare everything ownerless—

after the enactment.

And the Gemara brings proof that after the enactment they declare it ownerless and do not uproot it:

For it was taught

in tractate Shekalim, concerning the departure of the agents on the intermediate days of the Festival regarding kilayim:

At first,

before the enactment,

the

agents

would uproot and throw

the kilayim

before the animals

of the owner of the field.

And householders would rejoice with two joys:

One,

over

their being weeded for them

by the agents of the court

their fields,

because when they uprooted the kilayim, this benefited the field like weeding, and the thinning benefited what remained in the field .

And one,

over

the agents’ throwing

the kilayim

before their animals,

and they did not have to trouble themselves to feed them.

Once the Sages saw that they rejoiced over this, and did not uproot the kilayim themselves as required by law,

they instituted that they should uproot and throw them onto the roads,

and thereby they would lose the kilayim, and their animals would not eat from them.

And still the

owners

would rejoice with great joy, that

at least

their fields were being weeded.

Therefore,

the Sages instituted

that

they should declare ownerless

the agents

the entire field .

Mishna:

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says:

On the intermediate days of the Festival,

one may draw water from one tree to another,

because with regard to the trees, the field has the status of an irrigated field, such that if it is not watered, it will come to substantial loss .

Provided that he does not water the entire field,

which is a rain-watered field .

For there is no loss if he does not water it.

Seeds that did not drink before the Festival—

he may not water them during the Festival,

because as long as they have not become accustomed to irrigation, they are not damaged if he does not water them frequently .

And the Sages

disagree with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, and

permit both this and that,

both watering a rain-watered field and watering during the Festival seeds that did not drink before the Festival, for they hold that work was permitted during the Festival even for improvement .

But the halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, who prohibits it.

Gemara:

Rav Yehuda said: If it was a muddy field,

a type of rain-watered field, which is always moist, and now it is dry, Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov agrees that

it is permitted

to water it, even though it is a rain-watered field, since it was moist, and if it is not watered it will come to substantial loss; it is permitted .

It was also taught thus: When they said that it is prohibited to water them during the Festival, they said this only concerning seeds that did not drink before the Festival,

which are not damaged if he does not water them during the Festival.

But seeds that drank before the Festival, it is permitted to water them during the Festival.

And if it was a muddy field, it is permitted,

as Rav Yehuda .

And one does not water a dry field during the Festival,

since it is always dry and does not need watering; this is effort during the Festival.

And the Sages permit both this and that,

both seeds that did not drink before the Festival and a dry field .

Ravina said: Learn from this,

from the fact that the Sages permitted even where there is no loss, that

this garden,

a vegetable garden made for fragrance and appearance in the courtyard of his house—

it is permitted to sprinkle it,

to sprinkle water upon it, that is, light watering, and it is permitted in the garden

during the intermediate days of the Festival,

just as complete watering is permitted according to the Sages.

And Ravina explains his proof from the baraita:

A dry field,

which the Sages permitted one to water,

what is the reason?

Is there not no loss in it? Necessarily,

the late fruit makes it early.

Through the watering, the fruit ripens more quickly.

Here too,

in the case of the garden, it is permitted because

the late fruit makes it early .

And although it is only improvement, the Sages hold that it is permitted.

The Sages taught: One may sprinkle a white field

which is a rain-watered field

during the Sabbatical year, but not during the Festival.

And we object:

But it was taught: One may sprinkle

a white field

both during the Festival and during the Sabbatical year!?

And we answer:

Rav Huna said: It is not difficult.

This

that the Sages taught, “but not during the Festival,” is according to

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov,

and

this

that we learned in the baraita, that they permit sprinkling it both during the Festival and during the Sabbatical year, is according to

the Sages,

who permit watering during the Festival even for improvement .

It was taught in another [baraita]: One irrigates a white field on the eve of

the Sabbatical year, so that vegetables will emerge during the Sabbatical year

. But during the Sabbatical year it is forbidden to irrigate it so that vegetables will emerge during the Sabbatical year.

And furthermore, one irrigates a white field

even

during the Sabbatical year, so that vegetables will emerge for after the Sabbatical year .

Mishna:

A.

They trap the "

ishut," "

tanshemet," which is a mole that damages the fields by its digging.

And the mice

that damage the field and the grain

from the tree field and from the white field.

And they trap them

in their usual manner,

for he does not need to alter the manner of trapping them.

And the permission to trap applies both

during the Festival

, and

both

during the Sabbatical year.

Even though other trapping is forbidden during the Festival because of labor, and it is forbidden to trap a tanshemet and mice from the field during the Sabbatical year because this trapping labor is considered labor that improves the field .

And the Sages

disagree and

say:

Only

from the tree field

does he trap

in his usual manner,

since the loss there is greater, and they were concerned about substantial loss .

And

if

from the white field,

where there is no great loss in preventing the trapping, he can trap from it only

not in his usual manner .

And the Gemara explains the manner of trapping and the alteration in it.

B.

And one repairs the breach during the Festival.

If the wall of the garden fell, he may arrange stones in its place like a wall, but without mortar or plaster.

And during the Sabbatical year,

when there is no prohibition of labor in it, and the wall does not benefit the garden but is intended only for protection—

he builds

a complete wall around the garden

in his usual manner.

Gemara:

And we explain:

What is “ishut”?

Rav Judah said: A creature that has no eyes.

Rav Yemar bar Shelamya said, and some say Rav Yimar

bar Shelamya: What is the verse

that [teaches] that ishut is a creature that has no eyes?

For it is written, "

Like a snail that melts as it goes."

Like a snail that emerges from its shell, and it melts, for as it walks, slime falls from it until it melts and dies—it is similar to it: "

The fallen ishut has not seen the sun."

This is the ishut, which, because of its blindness, suddenly falls to the ground and dies.

The Sages taught: One traps the ishut and the mice from the white field and from the tree field, in his usual manner.

And one destroys

the

holes

of the

ants,

because their digging damages the field.

How does one destroy

their holes, seeing that they are deep in the ground and they will continue digging!?

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: He brings earth from this hole,

together with one group of ants,

and places it into this hole,

the other one, in his field.

And they strangle one another!

Because they recognize by the smell of the earth that it is not theirs, and since they are careful not to mix, they strangle one another [Meiri] .

Rav Yemar bar Shelamya said in the name of Abaye:

That which they said—that they do not recognize the smell of the earth—is not in every circumstance, but rather:

And this is when it stands on two sides of the river!

The other ants are found on the opposite side of a river that separates between them, and because of the interruption of the water they do not recognize the earth of the ants’ hole on the other side, since they were unable to reach it.

And this is when there is no bridge

and specifically when there is no bridge over the river on which they could cross.

And this is when there is not

even a bridge called

a gamla,

which is a very narrow bridge made from a single plank.

And this is when there is not

even

a metzra,

which is a bridgelet narrower than a gamla, which cannot be crossed except with the aid of a rope tied on both sides of the river, and one uses it for walking.

But if one of these crossings exists, the ants on this side recognize by the smell the earth in the ant holes on the other side of the river.