Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 9:2

משנה: מִנַּיִין לַסְּפִינָה שֶׁהִיא טְהוֹרָה שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר דֶּרֶךְ אֳנִיָּה בְלֶב יָם. מִנַּיִין לַעֲרוּגָה שֶׁהִיא שִׁשָּׁה עַל שִׁשָּׁה טְפָחִים זוֹרְעִין בְּתוֹכָהּ חֲמִשָּׁה זֵרְעוֹנִים אַרְבַּע בְּאַרְבַּע רוּחוֹת עֲרוּגָה וְאַחַת בָּאֶמְצַע שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כִּי כָאָרֶץ תּוֹצִיא צִמְחָהּ וּכְגַנָּה זֵרוּעֶיהָ תַצְמִיחַ. זַרְעָהּ תַצְמִיחַ לֹא נֶאֱמַר אֶלָּא זֵרוּעֶיהָ תַצְמִיחַ׃ MISHNAH: From where that a ship is pure⁴While a ship is a vessel, it is not subject to the impurity of vessels. This not only applies to large vessels which are not subject to impurity if they are so large that they cannot be moved by a single human empty or loaded but even small boats if they are never used on land.? For it is said⁵Proverbs.30.19">Prov. 30:19., the way of a ship in the heart of the Sea. From where that a garden bed that is six by six hand-breadths one may sow with five kinds of seeds, four at its four sides and one in the middle⁶The problem is that of kilaim, the prohibition to grow different kinds of produce on the same field. Different kinds if grown on parallel fields must be separated by an uncultivated strip, but such fields may touch one another at a single point. The minimum size of a plot that can be planted with several kinds is a 6-by-6 hand-breadths plot, cf. Kilayim 3:1" href="/Mishnah_Kilayim.3.1">Mishnah Kilaim 3:1 Notes 1–2; the configuration envisaged by the Mishnah is shown there in fig. 3–1. It is suggested that one divide the plot into 36 squares of one hand-breadth edge length each. Along the four edges, the corner squares are left fallow. Then on each edge, a rectangle, 4 long and 1 wide, can be planted. These 4 rectangles may be planted with 4 different kinds since they meet only at a pair of vertical angles. Together, they contain 16 of the 1-by-1 squares. The interior edges of the rectangles enclose a 4-by-4 square. In this square, a square can be planted in the shape of a diamond, having its vertices at the midpoints of the inner edges of the rectangles. This is permitted as רֹאשׁ תּוֹר. The diagonals of the diamond have length 4; it covers exactly half of the internal square of 16 square hand-breadths. Hence, the entire cultivated area is 8 + 16 = 24 hand-breadths square. [If instead we assume that the fallow squares at the corners have edge length a, then the total cultivated area, in square handbreadths, is
f(a) = 4a(6 - 2a) + 0.5(6 - 2a)².
A simple computation then shows that the maximum is attained for a = 1, f(1) = 24. One third of the total area must lie fallow.]? For it is said⁷Isaiah.61.11">Is. 61:11., for like the earth it will bring out its plants and like a garden it will cause it to grow its sown seeds.

