• • 1. 1. Until what time may a tree-planted field be ploughed in the year before the Seventh Year? The School of Shammai say: So long as this benefits the produce [of the sixth year]. The School of Hillel say: Until Pentecost. And the opinion of the one is not far from the opinion of the other.
  • 1.2. What counts as ‘a tree-planted field?’ Any in which three trees grow within a seah’s space. [note] 5 If they are [each] fitted to produce a cake of dried figs weighing sixty minas, [note] 6 Italian measure, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake; but if less than this, only such space may be ploughed which is occupied by the fruit-picker and his basket, [when his basket lies] behind him.
  • 1.3. It is all one whether they are serak [note] 7 trees or fruit trees: they are reckoned as though they were fig trees; if they are [of a size] fitted to produce a cake [note] 8 of dried figs, weighing sixty minas, Italian measure, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake; but if less than this, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for them.
  • 1.4. If one tree can produce [such] a cake [note] 8 of dried figs but [the other] two cannot, or if two can do so but one cannot, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for [each of] them. This applies when there are from three to nine trees [in the seah’s space]; if there are ten or more than ten, whether or not they can produce [the prescribed measure] the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake. For it is written, In plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. [note] 1 There was no need to speak of the plowing time and harvest of the Seventh Year; but it refers to the plowing time in the sixth year which enters into the Seventh Year, and to the harvest of the Seventh Year which extends into the year after the Seventh Year. R. Ishmael says: [note] 2 As the time of ploughing is of free choice, so is the time of harvest of free choice, save only the time of harvesting the Omer. [note] 3
  • 1.5. If the three trees belong to three persons, they are included together and the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake. How much space should there be between them? Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: Enough for oxen and yoke to pass through.
  • 1.6. If ten saplings are spread out over a seah’s space, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake, until the New Year, but if they are set out in a row or surrounded by a fence, only such space may be ploughed as is needful for them.
  • 1.7. Saplings and gourds may be included together [to make the total of ten] within a seah’s space. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: Wheresoever there are ten gourds within a seah’s space, the whole seah’s space may be ploughed for their sake until the New Year.
  • 1.8. Until when can they be called ‘saplings’? R. Eleazar b. Azariah says: until [the fourth year when] they become free for common use. [note] 4 R. Joshua says: Until they are seven years old. R. Akiba says: ‘Sapling’ [must be understood] according to its [accepted] sense — [newly planted]. If a tree was cut down and [its stump] put forth fresh shoots, if they are one handbreadth or less high it is accounted a sapling; but if they are more than a handbreadth high it is accounted a tree. So R. Simeon.

• • 2.1. Until when may a white field [note] 5 be ploughed in the year before the Seventh Year? Until the ground has dried, [note] 6 [or] such time as the ground is still ploughed for planting out beds of cucumbers and gourds. R. Simeon said: Thou puttest the law for each man into his own hand! — but, rather, a white field may be ploughed until Passover and a tree-planted field until Pentecost.
  • 3.2. Beds of cucumbers or gourds may be dunged and hoed until the New Year; so, too, irrigated fields. Until the New Year they may cut off flaws, strip off leaves, cover up roots or fumigate plants. R. Simeon says: A man may even remove a [withered] leaf from a grape cluster in the Seventh Year itself.
  • 2.3. Until the New Year they may clear away the stones. Until the New Year they may trim trees, prune them, or lop off dead branches. R. Joshua says: What applies to pruning and lopping off in the fifth year applies also in the sixth year. R. Simeon says: So long as it is still permitted me to tend a tree it is permitted me also to lop off its dead branches.
  • 2.4. Until the New Year they may besmear saplings, wrap them round, protect them with ashes, [note] 7 make shelters for them or water them. R. Eliezer b. Zadok says: A man may even water the foliage in the Seventh Year itself, but not the roots.
  • 2.5. Until the New Year they may oil unripe figs or pierce them; but unripe figs of the sixth year which remain on the tree until the Seventh Year, or unripe figs of the Seventh Year which remain on the tree until the eighth year, these they may not oil or pierce. R. Judah says: Where the custom is to oil the figs they may not do so, since that would rank as work; but where it is not the custom to oil the figs they may do so. R. Simeon permits work to be done to the tree [itself], since it is permitted to tend a tree [but not the fruit].
