Sheviis 1:1 — Plowing an orchard on erev Sheviis

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Mesechta Sheviis
Mishnah 1 of 89
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ZeraimSederסדרזְרָעִים
SheviisMesechtaמסכתשביעית
1Perekפרקא׳
1Mishnahמשנהא׳
נושא · Topicחֲרִישַׁת שְׂדֵה הָאִילָן בְּעֶרֶב שְׁבִיעִיתPlowing an orchard on erev Sheviis
This Mishnah is:a rule · with a machlokeswhat does that mean?
Mishnah שביעית א׳:א׳ · Sheviis 1:1
עַד אֵימָתַי חוֹרְשִׁין בִּשְׂדֵה הָאִילָן עֶרֶב שְׁבִיעִית.
בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהוּא יָפֶה לַפֶּרִי.
וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, עַד הָעֲצֶרֶת.
וּקְרוֹבִין דִּבְרֵי אֵלּוּ לִהְיוֹת כְּדִבְרֵי אֵלּוּ:
Until when may one plow in an orchard on erev Sheviis?
Beis Shammai say: as long as it benefits the fruit.
and Beis Hillel say: until Atzeres.
And the words of these are close to being like the words of those:
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingTanna
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
One line, two clocks
The sixth year runs toward Rosh Hashana; somewhere inside it, plowing stops serving this year's fruit.
עֶרֶב שְׁבִיעִיתthe sixth yearכָּל זְמַן שֶׁהוּא יָפֶה לַפֶּרִיBeis Shammai — read the tree: while it still helps this year's fruitעַד הָעֲצֶרֶתBeis Hillel — a fixed date: Shavuosרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָהshemitah begins
Summary Chart
Plowing an orchard on erev Sheviis▾
CaseRulingReason
Until when may an orchard be plowed on erev Sheviis?Beis Shammai: As long as it still benefits this year's fruit—
Beis Hillel: Until Atzeres (Shavuos)—
How far apart are the two views?Very close—
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

A date that was later cancelled, and a closing clause doing work▾

עֶרֶב שְׁבִיעִית — the eve of Sheviis

Rashash separates two prohibitions standing here. The thirty days before Rosh Hashana rest on the pasuk or on a halacha l'Moshe miSinai; the two dates Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel argue over, Pesach for a grain field and Atzeres for an orchard, are an enactment of theirs (Rambam, Hilchos Shemittah 3:1). Bartenura notes that Rabban Gamliel and his beis din voted on both dates and permitted them, so that one plows until Rosh Hashana of Sheviis itself. Melechet Shlomo identifies which Rabban Gamliel: the son of R' Yehudah HaNasi, a generation after the Mishnah was sealed.

וּקְרוֹבִין דִּבְרֵי אֵלּוּ — and the words of these are close

Beis Hillel gives a fixed date, Atzeres. Beis Shammai gives a standard with no date, as long as the plowing still helps the fruit. Tosafos Yom Tov explains that the mishnah's closing line supplies what Beis Shammai left open: it tells you where his standard falls by measuring it against Beis Hillel's date.

כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהוּא יָפֶה לַפֶּרִי — as long as it benefits the fruit

Tosafos in Moed Katan 3a reads this window as closing before Atzeres, which makes Beis Shammai the stricter of the two, as they usually are. R' Shlomo Sirilio, quoted in Melechet Shlomo, reads it as closing just after Atzeres, which makes Beis Hillel stricter. The Yerushalmi explains why the case is not listed in Eduyos, where Beis Shammai's leniencies are collected: it is not always a leniency, since in a dry year the fruit stops benefiting early and Beis Shammai's standard is then the stricter one.

עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
הָעֲצֶרֶת — Atzeres

The Torah does use the word atzeres, of Shemini Atzeres and of the seventh day of Pesach (Vayikra 23:36, Bamidbar 29:35, Devarim 16:8). It never uses it of Shavuos, which is what our mishnah calls Atzeres. Petach Einayim quotes R' Toviah b'R' Eliezer, who searched those festival passages for the name and did not find it, and traced the mishnah's usage to Targum, to Onkelos's b'atzarschon. Mishnat Eretz Yisrael adds that Josephus already calls the festival asartha (Antiquities 3:252).

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

Rabban Gamliel, son of R' Yehudah HaNasi, is not mentioned in our mishnah, but his beis din abolished tosefes sheviis so completely that one may plow until Rosh Hashana itself. How was that permitted? Tosefes sheviis appears to be either from the Torah or a halacha l'Moshe miSinai, at least for the thirty days before Rosh Hashana. Set aside how a later beis din overturns Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, which is its own problem: how were those thirty days abolished? (See Moed Katan 3b-4a, and Melechet Shlomo and Rashash here.)

— Moed Katan 3b-4a; Melechet Shlomo; Rashash
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הֲדַרַן עֲלָךְ מַסֶּכֶת שְׁבִיעִית
A siyum · Mesechta Sheviis

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