Translation:Mishnah/Seder Zeraim/Tractate Peah/Chapter 4

Mishnah 1

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The corner is given while connected to the ground.

For vines, and for palm trees, the master of the house brings them down and separates them for the poor.

R’ Shimon says, “Even separate nut trees.”

Even if ninety-nine say to separate and one says to plunder,

Listen to him as he has spoken as is the law.

Mishnah 2

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For date trees and vines, this is not so.

Even if ninety-nine say to plunder, and one says to separate,

Listen to this one, for he has spoken as is the law.

Mishnah 3

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If one took a corner of the harvest and threw it on the rest, there is nothing for him.

Even if he falls down on it, and spreads his shawl on it, it has already been transferred.

And thus it is for the gleanings of the poor, and thus it is for the forgotten sheaf.

Mishnah 4

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The corner cannot be harvested with a scythe,

And one cannot uproot it with a spade,

In order to not hit his friend.

Mishnah 5

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Thrice in the day there were beggars, in the morning, at midday, and in the afternoon.

Rabban Gamliel says, “They didn’t say this except for the purpose that they should not be reduced.”

R’ Akiva says, “They didn’t say this except for the purpose that they shouldn’t increase.”

Of those that were in Beth Nameir, they would collect with a rope and give a corner from every line and furrow.

Mishnah 6

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An idol worshipper that harvests his field,

And after thus becomes a convert to Judaism,

He is exempt from leaving the gleanings,

And from forgetting (the sheaves) and from leaving a corner.

R’ Yehuda obligated him in forgetting (the sheaves),

As he cannot forget except in the hour that the sheaves would be left.

Mishnah 7

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One who dedicates a crop which was standing, and redeems it,

That which was standing is obligated (in gleaning).

One who dedicated sheaves and redeemed them, the sheaves are obligated.

That which was dedicated while standing and then was redeemed,

The sheaves are exempt, for in the hour that it would be obligated, it was exempt.

Mishnah 8

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Like that which came out on this,

If one dedicates his fruit, but it wasn’t the season to tithe them, and he redeems them,

They are obligated.

If the season to tithe them comes and he redeems them,

They are obligated.

If he dedicated them, and they weren’t ripe,

And they ripened while possessed by the treasurer,

And after thus he redeemed them,

They are exempt,

For in the hour that they would have been obligated, they were exempt.

Mishnah 9

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He who collects the corner and says:

“Indeed, this is for so-and-so, a poor man.”

R’ Eliezer says, “He acquired it for him.”

And the Sages say, “He gives it to the first poor man that he finds.”

The gleanings, the forgotten sheaves, and the corners of an idol worshipper,

They are obligated to be tithed,

Except if he abandoned it.

Mishnah 10

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What is a gleaning?

That which drops in the hour of harvesting.

If he harvested a handful, or grabbed a fistful,

And a thorn pricked him,

And it fell from his hand to the earth,

Indeed, it belongs to the master of the house.

If it was from the inside of his hand, or from the blade of the scythe,

It belongs to the poor.

If from outside his hand, or the back of the scythe,

It belongs to the master of the house.

Also if it is from the tip of the hand or the tip of the scythe.

R’ Yishmael says, “It is for the poor.”

R’ Akiva says, “It is for the master of the house.”

Mishnah 11

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Anything in ant-holes that is within a standing crop,

Indeed this belongs to the master of the house.

If this is after the harvesters,

The upper parts belong to the poor,

And the under parts belong to the master of the house.

R’ Meir says, “Everything is for the poor,

As that which is a doubtful gleaning is still a gleaning.”