Sota 43: Excused from War; Agricultural Laws

Was Pinchas a descendant of Joseph or a descendant of Yitro?  The rabbis consider Pinchas as a man of war and they look to his ancestry to better understand his particular brand of zealotry.

A new Mishna continues the ancient examination of the words said to the troops at the border and on the battlefield.  They determine that a number of different categories of soldiers are permitted to return home.  Some of these men return home and contribute to the war effort by repairing roads and by bringing supplies to returning soldiers.  Others return home and have nothing further to do with the battle at hand.

It teaches that:

•         One who has built a house and not dedicated it refers to any sort of house
•         One who has planted a vineyard and not eaten from it refers to a collection of at least five plants, even if they are of different species; even if the vineyard is a gift
•         One who has betrothed a wife and not taken her refers to one who has betrothed a virgin, a widow, or a yavam

The Mishna specifies a number of soldiers who are not permitted to return home.  Those who have not dedicated a gateway or veranda; those who have not planted fruit bearing trees; those who are to remarry their divorced spouse, to marry a mamzeret, or another frowned upon relation.

Finally, the Mishna lists those who must leave the battlefield and are not to help with war efforts whatsoever.  These are men who have been married less than a year, who have had a vineyard or home for less than a year.  This is because men are entitled to one year of pleasuring their wives following marriage.

The Gemara begins by noting who speaks and who repeats the speech: the High Priest and an officer?  In which order? 

The rabbis then consider a new home that has not been dedicated.  They look to the verses for particular reference to the word “built”.  Could this house have been a gift, or must it be built by the soldier to justify his absence from the battlefield?  Is this about ownership, or about the process of building?

Next the rabbis consider what planting a vineyard means.  In particular, they look at the laws of orla (where a fruit tree must be left without being used for its fruit for its first three years).  Does this include grafted and layered plants?  Grafting can be done in many ways, where an old tree supports a new tree or vice versa.  A limb can be cut from one tree and attached to another or it can be cut into a new tree while still attached.  Layering, on the other hand, involved burying a part of a plant and allowing that part to root, eventually severing the new shoot from the older plant.  The rabbis walk through a number of implications of these processes, mostly regarding how we can determine the age of a plant in these circumstances.

Finally, the Gemara considers what is known publically and what might be construed as a transgression.  When considering plants, people might know that a field is old even though it looks to be new, and thus no one would worry that laws of agriculture were being transgressed if the plants were treated as old plants.  Another example is provided: a girl is allowed to marry her step-brother, even though this could have the appearance of a transgression, because the community would know that they are not blood relatives and thus the couple would not be shunned.

Our modern laws and mores are sometimes so similar and sometimes so different to those of our ancestors…