  • 2.6. In the sixth year, within thirty days of the New Year, they may not plant trees or sink vine-shoots or graft trees; if a man planted or sank or grafted, he must uproot what he has done. R. Judah says: If within three days an engrafting has not struck root it will never do so. R. Jose and R. Simeon say: Within two weeks.
  • 2.7. Rice, durra, panic and sesame that have taken root before a New Year are [note] 1 tithed after the manner of the past year [note] 2 and they are permitted in the Seventh Year; otherwise they are forbidden in the Seventh Year and are [note] 1 to be tithed after the manner of the coming year.
  • 2.8. R. Simeon of Shezur says: Egyptian beans, if from the outset they were sown only for seed, are treated in like manner. R. Simeon says: Large beans are treated in like manner. R. Eleazar says: Large beans are treated in like manner only if they have formed pods before the New Year.
  • 2.9. Shallots and Egyptian beans that have not been watered within thirty days of the New Year are tithed after the manner of the past year and are permitted in the Seventh Year; otherwise they are forbidden in the Seventh Year and are tithed after the manner of the coming year. So, too, is it with [the produce of] a naturally watered field [note] 3 that has not been watered for two spells. [note] 4 So R. Meir. But the Sages say: Three.
  • 2.10. Gourds that have been left growing for seed only may be left growing during the Seventh Year if they have hardened before the New Year and become unfit for human food; otherwise they may not be left growing during the Seventh Year. Their buds are forbidden during the Seventh Year. They may water [note] 5 the soil of a white field. So R. Simeon. But R. Eliezer b. Jacob forbids it. They may flood a rice field in the Seventh Year. R. Simeon says: But they may not cut [the rice plant].

• 3.I. From what time [in the Seventh Year] may dung be brought out to the dung-heaps [in the field]? After transgressors [note] 6 have ceased [to tend their fields]. So R. Meir. R. Judah says: After the moisture [of the dung] [note] 7 is dried up. R. Jose says: After it turns solid.
• 3.
  2. How much dung may they lay down? Three dung-heaps in every seah’s space, ten skep-loads [note] 8 of dung to every heap, one lethek [note] 9 to ever}- skep-load. They may increase the number of skep-loads
• 3.3. A man may set out in his field three dung-heaps to every seah’s space; if more, they must be set out circlewise. [note] 1 So R. Simeon. But the Sages forbid it unless they are heaped [in special places] three handbreadths above or below [ground level]. [note] 2 A man may pile up all his dung together. R. Meir forbids this unless it is heaped [on a special place] three hand- breadths above or below [ground level]. If he had but little [he may pile it on the field and] he may go on adding to it. R. Eleazer b. Azariah forbids this unless it is heaped [in a special place] three handbreadths above or below [ground level], or laid on rocky ground.
• 3.4. If a man used his field for a cattle-fold he should make a pen covering two seahs’ space, and [when that has been filled with dung] uproot three sides of the pen [and set them up around the adjoining two seahs’ space] leaving the middle wall standing as before; thus four seahs’ space will have been used for a cattle-fold. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: Eight seahs’ space [may be used after that same fashion for a cattle-fold]. [note] 3 It the whole field covered but four seahs’ space he must leave a part of it [unused by the cattle-fold] for appearance’s sake. He may shift the dung from the cattle-fold and set it out on his field [in heaps] after the [prescribed] manner of them that bring out dung.
• 3.5. A man may not open up a stone-quarry within his field for the first time [in the Seventh Year] unless there is [visible] there [sufficient stone to provide] courses each three cubits long, three wide and three high, making twenty-seven stones in all. [note] 4
• 3.6. It a wall [that stood in his field] had in it ten stones each a two-men’s load, these may be removed. Such a wall must be [not less than] ten hand- breadths high; if it is less than this it is accounted a quarry for stone and may be levelled until it is no more than one handbreadth [note] 5 from the ground. This applies to a man’s own field; but from his fellow’s he may remove what stones he will. Moreover it applies if a man had not begun [to remove the stones] in the sixth year; but if he had begun in the sixth year he may remove what stones he will.
