Abaye is my favorite. "Yes, I am required to know all your business."
(I mean, yes, various things that have halachic relevance for tumah, etc etc, but, I mean, it absolutely is saying that the talmidei chachamim keep track of which fields are plowed? As a normal part of their day jobs?)
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: עַד שֶׁיְּהֵא שָׁם זָקֵן אוֹ תַּלְמִיד, לְפִי שֶׁאֵין הַכֹּל בְּקִיאִין בַּדָּבָר. אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: שְׁמַע מִינַּהּ צוּרְבָּא מֵרַבָּנַן דְּאִיכָּא בְּמָתָא - כׇּל מִילֵּי דְמָתָא עֲלֵיהּ רַמְיָא.
It is taught in the baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: One relies on these signs only when there is an Elder or a rabbinic scholar who can testify about the matter, as not all are well versed in this matter, and perhaps the field was not plowed at all. Abaye said: Learn from this statement of Rabbi Yehuda that when there is a Torah scholar in the city, all affairs of the city are thrust upon him, i.e., are his responsibility. Consequently, he is expected to know what has happened in the city.
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Moed Katan 6a, bold is direct translation, unbold is not
I am confident this was also in Shkalim, but I guess I didn't extract, or if I did I misplaced, so I am remedying that, for my usual "Incentives in the system!" remark. Repeatedly fail to get folks to care as much about kilayim as you do, because you're actually making their lives easier by doing it for them? Tell them they don't get to own even the non-kilayim stuff anymore.
וְהָתַנְיָא: הִתְקִינוּ שֶׁיְּהוּ מַפְקִירִין כׇּל הַשָּׂדֶה כּוּלָּהּ! לָא קַשְׁיָא: כָּאן קוֹדֶם תַּקָּנָה, כָּאן לְאַחַר תַּקָּנָה.
With regard to the halakha that inspectors must go out and uproot the shoots of diverse kinds of seeds that grew in the fields, the Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in a baraita that the Sages ordained that they should pronounce the crop of the entire field in which diverse kinds was found ownerless, rather than uprooting the diverse kinds? The Gemara responds: This is not difficult. Here, in the mishna, where it says that the inspectors go out and uproot the diverse kinds, it is referring to the time before the institution of the new ordinance; there, in the baraita, where it says that the entire field is pronounced ownerless, it is referring to the time after the institution of that ordinance.
דְּתַנְיָא: בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיוּ עוֹקְרִין וּמַשְׁלִיכִין לִפְנֵי בְּהֶמְתָּן, וְהָיוּ בַּעֲלֵי בָּתִּים שְׂמֵחִין שְׁתֵּי שְׂמָחוֹת: אַחַת שֶׁמְּנַכְּשִׁין לָהֶם שְׂדוֹתֵיהֶן, וְאַחַת שֶׁמַּשְׁלִיכִין לִפְנֵי בְּהֶמְתָּם,
The Gemara explains this ordinance as it is taught in another baraita: At first, the agents of the court would uproot the diverse kinds and cast them before the livestock belonging to the owners of the fields. However, the property holders would rejoice for two reasons: One, that the agents of the court weeded their fields for them when they uprooted the plants of the other type; and another one, that they cast the diverse kinds before their livestock, thereby saving them from having to feed them. Accordingly, the field owners took no steps to keep their fields free of diverse kinds of seeds.
הִתְקִינוּ שֶׁיְּהוּ עוֹקְרִין וּמַשְׁלִיכִין עַל הַדְּרָכִים. וַעֲדַיִין הָיוּ שְׂמֵחִין שִׂמְחָה גְּדוֹלָה שֶׁמְּנַכְּשִׁין שְׂדוֹתֵיהֶן, הִתְקִינוּ שֶׁיְּהוּ מַפְקִירִין כׇּל הַשָּׂדֶה כּוּלָּהּ.
The Sages, therefore, ordained that the agents of the court should uproot the diverse kinds and cast them on the roads. Yet the property holders would still greatly rejoice that the agents of the court weeded their fields free of charge. Finally, the Sages ordained that they should pronounce the crop of the entire field in which diverse kinds was found ownerless.
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Moed Katan 6b This entry was originally posted at
https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1237985.html.