Sifra
Kedoshim, Chapter 1
Kedoshim, Chapter 1
1) (Vayikra 19:5) "And if you slaughter a sacrifice of peace-offerings to the L–rd, for your will shall you slaughter it. (Vayikra 19:6) On the day that you slaughter it, it shall be eaten, and on the next day.": Let this not be stated, (for it has already been written, viz. [Vayikra 7:16]). If it is not needed for eating, learn it as applying to slaughtering, i.e., even when you slaughter it, your intent should be to eat it for two days.
2) This tells me only of peace-offerings. Whence do I derive the same for all (offerings) that are eaten for two days? From "And if you slaughter a sacrifice."
3) (Vayikra 19:5) "shall you slaughter it": two heads are not slaughtered at the same time.
4) (Vayikra 19:6) "And if it is eaten on the third day, it is rejected (piggul); it shall not be accepted. Let this not be stated (i.e., it is obvious). If it is not needed for (eating it) outside of its prescribed time, learn it as applying to (eating it) outside of its prescribed place (i.e., as eating peace-offerings outside of Jerusalem.)
5) (Vayikra 19:8) "And the eater of it shall bear his sin, for he has profaned the holy thing of the L–rd; and that soul shall be cut off from its people." This is a prototype (binyan av) for (desecration of) all that is holy, that its punishment is kareth.
6) (Vayikra 19:9) ("And when you cut the harvest of your land, do not end off the corner of your field to cut it; and the gleaning of your harvest, you shall not gather.") "and when you cut": "And when you cut": to exclude cutting by thieves, nibbling by ants, or breaking by wind or beast. "And when you cut": to exclude cutting by gentiles — whence it was ruled: If a gentile harvested his field and then became a proselyte, he is exempt from (the laws of) leket (the poor man's share), shikchah (forgotten sheaves), and peah (the corner of the field). R. Yehudah makes him liable for shikchah, shikchah obtaining only at the time of the sheaving.
7) This tells me only of cutting. Whence do I derive the same for tearing? From "to cut," (the repetition connoting extension of inclusion). Whence do I derive uprooting? From "your harvest." This tells me only of grain. Whence do I derive (for inclusion) beans? From "your land" (all that is in your land). Whence do I derive trees? From "your field." I might think that greens and cucumbers and gourds and melons, and cucumber-melons are all included. It is, therefore, written "harvest." Just as "harvest" connotes what is edible, and guarded (to exclude what is hefker [ownerless]), and growing from the ground, and gathered at one time, and stored for preservation — to exclude greens, which though they are gathered at one time, are not stored for preservation; to exclude figs, which, although they are stored for preservation, are not gathered at one time. And grain and beans are included in the general rule.
8) And, in trees, red berries (of the summac tree), and carobs, and nuts, and almonds, and grapes, and pomegranates, and olives, and dates are subject to peah, (being included in the general rule).
9) "Do not end off the corner of your field": Peah is a function of ending (even if he ended in the middle of the field), and there is no peah without a name (i.e., without his calling it "peah"), and peah (is given) only from the end (of his field). From here they ruled: If he gave (i.e., if he called it "peah") in the beginning or in the middle (of the harvest) it is peah, so long as he does not give less than one-sixtieth at the end.
10) And this is what R. Shimon was wont to say: For four reasons the Torah dictated not ending off the end of his field (as opposed to some other portion): So that the poor not be cheated (by his favoring one of his own kinsmen before they are aware that he has left something over); so that the (time) of the poor not be wasted (in waiting to see which portion will be left over); so that he not leave himself open to suspicion (of not having set aside peah); and so that he not be in violation of "Do not end off the corner of your field." "so that the poor not be cheated": so that a man not wait for an opportune time (when other poor men are not around) and tell his poor kinsman: "Come and take peah for yourself."; "so that the (time) of the poor not be wasted": so that the poor not sit and wait the whole day, saying "Now he will give peah"; but they will go to glean in a different field, and return at the time of the ending. "so that he not leave himself open to suspicion": so that the passersby not say: "See how this man has harvested his field and not left over peah for the poor!"; "and so that he not be in violation of 'Do not end off the corner of your field'": (by telling people that he has left over peah somewhere else in the field.)
11) "your field": and not the field of others (i.e., If he harvests the field of gentiles, he is exempted from peah et al. R. Shimon b. Yehudah says in the name of R. Shimon: "your field": and not if he (has a field) in partnership with a gentile. "your field": to make him liable (for peah) for each one of his fields.