Here, we’ll mention three different laws that Rebbe Yishmael said in front of the Chachamim (sages) in Kerem B'Yavneh, the vineyard of Yavneh. After the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash, the Sanhedrin reconvened in Yavneh, and the Beit Midrash (house of study) was called Kerem B'Yavneh. The Mishnah says that Rebbe Yishmael said three different laws to the Sanhedrin in Kerem B'Yavneh.
The first one: There was an egg that had been beaten. That means the white and the yolk were all mixed together, and it was put on top of a vegetable, which was Terumah (priestly offering). There is an attachment between the egg and the vegetable. It was beaten; it was all liquidy, and it was put on top of a vegetable, so it sort of became one entity. So if a Tevul Yom, somebody who is a Tamei (ritually impure) of a Sheni (second-degree impurity), touches the egg, even though he never touches the vegetable, it is as if he touched the vegetable as well, making it a Shelishi (third-degree impurity). The egg is connected to the vegetable in a very deep way, and the person touched the egg. It transfers all the way through to the vegetable, even though the egg was not Terumah; it is ordinary food and would not normally become Tamei if touched by somebody who was Tamei on this level, by somebody who was a Sheni, because ordinary food does not become Tamei. Only Terumah becomes Tamei from a Sheni. But here, since it is all a Chibur, it is all one entity, we say that it transfers through.
If the egg was floating on top of the vegetable like a helmet over it because it was a little bit cooked, it rose up and was not all the way within the inner part of the vegetable. In a Chibur, there is no attachment between the egg and the vegetable. Therefore, if a Tevul Yom touched the egg, the vegetable would not become Tamei at all, because the person did not touch it. The egg itself does not become Tamei either, because it is ordinary food. A Tevul Yom does not make ordinary food Tamei.
The second law has to do with Shikchah, which is the law that if a person forgets a bundle of grain in the field, he has to leave it for the poor people. The Chachamim learned from here as well that it applies to stalks that are stuck in the ground and not harvested when the rest of the stalks around them are harvested. The Mishnah says that there is a stalk of grain that was overlooked in a field that was already harvested, but the tip of that stalk could reach an area of grain that was not yet harvested. If the owner of the field could grab onto this stalk while also grabbing onto the stalk he is about to harvest, which has not yet been harvested, then he is allowed to keep that stalk; he does not have to leave it for the aniyim (poor people). Ve'im lav, harei hi shel aniyim, but if he cannot grasp onto it when he is trying to harvest the rest of the grain, then it belongs to the poor people, and it is considered to be Shikchah.
The next halacha (law) we’ll talk about is Kil'ei HaKerem, the third law of Rebbe Yishmael. Kil'ei HaKerem is a mixture with a vineyard. There is a Torah halacha that grain or other types of vegetation are not allowed to grow near a grape vine. The law is different for a vineyard than for a solitary, single vine that is growing. In order to be considered a vineyard, you have to have five vines planted within a certain area. If grain is at least six tefachim (handbreadths), which is one amah (cubit), from a solitary vine, that is okay, but if it is in a vineyard, it has to be at least four amot away from the nearest vine. We’ll talk about this in the context of an Aris. An Aris is a term that talks about five vines that are draped over a wall. Sometimes we treat the Aris like a regular vineyard, and other times we treat it like a solitary vine. So we’ll talk about it with this Aris.
If there’s a small garden surrounded by an Aris—again, the five vines are planted in a garden and extend over a wall—and there’s enough space in the garden for a grape harvester to stand with his basket on one side and enough space for another grape harvester to stand with his basket on the opposite side, the vines on the opposite sides of the garden are at least four amot apart. That means that in the middle there’s a square of empty space, sort of a four-by-four area. Then, in that type of situation, the vines are not within four amot of each other, so we say that part of the garden is allowed to be planted with grain. When the vines are so far apart from each other that they are not considered to be a vineyard, we treat them as singular vines. Therefore, planting grain within that garden would be permitted, as long as the earlier clause of the six tefachim we mentioned applies: there has to be six tefachim between each vine and the grain. And if not—if there’s not enough space in the garden—you’re not allowed to plant grain at all. If there’s less than four amot between the vines on the opposite sides of the garden, then the vines are close together, and they’re considered to be a vineyard. Planting is not allowed anywhere within the vineyard because grain has to be kept four amot away from the vines in a vineyard, and the entire garden here is around four amot wide, so planting in the entire entity would be forbidden.