Moed Katan 3A

תולדות לא אסר רחמנא. דכתיב: ״ובשנה השביעית שבת שבתון יהיה לארץ שדך לא תזרע וגו׳״.

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 should be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath for YHWH: Your field you should not sow, and your vineyard you should not prune. That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you should not reap, nor gather the grapes of your undressed vines” (Leviticus 25:4–5).

מכדי, זמירה בכלל זריעה, ובצירה בכלל קצירה. למאי הלכתא כתבינהו רחמנא?

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? Why did the Torah explicitly prohibit pruning and picking grapes, rather than sufficing with the general prohibitions against sowing and reaping?

למימרא דאהני תולדות מיחייב, אאחרנייתא לא מיחייב.

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 during the Sabbatical Year: Sowing and its subcategory of pruning, as well as reaping and its subcategory of grape picking. All other subcategories of labor are prohibited only by rabbinic decree.