• 3.7. Stones that the plough has turned up, or that were covered and are now laid bare, may be removed if there are two among them each a two- men’s load. If a man would clear away [loose] stones from his field, he may remove the top layers but must let alone those touching the soil. So, too, with a heap of pebbles or a pile of stones — he may remove the top layers but must let alone those touching the soil; but if beneath these there is stony ground or straw, they may be removed.
• 3.8. In the sixth year, after the rains have ceased, steps may not be built up the sides of ravines, [note] 6 since this would be to make them ready for the Seventh Year; but they may be built in the Seventh Year after the rains have ceased, since this is to make them ready for the eighth year. They [note] 7 may not be blocked in with earth, but made only into a rough stone bank; any stone [lying in the field] which a man [building the bank] need but stretch out his hand to take, may be removed.
• 3.9. ‘Shoulder stones’ may be brought from anywhere, and a builder [note] 1 may bring stones from anywhere. These are ‘shoulder-stones’: any that cannot be taken away in one hand. So R. Meir. R. Jose says: ‘Shoulder stones’ are what their name implies: such as are carried away, two or three together, on a man’s shoulder.
• 3.10. If a man would build a wall between his own and the public domain, he may dig down to rock level. [note] 2 What must he do with the earth? He may heap it up in the public domain and afterward restore it to order. So R. Joshua. R. Akiba says: As a man may not cause disorder in the public domain neither may he afterward restore it to order; what, then, must he do with the earth? He may heap it up in his own field after the [prescribed] manner of them that bring out dung. So, too, if a man would dig a cistern, a trench, or a cavern.

• • 4.1. Before time they used to say: A man may gather pieces of wood and stones [note] 3 from off his own field when they are big, like as he may gather them from his fellow’s field [whether they are big or little]; [note] 4 but when transgressors grew many [note] 5 it was ordained that a man might only gather them from another’s field, and another gather them from his field, but not as a [mutual] favour, nor, needless to say, to exact maintenance in return.
  • 4.2. A field that has been cleared of thorns [in the Seventh Year] may be sown in the eighth year; but one that has been prepared, [note] 6 or [wholly] used by cattle, may not be sown in the eighth year. The School of Shammai say that the produce of a prepared field may not be consumed in the Seventh Year; but the School of Hillel say that it may. The School of Shammai say: They may not eat produce of the Seventh Year if it is by favour [note] 7 [of the owner]. The School of Hillel say: They may eat it whether it is by favour or not. R. Judah says: The rule is to the contrary, for here the School of Shammai adopt a more lenient and the School of Hillel a more stringent ruling.
  • 4.3. Newly ploughed land may be hired in the Seventh Year from a gentile but not from an Israelite; and gentiles may be helped [when labouring in the fields] in the Seventh Year, but not Israelites. Moreover, greetings may be offered to gentiles in the interests of peace.
  • 4.4. If a man would thin out olive trees [in the Seventh Year], the School of Shammai say: He may only raze them to the roots. The School of Hillel say: He may uproot them. But they agree that if a man would level his field he may only raze [the trees to the roots]. Who is he that ‘thins out’? [He that removes but] one or two. And he that ‘levels’? [He that removes at least] three growing side by side. This applies to what grows within a man’s own domain; but within the domain of his fellow he that levels may also uproot.
  • 4.5. If a man would split wood off an olive tree [in the Seventh Year] he may not cover up the rent with earth, but he may cover it with stones or straw. If he would cut down the trunk of a sycamore tree he may not cover up the rent with earth, but he may cover it with stones or straw. A virgin sycamore [note] 8 may not be cut down in the Seventh Year since that counts as cultivation. [note] 9 R. Judah says: If after the usual manner, it is forbidden; but ten handbreadths or more may be left standing, or it may be razed to ground level.
  • 4.6. If a man would clip vines or cut reeds [in the Seventh Year] , R. Jose the Galilean says: He should leave them [uncut at least] one handbreadth [from the ground]. R. Akiba says: He may cut them in his usual manner with axe, sickle or saw, or with whatsoever he will. If a tree is split it may be tied up in the Seventh Year that the split may grow no greater, but not so as to repair it. [note] 1
  • 4.7. After what time may the fruit of trees be eaten in the Seventh Year? After young figs have begun to mature [note] 2 a man may eat his bread with them in the field. After they have ripened he may bring them into his house. And similarly with fruits of like kind [he may bring them in when they are so ripe that] in the other years of the week [of years] he would be liable to Tithes. [note] 3
  • 4.8. After unripe grapes have begun to produce juice, a man may eat his bread with them in the field. After they have ripened he may bring them into his house. And similarly with fruits of like kind [he may bring them in when they are so ripe that] in the other years of the week [of years] he would be liable to Tithes.
