Audio by Dr. Michael Sokolow

פרק ו - משנה ד
המדלה את הגפן One who trains a grapevine
על מקצת אילן מאכל on part of a fruit tree
 מותר להביא זרע תחת המותר it is permissible for him to bring [foreign] seeds under the rest [of the tree]
  ואם הלך החדש and if it has new growth that extends [over other parts of the tree]
יחזירנו he must bring it back
  מעשה שהלך רבי יהושוע It happened that R' Yehoshua went
אצל רבי ישמעאל לכפר עזיז to R' Yishmael in Kfar Aziz
והראהו גפן and he showed him a grapevine
שהיא מודלה על מקצת תאנה that was trained over part of a fig tree
  אמר לו he said to him
 מה אני להביא זרע תחת המותר am I allowed to bring [foreign] seeds under the remainder [of the tree]?
  אמר לו מותר he said to him that it is permissible;
  והעלהו משם לבית המגניה and he brought him up from there to Beis Hameganyeh
 והראהו גפן and showed him a grapevine
שהיא מודלה על מקצת הקורה that was trained on part of a branch (lit. beam)
  של סדן של שקמה of the stump of a sycamore tree 
ובו קורות הרבה and it had many branches (lit. beams)
 אמר לו תחת הקורה אסור  he said to him beneath that beam is prohibited
  והשאר מותר and the rest is permissible
   
פרק ו - משנה ה
איזה הוא אילן סרק What is a barren tree?
 כל שאינו עושה פירות whichever does not bear fruits
רבי מאיר אומר R' Meir says
הכול אילן סרק all are barren trees
חוץ מן הזית והתאנה except for the olive and fig tree
רבי יוסי אומר R' Yose says
כל שאין כמוהו  anything the likes of which is not
נוטעין שדות שלמות planted in complete fields
הרי זה אילן סרק is a barren tree
   

NOTES

משנה ד

אילן מאכל - While the barren tree is treated as a trellis, so that one may not plant under it if a grapevine is growing on only part of the tree, a fruit tree is regarded differently, due to the assumption that the grower will not want to sacrifice such a tree for the future growth of a grapevine.

על מקצת הקורה של סדן של שקמה - There are several different גרסאות for this part of the משנה; we have followed that of the גר"א as being the most straightforward.  Note also that this tree does produce fruits, leading to an apparent difference of opinion among the ראשונים over what the חדוש of the משנה is.  Some say that this tree, as it is not grown for its fruit but only its lumber, is treated like a barren tree, and thus the חדוש must be that the אסור of planting under parts of the tree the vine has not yet reached only applies to those branches the vine is climbing on.  The רמב"ם on the other hand, says that it is a fruit tree, and the חדוש is that while one can plant under other branches of a fruit tree, one cannot plant under a branch upon which a vine has begun to grow.

משנה ה

אילן סרק - Note that a tree with the status of an אילן סרק with regard to כלאי הכרם does not necessarily apply to all contexts, such as grafting.

 

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

 

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