For the source text click/tap here: Bava Metzia 105
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The Mishna on our daf discusses the case of a sharecropper who agrees to work the field in exchange for a certain percentage of the harvest and finds that the field does not produce enough to make it worth his while. According to the Tanna Kamma, if it will produce enough to make a keri – a pile of grain – he is obligated to work the field. Rabbi Yehuda rules that if it will produce the amount of grain that he used for seed, he will have to work the field.
Steinsaltz claims "There is much evidence in the Gemara – particularly in the Talmud Yerushalmi – that the fertility of the land of Israel dropped precipitously during the period of the amora’im.
We find that even during Rabbi Yohanan’s time – in the first generation of amora’im – he mentions a change in the land’s produce. This stemmed, apparently, from a worsening of economic conditions in the Jewish community in Israel, which led to improper use and maintenance of agricultural land at that time. This led to over farming the land, whose consequence was a drop in its ability to support crops.”
We examine the Halachot of silent investors and Dina demalchuta Dina.