  • 4.9. If a seah of olives can yield a quarter-log [of oil], a man may crush them and eat them in the field; if they can yield a half- log he may press them in the field and use their oil; if they can yield a third [of their full possible yield], he may press them in the field and bring them into his house. And similarly with fruits of like kind [he may bring them in when they are so ripe that] in the other years of the week [of years] he would be liable to Tithes. With all other fruit of trees their season for Tithes is their season when they are permitted in the Seventh Year.
  • 4.10. After what time is it forbidden to cut down trees in the Seventh Year? The School of Shammai say: No tree [may be cut down] after it puts forth [leaves]. The School of Hillel say: Carob trees — after their branches begin to droop; vines — after they produce berries; olive trees — after they blossom; and any other tree — after it puts forth [leaves]. Any tree that has reached the season when it is liable to Tithes may be cut down. How much should an olive tree produce so that it may not be cut down? [note] 4 A quzrter-kab. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel says: All depends on the kind of olive tree.

• • 5.1. The Seventh Year [law] may apply to white figs in the second year [of the week of years] since they ripen but once in three years. R. Judah says: The Seventh Year [law] may apply to Persian figs in the year after the Seventh Year since they ripen but once in two years. It was replied: They have spoken only of white figs.
  • 5.2. If arum is covered up with earth in the Seventh Year, R. Meir says: It must be not less than two seahs in quantity, three handbreadths high, and covered with earth one handbreadth deep. [note] 5 But the Sages say: It must be not less than four kabs in quantity, one handbreadth high and covered with earth one handbreadth deep: moreover it must be covered up with earth in ground over which men walk. [note] 1
  • 5.3. When arum has remained after the passing of the Seventh Year, R. Eliezer sap: If the poor have gathered the leaves thereof, it is well; if not, an allotment [note] 2 must be made to the poor. R. Joshua says: If the poor have gathered the leaves thereof, it is well; if not, no allotment need be made to the poor.
  • 5.4. When arum remains from the sixth year until the Seventh Year (so, too, with summer-onions and madder from good soil) the School of Shammai say: They may only be dug up with wooden rakes. [note] 3 The School of Hillel say: With metal spades. But they agree that madder from stony [note] 4 soil may be dug up with metal spades.
  • 5.5. When may arum be gathered after the close of the Seventh Year? R. Judah says: Forthwith. But the Sages say: After the new crop is come up.
  • 5.6. These are implements which the craftsman may not sell in the Seventh Year: a plough and whatsoever pertains thereto, a yoke, winnowing fan or mattock. But he may sell a sickle or a scythe or a wagon and whatsoever pertains thereto. This is the general rule: any implement is forbidden whose sole use is one that transgresses [the Seventh Year law], but it is allowed if its use may be either one forbidden or one permissible.
  • 5.7. The potter may sell [to one person] five oil-jars and fifteen wine-jars, since a man is accustomed to get so much from the ownerless produce [of the Seventh Year]; and if he gets more it is permitted [to sell to him more jars]. The potter may sell [more than this number] to gentiles within the Land [of Israel] and to Israelites outside the Land.
  • 5.8. The School of Shammai say: A ploughing heifer may not be sold to a man in the Seventh Year. But the School of Hillel permit it since he may perchance slaughter it. One may sell him produce even in time of sowing; even if it is known that he has a threshing-floor one may lend him a seah–measure; and one may give him small money in change even if it is known that he employs labourers. But if [it is known that these things are required] expressly [to transgress the Seventh Year law] they are forbidden.
  • 5.9. A woman may lend a sifter, sieve, hand-mill or oven to her neighbour that is suspected of transgressing the Seventh Year law, but she may not winnow or grind corn with her. The wife of an Associate [note] 5 may lend a sifter or sieve to the wife of an Am-haaretz and may winnow, grind or sift com with her; but when she pours water over the flour she may not draw near to her, since help may not be given to them that commit transgression. All these have been enjoined in the interests of peace. Gentiles may be helped [when labouring in the fields] in the Seventh Year, but not Israelites. Moreover, greetings may be offered to gentiles in the interests of peace.

