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A Yissachar / Zebulun Partnership in Loving Memory of Yishak ben Simcha A"H & Felicia bat Miriam A"H
Rabbi Joseph Dana

Torah Lecture

Mishnah Eduyot 4-5

Lectured by Rabbi Joseph Dana

Published
April 1, 2025
Duration
3:37
Lecture code
RJD-EDYT-4-5

This transcript was auto-generated and polished for readability. While we aim for accuracy, errors may occur. If you notice a mistake, please click to submit corrections.

This Mishnah will talk about fourth-year produce called Neta Reva'i (fourth year produce). The tree that grows fruit during its first three years is Orlah (first-three-year produce). A person cannot have any benefit whatsoever from the fruit of those years. During the fourth year, the fruit has to be taken to Eretz Yisrael, to Yerushalayim, and eaten there. If a person cannot bring it to Yerushalayim, he could redeem it, put the holiness onto the money, and then bring the money to Yerushalayim and eat it there. This is very similar to Ma'aser Sheni (second tithe).

There are two laws in which we're going to compare Neta Reva'i to Ma'aser Sheni regarding the redemption of the produce onto money. When it comes to Ma'aser Sheni, you have to add one-fifth more value onto the money than the produce was worth so that the money will be worth more when you're spending it in Yerushalayim. That's number one. The second law is Biur Ma'asrot: by Pesach of the fourth and fifth year, all of the Ma'aser Sheni has to be done with. You have to remove it from your household. It has to be either used or gotten rid of, as we explained earlier in Mishnayot (Mishnah passages) in Seder Zeraim.

Here we'll also elaborate on how that applies to the Kerem Reva'i or Neta Reva'i. The Mishnah says: Kerem Reva'i, the fourth-year produce of Eretz, a vineyard. When talking about Kerem Reva'i, the fourth-year produce of a vineyard, there is no additional fifth that has to be added during the redemption process when you're trying to put the holiness onto the money. There's also no law of removal. There's no Biur Ma'asrot. Beit Hillel says, no, there is the addition of the one-fifth. There is the Halakha (laws) that, by the fourth and seventh years before Pesach, a person has to remove all of the items related to Kerem Reva'i from his house.

We'll mention two more Halakhot and whether they apply to Kerem Reva'i, the fourth-year produce of a vineyard, as well. There's something called Peret, which is similar to Leket (gleanings). Peret means that if a person is picking grapes and some grapes fall off the vine, he's not allowed to pick them up; he has to leave them for the poor people. Olelot are underdeveloped clusters full of grapes that he also has to leave for the Aniyim (poor people). So, does that apply—do those apply to Kerem Reva'i?

Beit Shammai omrim: “yesh lo peret v'yesh lo olelot.” Beit Shammai says the produce of a fourth-year vineyard is subject to Peret and Olelot like the produce of any other year. “Veha'aniyim podin le'atzman,” and the poor people who acquire the Peret and the Olelot of the Kerem Reva'i can't simply eat it; they have to redeem it for themselves if they don't want to take it to Yerushalayim. So it still has upon it the holiness of the fourth-year Kerem Reva'i.

Uveit Hillel omrim: “kulo la-gat.” Beit Hillel says, no. All of this goes to the wine press: the entire fourth-year harvest, including the Peret and the Olelot. They're allowed to be kept by the owner. He's allowed to put all the grapes in the wine press and turn them into wine. He doesn't have to leave anything to the poor. But of course, then he has to either take the wine to Yerushalayim and drink it there, or he could redeem it and bring the coins to Yerushalayim and spend them there.