Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 15, scan section 35

when they cease to do so in the next Sabbatic year. Said R. Na'hamia: It is not sufficient that they cease to do so, but they must return the money which they derived from the sale of the fruit. How if one say : I, so and so, have obtained two hundred zuz from the Sabbatic fruit, and I present them for charity? We see, then, that among those who play with doves, those who do so with other animals are also counted ; and this can be correct only according to him who explains our Mishna : " If your dove should fly farther than mine," as the same can be done with other animals. But to him who says an apvoo, could this be done with other animals ? Aye, this can be done with a wild ox ; and it is in accordance with him who says that a wild ox may be counted among domesticated animals. There is a Boraitha : There was added to the disqualified witnesses robbers and forcers {i.e., those who take things by force, although they pay the value for them). But is net a robber disqualified to be a witness biblically? It means even those who do not return a found thing which was lost by a deaf- mute or by minors (which according to the strict law is not to be returned, but it was enacted that it should be returned for the sake of peace — that there should be no quarrel with their rela- tives), and as this does not occur frequently, they were not counted among the disqualified. Thereafter, however, they were added, as, after all, they take possession of money which doe? not belong to them. And the same is the case with the forcers, who were not placed among the disqualified, because this does not happen frequently. Thereafter, however, as the rabbis saw that it became a habit, they added them also. There is another Boraitha : There was secondly added to thai category, pasturers, collectors of duty, and contractors of the government. Pasturers were not put in this category previously, because, when it was seen that they led their animals into strange- pastures, it was only occasionally ; but later, when it was seen that they did it intentionally, they were also added. And the same is the case with the collectors of duty and the contractors, as at first it was thought that they took only what belonged to them ; but after investigation, when it was found that they took much more than they ought, they were added. Said Rabha : The pasturer in question— it matters not if he is a pasturer 01 small cattle or of large ones. Did Rabha indeed say so ? Did 74 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. he not say that a pasturer of small cattle is disqualified only in Palestine, but not outside of it, and pasturers of large cattle even in Palestine are qualified ? This was taught of them who raise the cattle for themselves ; and if they are small cattle, they are disqualified because it was forbidden to keep small cattle in Palestine, as explained elsewhere. And so it seems to be as the previous Mishna expresses, " three pasturers," and it is to be assumed for witnesses. Nay ; it means for judges, and this is to be understood from the number three. As if for witnesses, for what purpose are three needed ? But if for judges, why does the Mishna express itself " pasturers" — let it state three laymen who do not know the law ? It means to say that even pasturers who spend their time in uninhabited places are nevertheless qualified to judge of the appointment of the parties. R. Jehudah said : A pasturer of whom it is not heard that he leads his cattle into strange pasture is nevertheless disqualified, but a duty collector of whom it is not said that he takes more than he ought, is qualified. The father of R. Zera was a collector for thirteen years, and when the governor would come to that city he used to say to the scholars : Go and hide yourselves in the houses, so that the governor shall not see so many people, or he will demand from the city more taxes. And also to the other people, when he saw them crowded in the streets, he used to say : The governor is coming, and he will kill the father in presence of the son, and the son in presence of his father. And they also used to hide them- selves. And when the governor came, he used to say to him : You ' see that there are very few people in this city. From whom, then, shall we collect so much duty? When he departed, he said : There are thirteen maes which are tied in the sheet of my bed ; take and return them to so and so, as I took it from him for duty and did not use it. " They were named gatherers of Sabbatic fruit," etc. What does this mean ? Said R. Jehudah thus : Formerly it was said the gatherers of the fruit were qualified, but the merchants were not. But when it was seen that they used to pay the poor that they should gather the fruit for them and bring it to their houses, it was enacted that the gatherers as well as the merchants were disqualified. This explanation, however, was a difficulty to the scholars of the city of Rehaba as to the expression of our Mishna, " since the demand of the government," and according to this explanation it ought to be, " since the increase of buyers," TRACT SANHEDRIN (SUPREME COUNCIL). 75 and therefore they explain thus : Since the government has in- creased their duties [as R. Jani announced, " Go and sow in the Sabbatic year, because of the duties"], it was enacted that the gatherers were qualified, but not the merchants. Hyie b. Zarssuqi and Simeon b. Jehuzdack went to inter- calate a year in Essia, and Resh Lakish met them and said : I will go with them to see how they practise. In the meantime he saw a man who was ploughing in the Sabbatic year, and he said to them : Is this man a priest, who is suspected of doing work in the Sabbatic year ? And they answered : Probably he is hired by a Gentile to do so. He saw again a man who was collecting the fluid in a vineyard and putting it back into the bale. And he said again : Is this man a priest, who is suspected, etc. ? And they answered : He who trims vines in the Sabbatic year may say : I need the twigs to make a bale for the press. Rejoined Resh Lakish : The heart knows whether it is done for " ekel " (a legitimate purpose) or out of " akalkaloth" (perverse- ness). And they rejoined : He is a rebel. When they came to their place, they ascended to the attic and moved the steps that he (Resh Lakish) should not ascend with them. The latter then came to R. Johanan and questioned him : Men who are sus- pected of transgressing the Sabbatic year, are they fit to establish a leap year ? After deliberating, however, he said : It presents no difficulty to me, as they may be compared with the three pasturers mentioned above (p. 46), and the rabbis recommended them to do so, as so it should be according to their reckoning.