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14) CALCULATING YEARS FOR CROPS (Cont.)

(a) Question (R. Zeira): Perhaps the Pasuk is telling us that all Shemitah prohibitions continue until Sukos of the next year?
(b) Answer: We know that the Pasuk is referring to produce that has grown one-third:

1. The Torah calls Sukos "the festival of Asif."
2. Asif can't mean ingathering, as Sukos has already been called the time of ingathering.
3. It must therefore refer to harvesting of crops.
4. The Rabanan established that crops harvested on Sukos must have grown one-third in the previous year.

(c) Question (R. Yirmiyah): Can the Rabanan so precisely ascertain that it must have grown exactly one-third?
(d) Answer (R. Zeira): Don't question the Rabanan; all halachic measures are this way:

1. Precisely forty Se'ah are required for Tevilah; a Kurtav less won't work.
2. Precisely the volume of an egg is required to make food Tamei; a sesame seed less won't.
3. Precisely 3*3 Tefachim in area of cloth is required to become Tamei by Medras; a hairsbreadth less won't.

(a) (R. Yirmiyah) There is indeed proof that the Rabbanan could determine when the produce was one-third grown:

1. Question: What did the Bnei Yisrael use for their first korban Omer?
2. Answer: Crops that had grown under non-Jewish ownership.
3. Question: The Torah states that it must be from "Your" harvest!?

i. Question: Perhaps they didn't bring the Omer in the first year?
ii. Answer: It states that they ate only after Pesach; this must have been triggered by the Omer.

4. Answer (R. Kahana): They used produce that had grown less than a third in the possession of a non-Jew.
5. Question: Perhaps it had grown more than that, and they were unable to ascertain it?
6. Answer: It must be that they were able to adequately ascertain it.
7. Here, too, the Rabanan can discern which produce is one-third ripe by Rosh Hashanah.

(b) Question: Perhaps it hadn't grown at all under non-Jews, but in a case where it did, we can't tell how much?
(c) Answer: They had only been in the country for five days, so some growth must have taken place beforehand.
(d) Question: R. Yirmiyah's proof is now lost:

1. Question: Even if it had only grown one-sixth or one-fifth, how could five days be enough to finish its growth?
2. Answer: It must have finished with the special gazelle-like swiftness of Eretz Yisrael.
3. If so, it could have also undergone all its growth in that time!

(a) Question (R. Chanina): "Asif" is simply the name of Sukos (and cannot be inferred to mean harvesting)!?
(b) Question (R. Zeira): We had a proof that years for produce follow the first third of its growth, and R.
Chanina has destroyed it - from where shall we learn it?
(c) Answer (R. Yonasan b. Yosef): A Pasuk is read to refer to a third of the crop's growth.

(d) Question: This Pasuk is needed to teach that the pre-Shemitah year will give three years' worth of crops!?
(e) Answer: There is another Pasuk to teach us that.

(a) (Mishnah) Kitniyos which rooted before Rosh Hashanah follow the previous year for Ma'aser, and are permitted if it is Shemitah.

1. If they took root after Rosh Hashanah then they are forbidden if it is Shemitah, and they follow the current year for Ma'aser.

(b) Question (Rabah): The Rabbanan determined the calculations for every food:

1. With trees, we follow the sprouting of their fruit;
2. With crops and olives, we follow the year when they grew one-third;
3. With vegetables, we follow their harvesting;
4. What is the system for Kitniyos?

(c) Answer (Rabah): Since they are harvested very gradually, it was decided to follow when they take root, as otherwise the years cannot be kept distinct.
(d) Question (Abayey): Let him mix together his entire stock, and we will consider that Ma'aser is being correctly taken from each year's produce, as in a Beraisa:

1. (R. Yosi b. Kipur citing R. Shimon Shezuri) Ma'aser may not be taken from Egyptian beans (Kitniyos) which took root in one year onto that which took root in another.
2. The solution is to mix everything together and we assume that the Ma'aser is from each year in the correct proportion.

(e) Answer (Rabah): That only works according to R. Shimon Shezuri who holds of Bilah (that we can assume there is proportional representation).
(f) (R. Yitzchak bar Nachmani citing Shmuel) The halachah follows R. Yosi b. Kipur citing R. Shimon Shezuri.
(g) Question (R. Zeira): Surely Shmuel held that there is only Bilah with wine and oil?
(h) Answer: Shmuel also held that we follow the end of the growth, not the taking root (and the mixing works because it is all from the same year for Ma'aser, not because of Bilah).