And then he comes home and eats the produce in the appropriate manner and at the appropriate time, due to the sanctity of Sabbatical-Year produce.

The baraita continues: In what case is this statement said that it is permitted to transfer money used to purchase Sabbatical-Year produce to an am ha’aretz as long as it does not exceed the value of three meals? It is specifically in a case where one purchases produce that came from a field that was declared ownerless as required during the Sabbatical Year. In that case, the am ha’aretz who gathered the produce is paid only for the act of harvesting and not for the produce. However, if he buys produce that came from a field that was safeguarded for its owner in the manner that it is during the other years of the Sabbatical-Year cycle and was not declared ownerless, then even if one purchased produce worth half an issar, it is prohibited to transfer the money to him, as it is prohibited to utilize fruits that were safeguarded during the Sabbatical Year.

Rav Sheshet raised an objection: And is it permitted to purchase produce from an ownerless field worth only the value of three meals and no more? He raised a contradiction from a mishna (Shevi’it 9:1): Rue and sorrel, two types of herbs, and vegetables such as asparagus, purslane, coriander that is found in the mountains, water parsley of the rivers, and garden-eruca are all exempt from the requirement of tithes in all years, and they may be purchased from any person during the Sabbatical Year because there is no plant of their species that is safeguarded. These plants are not cultivated but grow wild, rendering them ownerless. Apparently, these plants that grow wild may be purchased in any quantity, even from an am ha’aretz, with no three-meal limit.

The Gemara continues. Rav Sheshet raised the objection, and he also resolved it: The Sages taught this halakha in the mishna with regard to food in the amount sufficient for his sustenance [man]. These plants that the mishna excludes from the prohibition against purchase from an am ha’aretz are still subject to the three-meal limit. And likewise, Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Sages taught this halakha in the amount sufficient for his sustenance [man]. From where may it be inferred that man is a term meaning sustenance? It is as it is written: “And the king appointed [vayman] for them a daily portion of the king’s food” (Daniel 1:5).

§ The Gemara asks: If so, if one may not purchase produce from an am ha’aretz lest he misuse the money, it should also be prohibited to give him money and purchase a lulav from him during the Sabbatical Year. The Gemara answers: The mishna is dealing with a case where the lulav is of the sixth year that is entering the seventh year. As it grew during the sixth year, it is permitted, even though it was removed from the tree during the seventh year. The fact that it remained on the tree between Rosh HaShana and Sukkot does not render it Sabbatical-Year produce. The Gemara objects: If so, the etrog, too, is an object of the sixth year that is entering the seventh year and should have the same status. The Gemara answers: With regard to an etrog, as opposed to a lulav, in determining its status we go according to its picking and not when it grew. Therefore, in that case, the etrog is considered to be Sabbatical-Year produce.

The Gemara objects: But both Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Eliezer, who disagree about the status of an etrog that grew in one year and was picked in the following year in terms of determining its year for the halakhot of tithing, agree with regard to the halakhot of the Sabbatical Year that with regard to an etrog we go according to its ripening, as we learned in a mishna (Bikkurim 2:6): The halakhic status of the fruit of an etrog tree is like that of a typical fruit tree in three manners and like that of a vegetable in one manner.

The mishna elaborates: Its halakhic status is like that of a tree in three manners: With regard to orla, i.e., it is prohibited to eat of its fruit during the first three years after its planting; with regard to fourth-year produce, i.e., fruits that grow during the fourth year after the tree’s planting, which may not be used outside of Jerusalem unless they are deconsecrated by means of redemption; and with regard to the Sabbatical Year. With regard to all those halakhot, the year to which the fruit is ascribed is determined by when it ripens. And its halakhic status is like that of a vegetable in one manner: