Sheviis 1:5 — Three trees, three owners

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Mesechta Sheviis
Mishnah 5 of 89
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ZeraimSederסדרזְרָעִים
SheviisMesechtaמסכתשביעית
1Perekפרקא׳
5Mishnahמשנהה׳
נושא · Topicשְׁלֹשָׁה אִילָנוֹת שֶׁל שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁיםThree trees, three owners
This Mishnah is:drawing the boundarywhat does that mean?
Mishnah שביעית א׳:ה׳ · Sheviis 1:5
שְׁלֹשָׁה אִילָנוֹת שֶׁל שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים,
הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ מִצְטָרְפִין, וְחוֹרְשִׁין כָּל בֵּית סְאָה בִּשְׁבִילָן.
וְכַמָּה יְהֵא בֵינֵיהֶם,
רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל אוֹמֵר, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הַבָּקָר עוֹבֵר בְּכֵלָיו:
Three trees belonging to three [different] people -
these combine, and one may plow the whole beis se'ah for their sake.
And how much [space] must there be between them?
Rabban Gamliel says: enough for the ox to pass through with its equipment:
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 rulingTannageneral rule
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
שְׁלֹשָׁה אִילָנוֹת שֶׁל שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים — מִצְטָרְפִין owner א owner ב owner ג כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הַבָּקָר עוֹבֵר בְּכֵלָיו three trunks, three owners — irrelevant; the space an ox needs with its plow — decisive
Summary Chart
Three trees, three owners▾
CaseRulingReason
Are three trees belonging to three people treated as an orchard?Yes — they combine, and the whole beis se'ah is plowed for them—
How much space between the trees, to be considered an orchard?Rabban Gamliel: Enough for the ox to pass through with its gear—
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.

Three owners, four amos, and a word the rishonim could not agree on▾
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב
Rabban Gamliel (of Yavneh) · Dor 2 · Yavneh — רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל

The stam 'Rabban Gamliel' of the Mishnah is generally Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh, the first nasi to lead Klal Yisrael after the Churban, who closed the long rift between Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel (Eruvin 13b). Rambam rules that his words here are true and the halacha follows him. He is not the Rabban Gamliel whose beis din cancelled this perek's rule: Rambam and Mishnat Eretz Yisrael name that one as Rabban Gamliel the son of R' Yehudah HaNasi, who appears in the Mishnah only in Avos.

כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּהֵא הַבָּקָר עוֹבֵר בְּכֵלָיו — enough for the ox to pass with its equipment

Rabban Gamliel measures the gap between the trees by an ox passing with its gear, which Bartenura and Rash MiShantz put at four amos (Bava Basra 83a). Bartenura explains that trees closer than this are so crowded that they will have to be uprooted, so the field is not plowed for them.

הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ מִצְטָרְפִין — these combine

Three trees belonging to three men combine, though no one of them owns the ground between. Rambam explains what would have been assumed otherwise: that each owner plows only around his own tree, the picker's space and no more. The mishnah teaches they join, because the plowing serves the trees and not the land they stand on.

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A siyum · Mesechta Sheviis

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