Hello chevre and welcome back to our pre-Pesach Mishnayos learning series where we continue to learn Mishnayos related to the period of time between Purim and Pesach. We are now learning about the date of Erev Pesach. Erev Pesach is a very busy day. We got a lot going on. We have the Karban Pesach, making Matzah, getting ready for the Seder, but there were also other mundane things that people needed to think about when it came to Erev Pesach and as we will see over a couple of different Mishnayos, Erev Pesach was an interesting day because the Yomtov of Pesach was well known and it was the day where people that had certain significance as it related to other Halachos, not necessarily to Pesach, but Erev Pesach was a time frame for other ideas. So today we are going to focus our intention on a Mishna in Masechta Shevi'is. Masechta Shevi'is deals with the year of Shmita, the year that you're not allowed to work the land in Eretz Yisrael. You're allowed to work for six years and then the seventh year you let it you're not allowed to work the land. The fruits that grow have special Kedusha and we're going to focus on פרק ב משנה א. פרק ב משנה א is discussing this. You're a farmer and a farmer plows his field, he plants his field and the question that we're facing is the Mishna is discussing is this: when you plow your field to get it ready for planting, you're allowed to do so, of course, especially if the whatever you're and I'm sorry we're talking about the sixth year of Shmita. In the sixth year, meaning it's not Shmita yet, but it's the sixth year. And the question is if I plow my field, am I doing it because I want to do something in the sixth year or am I plowing my field because I want to make my field better for the seventh year? Even if I'm not going to be planting in the seventh year, is what I'm doing to my field benefiting me now or is it benefiting me for the Shmita year? And if it's for the Shmita year, you're not allowed to do it. So our Mishna is discussing a field, let's say a field where you grow grain and the grain grows and then you chop it down and the question is, are you allowed to plow it afterwards or not? And the reason you might plow it afterwards is because you want to plant things like squash and cucumber which will grow potentially during the summer. So the Mishna's going to give us a deadline. Let's look at the Mishna and see what it says. פרק ב משנה א Masechta Shevi'is. עד אימתי חורשין בשדה הלבן ערב שביעית. Until when are you allowed to plow a Sdei Lavan? A Sdei Lavan is what's called a white field. A white field means a field that's not an orchard, but you grow other things like wheat in it and it's called a Sdei Lavan because it looks white when you're growing the wheat. On Erev Shevi'is, meaning during the sixth year, when are you allowed to plow until? So the Mishna concludes: Ad shetichleh haleichah, until the moistness, remember it was just finished the rainy season, and so until the ground becomes very hard because it has lack of moisture, but as long as it has some moisture in it, you're allowed to plow. כל זמן שבני אדם חורשין. Because that's the period of time, so long as it's a little wet, the field, the ground, that's the time that people plow Lita bamiksha'os u'bamidla'os, because that's the time people will plant both cucumbers and squash because those will grow and they will be ripened in the summer. So because until that period of time. After that time, let's say you wait a few more weeks and the ground is hard, nothing will grow and therefore the plowing is really not for the sixth year anymore. So Amar Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Shimon says: Wait a minute. נתת תורת כל אחד ואחד בידו. What's going on? You're telling people to evaluate their fields, when is the moisture, when does it stop being that wet so you can't plow anything, and therefore it's going to be all over the map. People will do whatever they want, some people will make mistakes and so therefore we need to give a date certain, says Rabbi Shimon. We can't rely on everybody doing it on their own. He says: אלא בשדה הלבן עד הפסח. When it comes to a grain field, until Erev Pesach. Once Erev Pesach passes, you're not allowed to plow anymore your field because when you're plowing it will no longer benefit the sixth year, it will only be for the seventh year. ובשדה האילן עד העצרת, and comes to an orchard, until Shavuos. And again, and this was a Mishna back in the first Perek of Shevi'is, פרק א משנה א, where there's a Machlokes there about when it is you should stop plowing your orchards. And so he's commenting on that as well, that that is until Shmita, until Shavuos in the year ahead of Shmita. But again, as you can tell that Erev Pesach was a period of time in which people focused themselves on and that's why Rabbi Shimon says look, Erev Pesach stop your work on plowing your fields because after that time there's no benefit for that year anymore. And with that I wish you continuing on to