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1)

(a) Rebbi Yehudah maintains that whether a marked field contains a *plowed* grave or a *lost* one can only be determined by an elder or by a young Talmid-Chacham. Abaye derives from Rebbi Yehudah's statement - that when there is a Talmid-Chacham in town, all the major issues that concern the town are controlled by him.

(b) Rav Yehudah says that ...

1. ... when *one* stone is marked with lime - then underneath it is Tamei.
2. ... when *two* stones are marked with lime - then, if there is also lime in between *them*, then in between them is Tamei, too; but if not, then only underneath them is Tamei.

(c) Even though we learned earlier that the mark must be a slight distance away from the Tum'ah and not directly on top of it - that applies only to a Safek Tum'ah that is on ground level, and that one does see from a distance. But large stones, which are visible from a distance, may be marked even if the Safek Tum'ah is directly underneath them.

(d) The Beraisa also declares the space in between the two stones ...

1. ... Tamei - if the owner did *not* plow in the middle (even if there is no lime there).
2. ... Tahor if he *did* - provided the lime is poured on top of the stones but some of it spread to the middle. We presume that it was the plow that scraped some of the lime off the stones; but if he did *not* plow in the middle and there is lime in the middle, then it is Tamei, because it can only be the marking on top of a Safek Tum'ah.

1. ... one, two or three borders of a field are marked - the borders that are marked are Tamei, and the rest of the field is Tahor.
2. ... all four borders are marked - then the borders are Tahor, and the remainder of the field is Tamei, seeing as we have learned earlier - that one is not permitted to place the marking far away from the location of the Tum'ah (see also Tosfos DH 'Ein Mafsikin').

(a) We have learned in a Beraisa that on Rosh Chodesh Adar, Beis-Din would announce the Shekalim and Kil'ayim. On the fifteenth, the day when they Leined the Megilah in the walled cities, they would clear the roads, repair the streets, measure and clean out the Mikva'os and see to all the other public needs. Besides going out to remove Kil'ayim - the Tana also mentions marking the graves.

(b) The Gemara asks why the Tana of our Mishnah requires the Beis-Din to go out for Kil'ayim again on Chol ha'Mo'ed, seeing as they have already been on the fifteenth of Adar. The Gemara does not however, ask why the Tana requires them to clear the streets again, seeing as they have already done so on the fifteenth - because it is obvious that it is necessary to do so again due to the rain that fell after the fifteenth of Adar.

(c) Rebbi Elazar and Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Chanina argue over the answer to the Kashya. One answers that Beis-Din needed to go out twice for Kil'ayim, once for the early crops and once for the late crops. The other one answers - once for the grain and once for the vegetables.

(d) Beis-Din will go out to remove Kil'ayim even before the two specified dates - if they have already flowered (reached the stage of 'Hanatzah').

(a) Chazal picked specifically Chol ha'Mo'ed (a time when everybody else is refraining from work) to go out for Kil'ayim - because that is when cheap man-power is available.

(b) We prove from here that the men who are employed by Beis-Din for this work are paid from the Terumas ha'Lishkah, and not by the sinners themselves; otherwise, why not employ whoever is available at any time at any price, and let the sinners pay the price?

(c) A quarter of a Kav of the second seed would need to grow per Sa'ah (i.e. one twenty-fourth) before the Sh'luchei Beis-Din would remove it.

(d) Our Mishnah, which says that the Sh'luchim would remove the offending plants from the fields, was learned before Chazal instituted the Takanah of declaring the field Hefker, whereas the Beraisa, which says that they would declare the entire field Hefker, was learned afterwards.

5)

(a) Initially, the Sh'luchei Beis-Din used to pull out the Kil'ayim and throw it to the animals. Then, when they saw the owners delight, firstly at their dirty work having been done for them, and secondly, at the fact that their animals had been fed free of charge (though it seems that the Sh'luchei Beis-Din were not aware of the first reaction), they began throwing the Kil'ayim on the streets .

