Bava Metzia 105: Cultivating Fields in Bad Circumstances

A new Mishna: if a cultivator says that he does not want to weed the field he has been given but says he will still provide the required payment of produce, he is ignored.  This is because the field will be spieled for the following year.  The Gemara argues these points, but concedes that weeds will drop their seeds, which will make it more difficult to cultivate  high quality produce for years after the field has gone to weeds.

Another new Mishna: A field that does not yield enough produce to reimburse the field's owner is still cared for.  All produce is stacked in a pile from which the owner is paid.  But how much is "a pile"?  The Mishna teaches that a pile is produce from which there are enough seeds to plant for the following year.  

The Gemara argues about the amount of produce in a pile.  Is it enough to hold up a winnowing shovel?  But what if the shovel pokes out of the sides of the pile? How far up the shovel must the produce lie?  The Gemara also questions the status of this produce, for if it is olives or grapes, they can be consecrated only if they are not made to be impure.  Only the highest quality produce is ritually pure. The Gemara clarifies what makes for unruly - not yielding enough oil - olives, and how strong a branch must be to ensure that a zav does not move the tree and another person climbing the tree with him, causing him to be ritually impure. 

Moving from these measurements into other measurements, the Gemara argues about how much a person might be permitted to carry on his head while wearing tefillin.  The answers are varied, some based on weight, some based on movement, and some based on appropriateness.  We learn that the halacha is stringent in this case.

The rabbis return to the question of what makes a "pile".  They turn to measurements.  Measurements are difficult to calculate depending on the weather conditions each year.  In some years, all is blown away.  In other years, there is not much produce but it is simple to collect.  

A final Mishna in today's daf:  If a person plans to cultivate land but there is a wind storm or grasshopper siege that is called a regional disaster, his payment in produce is reduced.  If it is not named a regional disaster and only his field was affected, he pays as contracted.  Rabbi Yehuda says that whether or not there is a regional disaster, the cultivator pays the owner as contracted given that the owner sold the field to him for a particular sum of money.  

The Gemara begins with questioning how we might define a regional disaster.  All fields in the area?  How large is the area?  What if only four fields were affected?  What if only a part of the field in question was affected?