2. In Syria they may continue work with grain already gathered but not with what is still unreaped: they may thresh, winnow, and trample the corn and bind it into sheaves; but they may not reap the crops or gather the grapes or olives. R. Akiba laid down a general rule: the like of whatsoever is permitted to be done in the Land of Israel may be done also in Syria.

3. Onions [remaining in the field until the Seventh Year] on which rain has fallen and which have sprouted, are forbidden if their leaves are dark coloured, but if they are green they are permitted. R. Hananiah b. Antigonus says: If they can be pulled up by their leaves they are forbidden, whereas in the year following the Seventh Year the like of these [note] 5 are permitted.

4. When may a man buy vegetables after the close of the Seventh Year? When that same crop [again] ripens. Where the first ripening crop is ready the later ripening crops are permissible. Rabbi permitted the buying of vegetables immediately after the close of the Seventh Year.

5. [Heave-offering] [note] 6 oil that [has become unclean and] must be burnt and Seventh Year produce may not be taken out of the Land to another country. R. Simeon said: I have heard an express tradition that they may be taken to Syria but not outside the Land [of Israel].

6. Heave-offering may not be brought to the Land [of Israel] from outside the Land. R. Simeon said: I have heard an express tradition that it may be brought from Syria but not from outside the Land [of Israel].

2 If unlawfully cultivated.
3 And not by them that returned from Babylon.
4 Euphrates.
5 That remained over from the sixth year, through the Seventh Year, until the eighth year.
6 See App. I. 48 (1).

• • 7.1. An important general rule have they laid down concerning Seventh Year produce: whatsoever is food for man or for cattle or that is a species of dyeing matter, if it is not left growing in the ground, the Seventh Year law applies both to it [note] 7 and to its money substitute. [note] 8 The law of Removal [note] 9 applies both to it and to its money substitute. Which [plants] are these [that are food for man]? The leaf of arum, the leaf of milt waste, chicory, leeks, purslane, and asphodel. And food for cattle? Thorns and thistles. And dyeing matter? Aftergrowths of woad and seed of safflower. The Seventh Year law applies both to them and to their money substitute, and the law of Removal also applies both to them and to their money substitute.
  • 7.2. Another general rule have they laid down: whatsoever is not food for man or for cattle nor a species of dyeing matter, and is left growing in the ground, the Seventh Year law applies both to it and to its money substitute; but the law of Removal does not apply to it or to its money substitute. Which [plants] are these? The root of arum and the root of miltwaste, hart’s-tongue, Bethlehem-star and hazelwort; and dyeing matter — madder and round-leaved cyclamen. The Seventh Year law applies both to them and to their money substitute, but the law of Removal does not apply to them or to their money substitute. R. Meir says: The law of Removal applies to their money substitute until the New Year. The Sages answered: The law of Removal does not apply to the plants themselves; still less can it apply to their money substitute.
  • 7.3. The Seventh Year law applies to the husks and blossoms of pomegranates and the shells and kernels of walnuts, and also to their money substitute. The dyer may dye [with Seventh Year produce] for his own benefit but not for hire, since none may traffick with Seventh Year produce, or with Firstlings, [note] 1 or with Heave-offering, or with carrion, or with what is terefah, [note] 2 or with forbidden beasts [note] 3 or creeping things. [note] 4 [In the Seventh Year] a man may not gather wild vegetables and sell them in the market; yet he may collect them and his son sell them for him in the market. If he had gathered them for his own use and aught remains over, this he may sell.
  • 7.4. If a man bought a Firstling [note] 5 for his son’s wedding feast or for a Feast [at Jerusalem], and he does not need it, he may sell it. If hunters of wild animals, birds and fishes chanced upon species that are unclean, they may sell them. R. Judah says: Also if a man came upon such by accident he may buy or sell them provided that this is not his trade. But the Sages forbid it.
  • 7.5. The Seventh Year law applies to branches of the sorb tree and the carob tree, as well as to their money substitute; the law of Removal also applies to them and to their money substitute. The Seventh Year law applies to branches of the terebinth, the pistachio, and the white-thorn, as well as to their money substitute; but the law of Removal does not apply to them or to their money substitute. Yet the law of Removal applies to the leaves since these fall off from their stem.
