Moed Katan 4B

״מדלין״⁠ — שלופי. כדתנן: המידל בגפנים, כשם שהוא מידל בשלו ⁠— כך הוא מידל בשל עניים, דברי רבי יהודה. רבי מאיר אומר: בשלו רשאי, ואינו רשאי בשל עניים.

one may draw is that one may pull out some of the vegetables that are growing densely together. The baraita comes to teach that one is permitted to thin out a garden bed on the intermediate days of a Festival in order to eat on the Festival those that he removes, but he is prohibited to do so in order to enhance the appearance of those that remain. As we learned in a Mishnah (Pe’a 7:5): One who thins out [meidel] the vines in his vineyard, just as he may thin out his own vines, so too, he may thin out the vines set aside for the poor. Since he is doing it for the sake of the vines, he may also thin out what he leaves for the poor; this is the statement of R' Yehuda. R' Meir disagrees and says: His own vines he is permitted to thin out, but he is not permitted to thin out the vines set aside for the poor. This Mishnah indicates that the term meidel can be used to mean thinning out and does not refer only to drawing water.

אמר ליה, והתניא: מדלין מים לירקות כדי לאוכלן! אמר ליה: אי תניא ⁠— תניא.

Ravina said to Rabba Tosefa’a: But wasn’t it explicitly taught in a baraita: One may draw water to irrigate vegetables in order to eat them? Rabba Tosefa’a said to him: If it is taught explicitly in a baraita, the halakha is as it is taught, and I retract my statement.

ואין עושין עוגיות לגפנים. מאי עוגיות? אמר רב יהודה: בנכי. תניא נמי הכי: אלו הן עוגיות ⁠— בדידין שבעיקרי זיתים ושבעיקרי גפנים.

§ It was taught in the Mishnah: And one may not construct circular ditches [ugiyyot] around the bases of grapevines on the intermediate days of a Festival. The Talmud asks: What are ugiyyot? Rav Yehuda said: They are what are called in Aramaic binkei, circular ditches around vines. The Talmud notes that this is also taught in a baraita: These are ugiyyot: Bedidin, circular ditches around the bases of olive trees and around the bases of grapevines.