Moed Katan 3B

כי אתא רב דימי, אמר: יכול ילקה על התוספת. ונסיב לה תלמודא לפטורא, ולא ידענא מאי תלמודא ומאי תוספת.

When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he stated a tradition he had heard from the rabbis in Eretz Yisrael: One might have thought that one would be flogged for the addition, but a teaching states an exemption from lashes. Rav Dimi noted: But I do not know what teaching or what addition this tradition is referring to.

רבי אלעזר אמר: חרישה. והכי קאמר: יכול ילקה על חרישה דאתיא מכלל ופרט וכלל, ונסיב ליה תלמודא לפטורא.

The rabbis disputed the meaning of this tradition. R' Elazar said: The addition in question is plowing during the Sabbatical Year, for which there is no explicit prohibition in the Torah, and so it may be regarded as an addition to the labors explicitly enumerated in the Torah. And this is what it is saying: One might have thought that one would be flogged for plowing during the Sabbatical Year, as it is derived by way of the hermeneutical principle of a generalization, and a detail, and a generalization that teaches that plowing is prohibited. But a teaching states an exemption from lashes for the labor of plowing.

דאם כן, כל הני פרטי למה לי?

This is logical, because if one is flogged for plowing, why do I need all these details that were enumerated in the verse, i.e., pruning and picking grapes? Rather, one must certainly conclude that these were singled out in order to teach that one is flogged only for these specific labors, but not for any other.

ורבי יוחנן אמר: ימים שהוסיפו חכמים לפני ראש השנה. והכי קאמר: יכול ילקה על תוספת ראש השנה, דאתיא ״מבחריש ובקציר תשבת״, ונסיב לה תלמודא לפטורא, כדבעינן למימר לקמן.

And R' Yoḥanan said: This addition is referring to the extra days that the rabbis added to the prohibition against performing agricultural labor, before Rosh HaShana of the 7th year, when the Sabbatical Year formally begins. And this is what it is saying: One might have thought that one would be flogged for working the land during the additional period prior to Rosh HaShana of the Sabbatical Year, as this prohibition is derived from the verse: “In plowing and in reaping you should rest” (Exodus 34:21). This seemingly superfluous verse is understood as teaching that not only is working the land prohibited during the 7th year, but plowing a field during the 6th year to prepare the land for the 7th year, and reaping what grew in the 7th year during the 8th year are also prohibited. But a teaching states an exemption from lashes for these actions, as we are about to state below.