Audio by Dr. Michael Sokolow

פרק ה - משנה ד
גפן שהיא נטועה

A vine that is planted

בגת או בנקע in a winepress or a hole
נותנין לה עבודתה  we give it its workspace
 וזורע את המותר and plant in the excess;
רבי יוסי אומר R' Yose says
 אם אין שם ארבע אמות if there is not four אמות there
 לא יביא זרע לשם he should not bring a [foreign] seed there
 והבית שבכרם and a house in a vineyard
זורעין בתוכו

we [may] plant inside of it

   
פרק ה - משנה ה
הנוטע ירק בכרם  One who plants vegetables in a vineyard
או מקיים or maintains [vegetables in a vineyard]
הרי זה מקדש has thereby condemned
ארבעים וחמש גפנים forty-five vines;
 אימתי When is this?
בזמן שהן נטועות When they are planted
על ארבע ארבע ועל חמש חמש by fours or by fives (i.e. the rows are spaced apart by four or five אמות);
היו נטועות  If they were planted
על שש שש ועל שבע שבע by sixes or by sevens
הרי זה מקדש he has thereby condemned
שש עשרה אמה לכל רוח sixteen אמות in every direction
עגולות round
אבל לא מרובעות but not square
   

NOTES

משנה ד

נותנין לה עבודתה - This is six טפחים, as by any solitary vine.  The משנה is coming to dispel the הוה אמינא that because a vine is planted in a confined space (the hole or winepress), the entirety of that space is off-limits.

אם אין שם ארבע אמות - R' Yose holds that the גת or נקע must be at least four אמות in order to allow one to plant six טפחים away from a vine planted therein.  The רע"ב and רמב"ם explain that he held the wall of the winepress or hole creates a need for extra space similar to the need for space created by the גדר of a מחול הכרם discussed earlier [ד:ב].  This means that a certain amount of space must be left between the vine and, in the case of מחול הכרם the גדר, and in the case of a גת or נקע the edge of the hole.  So long as there is that minimum space (twelve אמות by מחול הכרם according to ב"ה; in the case of our משנה four אמות according to ר"י), one leaves the requisite work space (four אמות by מחול הכרם; in our case six טפחים) and may plant in the remaining space.

והבית שבכרם - Vines may be planted up to the walls of this structure, yet other plants can still be planted inside of it.  This differs from the שמרה of the previous משנה (at least according to those who say it is a hill, as opposed to a hut) in that its walls also extend above the vineyard's 'space' (אויר הכרם), but the seeds within it might be viewed as remaining inside that 'space'.  The רא"ש asks how this differs from a fence, and answers that the חידוש in this case is that by mere fenced in enclosure, surrounded by vines on all sides, we would not be as lenient as by a בית.  The תפארת ישראל says that since this structure has a roof, even if the foliage of the vineyard grow over it, one may still grow other plants inside.

 

משנה ה

NOTE:  There are many different ways of interpreting this משנה; for the sake of simplicity the approach of תוספות יום טוב is followed below. 

ארבעים וחמש גפנים - When כלאים occurs in the midst of a vineyard, anything within sixteen אמות becomes אסור and must be condemned - a much stricter measure than that previously given [פרק ד משנה ה] for כלאים in the outer workspace of the vineyard, in which case only one or two rows are affected.

על ארבע ארבע - This is referring to where a vineyard is planted with rows four אמות apart.  If a foreign plant were seeded in such a vineyard, by drawing a circle centered around that plant with a radius of sixteen אמות, up to forty-five vines are encompassed by that circle.  Note that the ירושלמי says that the foreign plant is adjacent to a vine at the center of this circle; otherwise fewer vines would fall within the circle.

ועל חמש חמש - This apparently refers to a vineyard in which the rows are five אמות apart.  This presents some difficulty, as with such a layout a circle with a sixteen אמה radius can only contain thirty-seven vines.  תוספות יום טוב resolves this by explaining that a standard vineyard had rows of four אמות.  However, a vineyard with rows of five אמות does not look very different, and so as a matter of מראית העין no practical difference is made, and the same forty-five vines must be destroyed to avoid an observer from thinking that in the standard vineyard, only thirty-seven vines would be condemned.  According to the תוי"ט, this also explains why the משנה does not mention the underlying rule of sixteen אמות until the case of a vineyard planted על שש שש ועל שבע שבע, where an observer will realize that its layout is different than an ordinary vineyard.  In those cases the condemnation can be limited to what lies within sixteen אמות of the foreign plant.

ועל שבע שבע - No mention is made of rows that are eight אמות apart, even though according to the Sages [ד:ח] it would still constitute a כרם, as the ordinary condemnation from כלאים would not apply in such a widely spaced vineyard.

 

Click here for the hebrew/english of פרק ה from emishna.com

 

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