Richard S. Rheins

On first glance the right to enter another person’s vineyard or field and eat to one’s fill is open ended. The Torah does not reserve this right to any group. It could be interpreted to mean, as Issi ben Yehuda, a 5th generation Tanna(c.135-170 C.E.), understood it, that there were no restrictions at all and anyone who wanted to eat in another person’s field was permitted to do so."® But in the subsequent development of the halakhic understanding of this mitzvah, the right to enter another person’s field and eat was narrowed to a very specific group, namely, the working poor. In B. Baba Metzia 92a it is written:

Rav said,“I found a secret scroll[written by a Sage]

of the School of Chiyah in which it was written:‘Issi

ben Yehudah says:“When you come into your

neighbor's vineyard”(Deut. 23:25), that verse means

any person who comes by.”

And Rav[First generation Amora b. 155 C.E.] said:

“Issi does not let any human being live!” Rav Ashi[b.

352-d. 427 C.E.] said:“I shared this teaching to Rav

Kahanah[c. 350-375 C.E., who made the suggestion

that---]‘perhaps[Issi’s teaching did not really mean

anyone may enter and eat. Rather, it meant] people

who work for their meals[are also permitted to] assist

[workers in other fields belonging to other owners]

and eat[there]. He said to me,“Even so, a person

prefers to hire workers to harvest his orchard and not

have the whole world come and eat it.”

Thus, the Torah “right” to enter and eat in another person’s field was reserved for the workers who were hired by the field’s owners. Rashi(France, 1040-1105) follows this interpretation in his Torah commentary:

When you enter another's vineyard,“Scripture is

speaking of a laborer.” But you must not put any in