Bava Metzia 21: Ownerless Produce and Competing Rights

We learn a new Mishna to begin Perek II: Found items should be proclaimed.  Rabbi Meir says that the following items belong to the person who finds them: scattered produce, coins, bundles of grain in a public area, round fig cakes, baker's loaves, strings of fish, cuts of meat, unprocessed wool fleeces that are taken from their state of origin directly after shearing, bound flax stalks,  and bound strips of combed purple wool.  Rabbi Yehuda says that found items that have been altered must be proclaimed.  Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says that 'anpurya' vessels need not be proclaimed as they are identical.  

The Gemara breaks down each of these found items that a person can claim as his/her own.  What is scattered produce?  Are we speaking of one kav of kernels scattered within an area of four by four cubits?  Are we discussing grain or whet that was accidentally dropped onto the threshing floor?  What if we are speaking of one-half kav of kernels scattered in an area of two by four cubits?  Does it matter if collecting the kernels requires exertion on the part of the owner?  Why else would s/he denounce ownership of them?  What if we are discussing pomegranates or sesame seeds or dates?  These dilemmas are left unresolved.  

The rabbis consider whether or not lost items must be despaired for them to be declared ownerless.  Ye'ush, despair, describes the feeling one has when one recognizes that an item is lost and is now considered to be ownerless.  Ye'ush sh'lo mida'at is despair without a conscious feeling - in other words, the state before one realizes that his/her item has been lost.  If the item has a distinguishing mark on it, its owner might not despair, for s/he might assume that when found, the item will be proclaimed and s/he will take it again.

In amud (b) the rabbis move on to consider whether or not it is reasonable to assume that an owner would know that his/her property had fallen and become ownerless.   For example, a person values his/her money and thus feels his/her money pouch frequently to ensure that nothing has fallen from the pouch.  And perhaps what has fallen is to be gleaned as pe'a.  The rabbis discuss fruit trees that drop their fruit - that fruit may be taken as it is considered to be ownerless.  Some fruit must be tithed if it is collected from the bottom of a fruit tree.  Figs are exempt, perhaps because they are said to become disgusting after they have fallen from the fig tree.  

The rabbis are clearly attempting to balance the rights of owners against the rights of the poor who require the produce that has been left behind by an owner.  We continue to work toward balancing those competing rights today.