  • 7.6. The Seventh Year law applies to the rose, henna, balsam, and the lotus, as well as to their money substitute. R. Simeon says: It does not apply to balsam since this is not a fruit.
  • 7.7. If a fresh rose [of Seventh Year produce] was preserved in old [note] 6 oil, the rose may be taken away; but if an old rose [of Seventh Year produce] was preserved in fresh oil [note] 7 [the whole] is subject to the law of Removal. If fresh carobs [of Seventh Year produce] were preserved in old wine, or old carobs [of Seventh Year produce] in new wine, [note] 7 both are subject to the law of Removal. This is the general rule: [note] 8 if one kind is mixed with a different kind, and it is enough to give its flavour, [the whole] is subject to the law of Removal; if it is mixed with a like kind, in no matter what quantity, [note] 9 [the whole is subject to the law of Removal]. If Seventh Year produce is mixed with a like kind it renders [the rest] forbidden in no matter what quantity, and if with a different kind [it renders the rest forbidden] only if it is enough to give its flavour.

• 8.1. An important general rule have they laid down concerning Seventh Year produce: whatsoever is gathered solely as food for man may not be used as an emollient for man, or, needless to say, for cattle; -whatsoever is not gathered solely as food for man may be used as an emollient for man but not for cattle; and whatsoever is not [customarily] gathered solely as food for man or as food for cattle, yet was intended as food both for manand for cattle, the more stringent rules affecting both man and cattle apply to it. If [when it was gathered] it was intended for use [only] as wood, it is so accounted; like, for example, savory , marjoram, and calamint.
• 8.2. Seventh Year produce is intended for use as food, drink or unguent: that is to be used as food which is customarily eaten, and that used as drink which is customarily drunken, and that used as unguent which is customarily used for anointing. A man may not use wine or vinegar for anointing, but must anoint with oil. The same [note] 1 applies to Heave-offering and Second Tithe; but greater leniency applies to [oil from] Seventh Year produce in that it can be used for kindling a lamp.
• 8.3. Seventh Year produce may not be sold, whether by bulk, weight or number: even figs [may not be sold] by number nor vegetables by weight. The School of Shammai say: Nor even in bundles. And the School of Hillel say: What is usually tied up in bundles in the house may be tied up in bundles in the market; like, for example, leeks and asphodel.
• 8.4. If a man said to a labourer [in the Seventh Year], ‘Here is an mar [note] [note] 2 for thee: gather me vegetables to-day’, his payment is permitted; but if he said, ‘In return [for the issar] gather me vegetables today’, his payment is forbidden. If a man bought from the baker a loaf worth a pondion [note] 3 [and said,] ‘When I have collected vegetables from the field I will bring them to thee’, this is permitted; but if he bought it from him with no conditions, he may not pay him with the price of Seventh Year produce, since a debt may not be defrayed with the price of Seventh Year produce.
• 8.5. One may not pay therewith a well-digger, a bath-house keeper, a barber or a sailor, but it may be given to a well-digger [to buy wine] to drink; and it may be given to any of them as a free gift.
• 8.6. Seventh Year figs may not be cut off with the fig-knife, but they may be cut off by a [different] knife; grapes may not be trodden out in a wine- press, but they may be trodden out in a vat; and olives may not be prepared in an olive-press or with an olive-crusher, but they may be crushed and brought into a small press. R. Simeon says: They may even be ground in the [proper] olive-press and then brought into a small press.
• 8.7. Seventh Year vegetables may not be cooked in Heave-offering oil, lest they make it invalid. [note] 4 R. Simeon permits it. [If Seventh Year produce is exchanged for aught else and this again exchanged] the last thing [got in exchange] is subject to the Seventh Year law, and the [Seventh Year] produce itself remains forbidden.
• 8.8. Slaves or lands or unclean beasts may not be bought with the price of Seventh Year produce; but if a man has done so he must [buy and] consume [produce of] equal value. [note] 5 It is forbidden to bring as the offerings of a man or woman that suffered a flux [note] 6 or of a woman after childbirth [note] 7 birds that have been bought with the price of Seventh Year produce; if one has done so he must [buy and] consume [produce of] equal value. Vessels may not be anointed with oil from Seventh Year produce, and if one has done so he must [buy and] consume [produce of] equal value.