(b) Then, when they saw the owners' continued delight at having been spared the job of having to remove their own Kil'ayim, they declared the entire field Hefker.

(a) We have already cited Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov, who learns in our Mishnah that one may dig a water-channel (in a Beis ha'Shalachin) from one tree to another. One should take care however - not to water the entire field in the process.

(b) Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov does not permit watering seeds at all on Chol ha'Mo'ed - when they were not watered before Yom-Tov (because they will survive until after Yom-Tov without needing to be watered).

(c) The Chachamim disagree with Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov in both of the areas where he is strict. According to them - one may even water the entire field in the process of digging water-channels from one tree to another, and one may water even seeds that were not watered before Chol ha'Mo'ed.

(d) The Chachamim is Rebbi Meir who, we saw on Daf 2a., is lenient in this matter.

(a) Rav Yehudah maintains that, in the case of a wet field that dried up - Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov will agree that even watering the entire field is permitted (even though it is a Sadeh Beis ha'Ba'al).

(b) The Beraisa which we quote in support of Rav Yehudah, seems to bear out the Tur's explanation (that Rav Yehudah refers to the Seifa of our Mishnah - to the case of a field that was not watered before Yom-Tov - unlike Rashi [see Hagahos ha'Gra]). The Tana forbids a field that was always dry, to be watered at all.

(c) The Tana Kama of this Beraisa is Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov and the Chachamim, the Chachamim of our Mishnah (Tosfos DH 'va'Chachamim'). Consequently, they argue with the Tana Kama in the same two points as they argue with Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov in our Mishnah.

(a) Ravina deduces from the Chachamim - that one is permitted to sprinkle water on to a vegetable garden (to improve the vegetables even though there will be no loss if one does not do so) - see Tosfos DH 'Shari'.

(b) One is permitted to sprinkle water on a Sadeh Lavan in the Sh'mitah, but not on Chol ha'Mo'ed, according to Rebbi Eliezer ben Ya'akov - the Beraisa which permits it even on Chol ha'Mo'ed as well, goes according to the Rabbanan.

(c) Sprinkling water on a Sadeh Lavan on Erev Sh'mitah for the crops to grow in the Sh'mitah - is permitted.

(d) One is permitted to sprinkle water on a Sadeh Lavan in the Sh'mitah for the crops that will grow *after* the Sh'mitah - but not for the crops that grow *in* the Sh'mitah itself.

(a) The Tana Kama permits trapping Ishos and mice both from a field of trees and from a Sadeh ha'Lavan on both Chol ha'Mo'ed and in the Shmitah-year. Ishos - are moles.

(b) The Chachamim agree with him with regard to a field of trees (because the losses are immense) - but permit trapping from a Sadeh Lavan only in an unusual way (with a Shinuy).

(c) 'u'Makrin es ha'Pirtzah be'Mo'ed' means - that one if part of the wall caves in, one is permitted to repair it superficially (as will be explained in the Gemara).

(d) If the same thing happens in the Sh'mitah - the Tana of our Mishnah permits repairing the breach as one would normally do.

(a) "K'mo Shablul Temes Yehalech, Nafal Eishes bal Chazu Shemesh" means - that, just as when the snail walks, slime drips from it, until it melts completely and it dies, so too, does the mole, which cannot see the sun, suddenly drop dead.

(b) We learn from there that an Ishos is blind (and that consequently, 'Ishos' means a mole).

(c) The Tana of the Beraisa also permits destroying ant-hills on Chol ha'Mo'ed. This one does by bringing earth (with the ants that it contains) from another ant-hill, and pouring it into the hole of the ant-hill in question. The resident ants, who do not recognize the newcomers (because the smell of the earth is alien to them), will strangle them.

(d) Abaye stipulates however, that, for this method to be effective, the ant-hills must be on two different sides of the river. In addition - there must be no proper bridge, nor even a bridge of one plank, or even the narrowest of crossings that require a rope to hold on to as one crosses.

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