הלכה: ב׳. וְלֹא מִן הַיָּם לָמַדְתָּ. מַה יָם טָהוֹר. אַף הַסְּפִינָה טְהוֹרָה. וְלֹא מִן הַשַּׁק לָמַדְתָּ. מַה הַשַּׂק מְשַׁמֵּשׁ בַּיָּם וּמְשַׁמֵּשׁ בַּיַּבָּשָׁה. סְפִינָה מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת בַּיָּם וְאֵינָהּ מְשַׁמֶּשֶׁת בַּיַּבָּשָׁה. רַבָּנִן דְּקַיְסָרִין אָֽמְרֵי. זוֹ סְפִינָה שֶׁלְּחֶרֶשׂ. מַה הַשַּׂק אֵינוֹ מְלַמֵּד עַל כָּל־הָאָמוּר בַּפָּרָשָׁה. יָצָא כְלֵי חֶרֶשׂ שֶׂאֵינוֹ כָתוּב בַּפָּרָשָׁה שֶׁיְּלַמֵּד עָלָיו הַשַּׂק. HALAKHAH: 2⁷¹Here starts the discussion of Mishnah 2. Shabbat.83b">Babli 83b.. Did you have to learn from the sea⁷²It is very irregular to derive halakhic principles from the Hagiographs since the only admitted source is the Pentateuch., just as the sea is pure so also the ship is pure? Did you not learn this from the sack⁷³The basic verse is Leviticus.11.32">Lev. 11:32 where impurity of implements is introduced. These are described as wooden vessels, or textiles, or leather, or a sack, or anything used in work. This is read to mean that containers are subject to impurity only if they can be handled like a sack; i. e., transported by a human both empty and filled. Usually a ship is too large to be handled in this way.? The sack may be used both on sea and on dry land; a ship can be used on sea but cannot be used on dry land⁷⁴This is a first argument to deny that a comparison with a sack is possible in this case.. The rabbis of Caesarea say, this is about a clay vessel. Since the sack teaches only about what is written in the paragraph⁷⁵Clay vessels are not mentioned in Leviticus.11.32">Lev. 11:32; the rules for these must be derived from other sources which, however, do not lend themselves to interpretation based on size., this excludes clay vessels which are not mentioned in the paragraph so that the sack could have taught about it

זֵירוּעֶיהָ. מִיעוט זֵירוּעֶיהָ שְׁנַיִם. אָמַר רִבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר סִיסַרְטָא. מִשְּׁנַיִם אַתְּ לָמֵד אַרְבָּעָה. מַה שְׁנַיִם אַתְּ נוֹתֵן בִּתְחִילַּת שִׁשָּׁה וּמֵיצַר וְהוֹלֵךְ. אַף אַרְבָּעָה אַתְּ נוֹתֵן בִּתְחִילַּת שִׁשָּׁה וּמֵיצַר וְהוֹלֵךְ. אֵיפְשַׁר שֶׁלֹּא יְהֵא שָׁם נֶקֶב אֶחַד פָּנוּי לִיטַּע בּוֹ אֶת הָאֶמְצָעִי. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹנָה. עֲבוֹדָה פוֹגַעַת בָּעֲבוֹדָה. וְאֵין מִין פּוֹגֵעַ בַּחֲבֵירוֹ לְחוֹבְשׁוֹ. רִבִּי יְהושֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי אָמַר. זַרְעָהּ זְרָעֶיהָ זֵירוּעֶיהָ. וּכְרִבִּי יְהוּדָה. דְּרִבִּי יְהוּדָה אָמַר. שִׂשָּׁה. זֶרַע זַרְעָהּ זְרָעֶיהָ זֵירוּעֶיהָ. רִבִּי חַגַּי אָמַר. זְרָעֶיהָ חֲמִשָּׁה. כָּל־הָהֵן דַּאֲנָא מִשְׁכַּח לֵהּ וָו אֲנָא מְחִיק לֵהּ. אִישְׁתְּאָלַת לְרִבִּי חוּנָה סַפְרָא דְסִדְרָא וַאֲמַר. זֵירוּעֶיהָ מָלֵא. רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יַנַּאי. כּוּלְּהוֹן חוּץ לְשִׁשָּׁה. אִם כּוּלְּהֹן חוּץ לְשִׁשָּׁה נִיתְנֵי. תִּשְׁעָה. אָמַר רִבִּי תַנְחוּם בּוֹצְרַיָּה. וְכֵינִי. בַּעֲרוּגָה שֶׁבָּעֲרוּגוֹת הִיא מַתְנִיתָה. ⁷⁶The origin of this paragraph is in Kilayim 3:1" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Kilayim.3.1">Kilaim 3:1 (Notes 6–18,כ). In the copy here, an essential sentence was omitted by the scribe. On the other hand, the spelling here is somewhat more careful than in Kilaim.Its sown seeds: the minimum of seeds are two⁷⁷It does not say, it will make to germinate its seedling but its seedlings. The verse uses a plural for the seedlings in a garden( interpreted as one garden bed); this proves only that it is possible to sow more than one kind.. Rebbi Samuel bar Sisarta said, from two you infer four. Just as for two you start at the beginning of six and reduce continuously, so for four you start at the beginning of six and reduce continuously. It is impossible⁷⁸The correct Yerushalmi form for “impossible”; the form אי אפשר in כ is Babylonian. that there should not be a free space to plant in the middle⁷⁹The argument as explained by R. Simson: At the end of the paragraph, it is stated that one deals with a vegetable bed surrounded by other vegetable beds. The rules of “jailing” (Kilayim 2:5:5" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Kilayim.2.5.5">Kilaim 2:8 Note 120) prohibit to grow one kind of produce on a field surrounded by four fields on which other kinds are grown and therefore require that at the corners squares of one hand-breadth each must be empty. In order to grow two kinds of plants, one may sow two strips, each 4 