• 8.9. If a hide has been smeared with Seventh Year oil, R. Eliezer says: It must be burnt. But the Sages say: A man must [buy and] consume [produce of] equal value. They declared before R. Akiba that R. Eliezer used to say: A hide that has been smeared with Seventh Year oil is to be burnt. He replied: Hold your peace; I will not say to you what R. Eliezer has taught concerning this. [note] 1
• 8.10. Moreover they declared before him that R. Eliezer used to say: He that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like to one that eats the flesh of swine. He replied: Hold your peace; I will not say to you what R. Eliezer has taught concerning this.
• 8.11. If a bath was heated with Seventh Year straw or stubble, it is per- mitted to wash therein. But a man that is held in honour will not wash therein.

• 9.1. Rue, goosefoot, purslane, hill-coriander, celery, and meadow-eruca are exempt from Tithes and may be bought from any one in the Seventh Year, since no watch is kept over the like of these. [note] 2 R. Judah says: After- growths of mustard are permitted since transgressors are not under suspicion concerning them. R. Simeon says: All aftergrowths are permitted excepting the aftergrowths of cabbage, since the like of these do not come within the class of wild vegetables. But the Sages say: All aftergrowths are forbidden.
• 9.2. Three countries [note] 3 are to be distinguished in what concerns the law of Removal: [note] 4 Judea, beyond Jordan and Galilee; and each of these is divided into three lands. [Galilee is divided into] upper Galilee, lower Galilee, and the valley: from Kefar Hanania upwards, wheresoever sycamores do not grow, is upper Galilee; from Kefar Hanania downwards, wheresoever sycamores grow, is lower Galilee; the region of Tiberias is the valley. And in Judea are the hill-country, the plain [note] 5 and the valley. [note] 6 The plain of Lydda is deemed to pertain to the plain of the south, and the hill-country near by is like to the king’s hill-country. [note] 7 From Beth-horon to the sea is reckoned a single district.
• 9.3. Why have they spoken of three countries? That they may eat [of Seventh Year produce] in each country only until the last [of the Seventh Year produce] in that country is ended. R. Simeon says: They have spoken of three countries only in what concerns Judea; the rest of the countries are as the king’s hill-country. [note] 8 All these countries are alike in what concerns olives and dates.
• 9.4. They may eat [Seventh Year produce which they have collected into their houses] only so long as like produce is still found free in the fields, but not so long as it is still found watched over [in private ownership]. R. Jose allows it also when it is still found watched over [in private ownership]. They may [continue to] eat [Seventh Year produce] by virtue of [the continuance in the open field of] late-ripening grain, or of trees that bear twice in the year, but not by virtue of winter grapes. R. Judah allows this if they began to ripen before the summer [of the Seventh Year] was over.
• 9.5. If three kinds of vegetables [of Seventh Year produce] were preserved in a single jar, R. Eliezer says: They may be eaten only such time as the first [of the three kinds to ripen] remains in the field. R. Joshua says: Even until the last [of the three to ripen] still remains. Rabban Gamaliel says: When the like kind comes to an end in the field the law of Removal applies to that same kind that is in the jar. And the Halakah is according to him. R. Simeon says: All vegetables are alike in what concerns the law of Removal: one may continue eating [Seventh Year] purslane until vetches come to an end in the valley of Beth Netopha. [note] 1
• 9.6. If a man gathered fresh vegetables [of Seventh Year produce, he may continue to eat of them] until the [ground] moisture is dried up. If he gathered dried vegetables [he may continue to eat of them] until the second rainfall [note] 2 [of the next year]. Leaves of reeds or of vines [may continue to be used] until they [that are still left in the field] fall from their stem; or if they were gathered dry, until the second rainfall. R. Akiba says: In every case [they may continue to be used] until the second rainfall.
• 9.7. In like manner if a man hired a house to his fellow ‘until the rains’, [this signifies] ‘until the second rainfall’. If a man was under a vow [note] 3 to derive no benefit from his fellow ‘until the rains’, [this signifies] ‘until the second rainfall’. Until when may the poor enter the gardens [note] 4 [to glean]? Until the second rainfall. After what time may the straw and stubble [note] 5 of the Seventh Year be made use of or burnt? After the second rainfall.
