Mishnah Pe’ah

m. Pe’ah 1:1

70–220

These are things that have no fixed measure: pe’ah, firstfruits, the festival offering, acts of kindness, and the study of the Torah.

These are things the profits of which man consumes in this world, while the principal endures for him in the world to come: honoring father and mother, acts of kindness, and making peace between a man and his fellow.

But Torah study is equal to them all.

Translated byChristine Hayes.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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Biblical law requires that certain dues be provided to the poor in the course of agricultural production. A side (pe’ah) of the field is to be left for the poor to harvest, and a sheaf that falls while reaping (shikheḥah), as well as certain gleanings (leket, peret) and unripe grapes (‘olelot), are to be left for the poor to collect. The tractates in Zera‘im specify the minimum quantities that satisfy these obligations even as they seek to encourage generosity. Mishnah Pe’ah 1:1–2 prefaces its determination of the minimum measure of pe’ah with the statement that some deeds, including pe’ah, charity in general, and even Torah study, have no fixed limit, whereas some deeds—again, including charity—are exceptionally rewarded.

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