We spoke about the laws regarding buying from somebody who is suspected of putting blemishes onto a... In the continuation of this, we'll talk about other prohibitions regarding doing business with people who are suspected of various prohibitions.
The first Mishnah here, we'll talk about somebody who has transgressed the laws of Shemitah during the seventh year, when you're not allowed to work the land of Israel. This person violated the law, and they've done something wrong. All produce that grows during the Shemitah year is hefker (ownerless), and anybody could come and take it. The food that grows during that year also has a certain amount of sanctity. It can't be sold and has to be dealt with in a very delicate manner. On a level, there's also something called sefichin, that's the aftergrowth, whatever grows on its own.
The Mishnah says that if somebody is suspected of violating Shemitah, he's known to have planted during the Shemitah year, or he did business with Shemitah produce, you're not even allowed to buy flax from him. Flax is not eaten; it's edible, but it's not usually eaten, and therefore it's still subject to the laws of Shemitah. You're not even allowed to buy flax from this type of individual. I'm not allowed to do business with him in any produce that could have grown during the Shemitah year. Other produce that may have grown during the Shemitah year, even if it was combed—even if the flax was combed and made it a little bit more processed. Combed flax doesn't need much effort; therefore, it's considered not such a big deal for the owner of the flax to put work into it. Even if he got caught selling it, he wouldn't be so upset if the rabbis confiscated it, because not much effort went into combing it. But you're allowed to buy flax that was spun into threads or braided into chains. That's permitted. This type of flax that's processed extensively takes a lot of effort to put into it, and the owner wouldn't put all that effort into it if there was a risk of the flax being confiscated by the rabbinic authorities. He wouldn't want to waste all of it, so we say that the fact that he put all this effort in means that it was a type of flax that obviously did not grow during the Shemitah year. Therefore, when you're buying it from him, he took so much risk in it, so it's obviously not problematic. He wouldn't have taken that risk if it was a problematic type of flax. In that type of situation, we allow you to buy the flax from him.