• 9.8. If a man still had Seventh Year produce and the time came for Removal, he must allot food for three meals to every person [in his house- hold]. The poor may eat [of such produce] after the time of Removal, but not the rich. So R. Judah. R. Jose says: Poor and rich alike may eat after the time of Removal.
• 9.9. If a man had Seventh Year produce that had fallen to him by inheritance or gift, R. Eliezer says: It must be given [free] to them that would eat of it. But the Sages say: The sinner [note] 6 may not be benefited! — but, rather, the produce should be sold to them that would eat of it, and its price divided among them all. If a man ate of dough made from Seventh Year produce before Dough-offering was taken from it, he is guilty of death. [note] 7

• 10.1. The Seventh Year cancels [note] 8 any loan whether it is secured by bond or not. It does not cancel debts due to a shopkeeper, [note] 9 but if they were turned into a loan it cancels them. R. Judah says: If a later debt is incurred the former [is deemed to be a loan and] is cancelled. The hire of an hireling is not cancelled, but if it was turned into a loan it is cancelled. R. Jose says: If the work must stop in the Seventh Year the hire is cancelled, but if it need not stop in the Seventh Year the hire is not cancelled.
• 10.2. If a man slaughtered a heifer and divided it [among purchasers] on the first day of the [eighth] year, and the month was intercalated, [note] 1 the debt [incurred by them that buy the flesh] is cancelled; but if not, it is not cancelled. [The fines incurred by] the violator, [note] 2 the seducer [note] 3 and him that hath brought up an evil name, [note] 4 and all payments enjoined by the court are not cancelled. A loan secured by a pledge and one of which the bonds are delivered to the court, these are not cancelled.
• 10.3. [A loan secured by] a prozbul [note] 5 is not cancelled [by the Seventh Year]. This is one of the things that Hillel the Elder ordained. When he saw that the people refrained from giving loans one to another and transgressed what is written in the Law, Beware that there be not a base thought in thine heart . . ., [note] 6 Hillel ordained the prozbul.
• 10.4 This is the formula of the prozbul: ‘I affirm to you, such-a-one and such-a-one, the judges in such-a-place, that, touching any debt due to me, I will collect it whensoever I will. ‘ And the judges sign below, or the witnesses.
• 10.5. An ante-dated prozbul is valid, but if it is post-dated it is not valid. Ante-dated bonds are not valid, but if post-dated they are valid. If one borrows from five persons, a prozbul is drawn up for each [creditor]; if five borrow from one person, only one prozbul is drawn up for them all.
• 10.6. A prozbul may only be written for [a loan secured by] immovable property. If the debtor has none, the creditor gives him title to part, however small, of his own land. If the debtor has land held in pledge in the city, a prozbul may be written on its security. R. Huspith says: They may write a prozbul for a man on the security of his wife’s property, or for an orphan on the security of his guardians’ property.
• 10.7. A [note] 7 bee-hive, R. Eliezer says, counts as immovable property, a prozbul may be written on its security, it is not susceptible to uncleanness while it remains in its own place, [note] 8 and if a man scraped honey from it on the Sabbath he is culpable. [note] 9 But the Sages say: It does not count as immovable property, a prozbul may not be written on its security, it contracts uncleanness while remaining in its own place, and if a man scraped honey from it on the Sabbath he is not culpable.
• 10.8. If a man would repay a debt in the Seventh Year the creditor must say to him, ‘I cancel it’. If he replied, ‘None the less [I will repay it]’, the Creditor may take it from him; for it is written, And this is the word of the release. [note] 10 In like manner [note] 11 if a manslayer went into exile to a city of refuge and the men of the city were minded to do him honour, he must say to them, ‘I am a manslayer’. If they replied, ‘None the less [we would do thee honour]’, he may accept [the honour] from them; for it is written, This is the word of the manslayer. [note] 12
• 10.9. If a man repays a debt in the Seventh Year the Sages are well pleased with him. If a man borrows from a proselyte whose sons have become proselytes with him, he need not repay the debt to the sons; [note] 13 but if he repays it to them the Sages are well pleased with him. All movable goods are [legally] acquired [only] by the act of drawing [them into the purchaser’s possession]; [note] 1 but whosoever fulfils his [bare] word, the Sages are well pleased with him.