משנה: הַנּוֹטֵעַ שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת יוֹצֵא זָנָב הֲרֵי זֶה כֶּרֶם. שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת בֵּינְתַייִם. אוֹ שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת בְּאֶמְצַע אֵינוֹ כֶרֶם עַד שֶׁיְּהוּ שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת יוֹצֵא זָנָב. MISHNAH: If somebody plants two parallel two and one which protrudes as tail101As explained in the preceding Halakhah, four vines are planted in a rectangle and the fifth is in a straight line with two of these, on the extension of one of the edges of the rectangle, following the interpretation of R. Simson., that is a vineyard. Two parallel two and one between them102Four vines forming a rectangle with the fifth at the center of the rectangle., or two parallel two and one in the middle103The fifth is at the midpoint of one of the sides of the rectangle. Maimonides switches the interpretations of the last two cases., are not a vineyard, but two parallel two and one which protrudes as tail are.
הלכה: רִבִּי חִייָה בַּר בָּא בְשֵׁם רִבִּי חִייָה בַּר יוֹסֵף אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן לִגְבוּלוֹתֶיהָ. גְּבוּלוֹת שֶׁבָּדוּ לָהֶם הַכְּנַעֲנִיים. רִבִּי אִימִּי בְּעִי וּלְמֵידִין מִן הַכְּנַעֲנִיים. HALAKHAH: Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba in the name of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Joseph: (Num. 34:2) “The land of Canaan according to its domains.” Domains that the Canaanites invented104The queer shape of a vineyard, consisting of 3 + 2 vines, does not originate from abstract reasoning but is a definition inherited from the Canaanites. The inference is drawn from the verse using the rare feminine form גבולה “domain” instead of the usual masculine גבול “border”, even though the description is not of the land but of its borders.. Rebbi Immi asked, does one learn from the Canaanites105There are many verses in the Pentateuch warning the Jewish people not to learn from the Canaanites. The derivation is alluded to in Babli Šabbat85a.?
שְׁמוּאֵל אָמַר בְּמוֹדֵד לֹכְּסֹן. רִבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר זְמִינָא בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן אַתְּ רוֹאֶה כִּילּוּ אַחַת נְטוּעָה כָּאן. Samuel said, one measures along the oblique line106Greek λοξός, -ή, -όν “slanting, crosswise, oblique.”. Rebbi Yose bar Zemina in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: You consider it as if one were planted there107Since we have a vineyard, one may not plant within four cubits of it. According to Samuel, the form of the vineyard is that of a trapezoid with two right angles, and one may not sow in a larger trapezoid. According to R. Joḥanan, the shape of the vineyard is that of the smallest rectangle containing the trapezoid formed by the vines; i. e., one imagines that a vine be planted in the second row parallel to the fifth vine forming the tail. Then the forbidden domain is that of a larger rectangle..
רִבִּי יוֹנָה בָּעֵי נָטַע שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת יוֹצֵא זָנָב שְׁתַּיִם כְּנֶגֶד שְׁתַּיִם וְאַחַת יוֹצֵא זָנָב. אַתְּ רוֹאֶה כִּילּוּ אֲחֶרֶת נְטוּעָה כָאן וַאֲחֶרֶת נְטוּעָה כָאן. נָטַע שָׁלֹשׁ כְּנֶגֶד שָׁלֹשׁ וְאַחַת מְכוּוֶּנֶת כְּנֶגֶד הָאֶמְצָעִי. אַתְּ רוֹאֶה כִּילּוּ אֲחֶרֶת נְטוּעָה כָאן לַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ כֶּרֶם גָּדוֹל. לֹא כֵן אַתְּ אָמַר אֵין זָנָב לְכֶרֶם גָּדוֹל. בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהוּא גָּדוֹל. מַהוּ לִיתֵּן זָנָב לְכֶרֶם קָטָן וְלַעֲשׂוֹתוֹ גָדוֹל. Rebbi Jonah asked: If somebody planted two parallel two and one which protrudes as tail, and another two parallel two and one which protrudes as tail, you consider it as if an additional one was planted here and another one there108We have two rows, the first one with 6 vines, the second one with 4 (places 3 and 6 empty.) Then, according to R. Joḥanan, the entire vineyard is considered as if there were 6 and 6 vines.. If one planted three parallel three and one added on the middle line, do you consider that an additional one was planted on either side to make it a large vineyard109Here there are three rows; the first two have vines in places 1, 2, 3, but the third has only one in place 2. If the first number indicates the row, the second the place in the row, the vines are labelled (1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (3,2). In the first two rows, there are four corner vines. If one of them is not counted, there are four minimal vineyards that can be chosen from the first two rows. In addition, there are two minimal vineyards involving row three, either {(1,1), (2,1), (1,2), (2,2), (3,2)} or {(1,3), (2,3), (1,2), (2,2), (3,2)}. If we add the two virtual vines (3,1), (3,3) in row three, we have three rows of three vines, and that is a large vineyard to which the rules of bald spot and surroundings apply, rather than the 4-cubit rule; see Halakhah 4:3, 5:1.? Did we not say that a large vineyard has no tail110If there are at least three rows with three vines each, the tail is not needed; it has no influence on the rules. In this opinion, the question does not even arise and one does not add the theoretical vines. The answer is that the statement applies only to a vineyard that was planted as a large vineyard, not to our question here. The final answer is given only in Halakhah 5:1.? That is if it is large; the question is to admit the tail for a small one to make it large!