Today’s daf TB Nedarim 57 asks a very interesting question which is triggered by the Mishna. The Mishna teaches the formula of a vow that will prohibit exchanges and growth as if it were hekdesh, sanctified to the Temple. Conversely, it also teaches the formula of a vow which will not prohibit exchanges and growth. The latter formula has proviso. “This applies only with regard to an item whose seeds cease after it is sown. However, with regard to an item whose seeds do not cease after it is sown, e.g., bulbs, which flower and enter into a foliage period and repeat the process, it is prohibited for him to partake even of the growths of its growths, as the original, prohibited item remains intact.” (Sefaria.org translation)
The Gemara wants to know how we view the new growth of something prohibited. Is this new growth just a continuation of the original growth and prohibited or is it considered a new entity and permitted? If the new growth is considered like the original growth and prohibited, can it be annulled when is mixed with permitted other growth?
“Yishmael, a man of Kefar Yamma, and some say, a man of Kefar Dima, raised a dilemma with regard to an onion that one uprooted during the Sabbatical Year, which was therefore sanctified with the sanctity of the Sabbatical Year, and he then planted it during the eighth year, and its growths that developed in the eighth year exceeded its principal original Sabbatical-Year onion. And this is the dilemma that he raised: Its eighth-year growth is permitted, and its Sabbatical-Year principal is prohibited. Since its growth exceeded its principal, do those permitted growths neutralize the prohibition of the onion, or do they not? Yishmael came and raised the dilemma before Rabbi Ami, and he did not have an answer readily available.” (Sefaria.org translation) The onion is an item who seeds do not cease. The only thing were allowed to do with the produce of the Sabbatical Year is eat it. At the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year all the produce grown must be destroyed.
Answering this question the Gemara provides three answers, one declaring that the new growth is a brand-new entity and two deciding that the new growth is just a continuation of the old growth and prohibited.
“Yishmael came and raised the dilemma before Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa, who resolved it for him from that which Rabbi Ḥanina Terita’a said that Rabbi Yannai said: With regard to an onion of teruma that one planted, if its growths exceeded its principal, it is permitted. Here too, the eighth-year growth should neutralize the prohibition of the Sabbatical-Year onion.”(Sefaria.org translation) When there is 100 times more non-teruma (in this case onions) mixed together with the teruma produce, then the teruma produce is annulled and permitted. Rabbi Yannai holds that the new growth is a new entity.
Rabbi Yoḥanan disagrees
and holds that we consider the new growth as a continuation of the old growth
and forbidden.
“Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi
Yoḥanan said: With regard to a young vine within three years of
its planting, whose fruits are orla and forbidden, that one grafted
onto an old, permitted vine, and there were fruits on the younger
vine, even though the younger vine added two hundred times the
number of fruits that were there when it was grafted, and those additional
fruits are permitted because they draw their nourishment from the older vine,
the fruit that was on the younger vine before it was grafted is forbidden.
Although, in principle, when the permitted part of the mixture is two hundred
times the forbidden orla, the prohibition is neutralized, in this case,
the prohibition is not neutralized, as the forbidden fruit was there from the
outset.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Rabbi Yonaton also disagrees and
holds that we consider the new growth as a continuation of the old growth and
forbidden. “And Rabbi
Shmuel bar Rabbi Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: With regard to an onion
that one planted in a vineyard, creating a forbidden mixture of food crops
in a vineyard, and then the vineyard was uprooted, and most of
the onion grew in a permitted manner, it is forbidden. Apparently, both Rabbi
Yoḥanan and Rabbi
Yonatan disagree with the opinion of Rabbi Yannai, and therefore, there is no clear
resolution to the dilemma.” (Sefaria.org translation)
This question how we view the new
growth of something prohibited continues on tomorrow’s daf when our Mishna is brought into play.
No comments:
Post a Comment