hand-breadths long, along parallel edges, each one 2.25 hand-breadths wide, so that the required separation of 1.5 hand-breadths be observed in the middle. But then the argument may be used also for the other two edges. This means that one sows four triangular patches; each one has a base of 4 hand-breadths on an edge of the garden bed, with base angles of 45°. These triangles must be separated by strips 1.5 hand-breadths wide. This means that at the edges, we must leave a square of edge length a empty, whose diagonal is 1.5 = a2^½. Hence, a = 1.061; the bases of the triangle can only be 3.878 hand-breadths. In that case, the distance of the third vertex of the triangle from its base is equal to half the base on the edge, or 1.939 hand-breadths. The distance from the center is a = 1.061 < 1.5. In order to plant a single seed in the middle, it is therefore necessary to cut off the triangles at distance 1.5 from center and edge, creating four congruent trapezoids. The height of a trapezoid is h=1.5, its base 2b=3.878. By similar triangles, the length t of its top is given by 2b/b = t/(b-h) or t = 0.878. That makes it possible to plant a single fifth kind in a small space in the middle. The total area planted amounts to four times the area of the trapezoids, 15.044 square hand-breadths, plus the area of the small space in the middle.. Rebbi Jonah said, working space joins working space but a kind does not meet another kind to jail it⁸⁰Each separate kind needs a working space around it, given by the strip of width 1.5 hand-breadths, but the same strip does serve two different kinds without problem. Also, the rules of “jailing” only apply to fields, not to garden beds.. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: Its seed, its seeds, its sown seeds⁸¹Here starts a new approach, viz., that the verse itself implies more than 2 kinds. The word זרוע appears only twice in the Isaiah.61.11">Bible, Is. 61:11 and in a description of grain (Leviticus.11.37">Lev. 11:37): seeds of seedlings that may be sown. In contrast to modern dictionaries which take זרוע as a word different from זרע, the authors here take it as expansion of זרע “seed.” The root is expanded three times, by taking the plural, adding a possessive suffix, and adding the letter ו. Each change is taken as a plural, hence three plurals are added for a total of six units.. That follows Rebbi Jehudah, since Rebbi Jehudah said six, seed, its seed, its seeds, its sown seeds. Rebbi Ḥaggai said, זרעיה has five letters; everywhere I find ו I delete it⁸²R. Ḥaggai assumes that originally all Hebrew spelling was what is called defective. Hence, any ו or י that is neither part of the root nor required by grammatical rules is considered an addition by later scribes and therefore is disregarded. That eliminates the ו but leaves the י which is required as sign of plural. One ends up with five letters, following the anonymous opinion in Kilayim 3:1:1" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Kilayim.3.1.1">Mishnah Kilaim3:1.. This was asked of Rebbi Ḥuna, the scribe of the assembly, and he said, זירועיה is written plene⁸³The spelling זירעיה in the text is certainly wrong since the expression of ṣere by י is standard only in Mishnaic and later texts, not in Biblical ones. Hence, the plene writing refers to the masoretic spelling of the word; one has six letters, supporting Rebbi Jehudah.. Rebbi Joḥanan in the name of Rebbi Yannai: ⁸⁴Added from כ, needed by the context.[All inside of six⁸⁵All seeds are sown in the interior of the bed, away from the corners.. Cahana in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish:] All at the outside of six⁸⁶The corners at the boundary, which are at the outside, are sown. Then one may sow four 1-by-l corner patches, four 1-by-l patches at the center of each edge, and a center diamond, for a total of nine patches.. Then we should state “nine!” Rebbi Tanḥum from Bostra said, that is true. But our Mishnah speaks of a garden bed in the middle of garden beds⁸⁷Since the rules of “jailing” apply to garden beds as a whole, not to smaller patches, the corners cannot be sown. This is the opinion of Samuel in the Babli (Šabbat 86b). Otherwise, it really is possible to sow 9 kinds, as the Babli puts it (Šabbat 86a), in the case of a garden bed planted on land otherwise dry, with no other beds nearby. Rav in the Babli still admits only five kinds even on dry land..