Sheviis 1:3 — Barren trees measured as fig trees

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Mesechta Sheviis
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ZeraimSederסדרזְרָעִים
SheviisMesechtaמסכתשביעית
1Perekפרקא׳
3Mishnahמשנהג׳
נושא · Topicאִילַן סְרָק כְּאִילַן מַאֲכָלBarren trees measured as fig trees
This Mishnah is:drawing the boundarywhat does that mean?
Mishnah שביעית א׳:ג׳ · Sheviis 1:3
אֶחָד אִילַן סְרָק וְאֶחָד אִילַן מַאֲכָל,
רוֹאִין אוֹתָן כְּאִלּוּ הֵם תְּאֵנִים.
אִם רְאוּיִם לַעֲשׂוֹת כִּכַּר דְּבֵלָה שֶׁל שִׁשִּׁים מָנֶה בָּאִיטַלְקִי, חוֹרְשִׁים כָּל בֵּית סְאָה בִּשְׁבִילָן.
פָּחוֹת מִכָּאן, אֵין חוֹרְשִׁים לָהֶם אֶלָּא לְצָרְכָּן:
Whether a non-fruit tree or a fruit tree,
we view them as though they were fig trees.
If they are fit to yield a kikar develah of sixty Italki maneh, one may plow the whole beis se'ah for their sake.
Less than this, one may plow for them only according to their need:
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 rulingconditiongeneral rule
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
אֶחָד אִילַן סְרָק וְאֶחָד אִילַן מַאֲכָל סְרָק — no fruit at all רוֹאִין אוֹתָן כְּאִלּוּ הֵם תְּאֵנִים the bare one too is judged as a fig tree of its size אִם רְאוּיִם — חוֹרְשִׁים כָּל בֵּית סְאָה בִּשְׁבִילָן
Summary Chart
Barren trees measured as fig trees▾
CaseRulingReason
Do we differentiate between fruit trees and barren trees?No — every tree is measured as a fig tree: fit for the sixty-maneh fig-cake — the whole beis se'ah is plowed; less — only their needs—
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.

Why the fig is the ruler, and what a barren tree is gaining▾

כְּאִלּוּ הֵם תְּאֵנִים — as though they were figs

Every tree, whatever its kind, is assessed as though it were a fig tree. The Yerushalmi asks why the fig was chosen and answers that it is the one tree with both qualities: its fruit is large and it bears in quantity. An esrog is large and does not bear much; an olive bears much and its fruit is small. R' Chiya bar Abba adds a second reason: other trees bear one year and rest the next, while the fig bears every year.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

A barren tree produces no fruit at all, so plowing around it cannot be for this year's crop. Why then is it permitted in the weeks before Sheviis, when what the perek forbids is work that serves the coming seventh year? The Yerushalmi raises the question on our mishnah. (See Rash MiShantz, Tosafos Yom Tov and Melechet Shlomo, who bring it.)

— Yerushalmi Sheviis 1:3, brought by Rash MiShantz; Melechet Shlomo
עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
אִילַן סְרָק וְאֶחָד אִילַן מַאֲכָל — a barren tree and a fruit tree

An ilan srak is a tree grown for something other than its fruit; Rambam names the cedar and the tirzah, both grown for timber. Kilayim 6:5 disputes which trees fall into the category, and the argument is about how much a tree has to be worth growing: the first opinion is any tree that bears no fruit at all, R' Meir says every tree is barren except the olive and the fig, and R' Yosi says it is any kind people do not plant in whole fields. Mishnat Eretz Yisrael explains R' Meir from the farming of the period, when the vine, the olive and the fig were the orchard crops of Eretz Yisrael.

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