Study Moed Katan folio 3A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
whereas the subcategories of labor that are derived from them, e.g., watering, were not prohibited by God, i.e., by Torah law, but only by rabbinic law; and in a case of loss the rabbis were lenient. The source for this distinction is as it is written: “But in the 7th year shall be a sabbath of sol
Since pruning is included in the principal category of sowing, as its objective is to encourage the plant’s growth, and picking grapes is included in the principal category of reaping grain, as both involve removal of produce from a plant, for the purpose of teaching what halakha did God write them
The Talmud answers that these were individually enumerated to say that only for these subcategories of labor is one liable to be flogged, while for other subcategories of labor, i.e., watering a field, one is not liable. Consequently, there are only 4 types of labor that are prohibited by Torah law
The Talmud asks: And is there really no liability for other subcategories of labor? Isn’t it taught in a baraita: “Your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune” (Leviticus 25:4). I have derived from here an explicit prohibition only against sowing and pruning. From where do I
Similarly, from where is it derived that one may not prune trees, and one may not trim dry branches from trees, and one may not cut large branches [mefasegin] from trees? The verse states: “Your field you shall not sow” and “your vineyard you shall not prune,” thereby teaching that no labor may be p