9. A woman may lend to her companion on the Sabbatical year, even when she is suspicious, a flour-sieve or a grain-sieve, and a hand-mill and an oven; but she is neither to pick the wheat nor grind it with her. A woman of a special religious society may lend to the wife[61] of an ordinary man a flour-sieve, or a grain-sieve, and may pick wheat, or grind it, or sift it, with her. But when she (the wife of an ordinary man) pours in the water, she (a woman of a special religious society) must not touch the flour (to knead it) with her, lest she strengthen the hands of a transgressor. And all these things were not said save for the sake of peace. And we may strengthen the hands of idolaters in the Sabbatical year, but not the hands of Israel; and in salutation we may ask after their peace, for the sake of peace.
Chapter VI
1. Three countries (are included) in the laws of the Sabbatical year. In all the possessions of those who returned from Babylon—from the (border) of the land of Israel and to Cezib,[62] we may not eat cultivated fruit, and we may not cultivate the ground. And in all the possessions of those who [pg 065] came up from Egypt from Cezib, and to the river of Egypt, and to the Amana,[63] we may eat cultivated fruits, but we may not cultivate the ground. From the river of Egypt, and from the Amana to the interior, we may eat the fruits and cultivate the ground.
2. Men may labor in that which is separated from the ground in Syria, but not in that which is attached to the ground. They may thresh, and shovel, and tread out, and make sheaves, but they must not reap the grain nor glean the grapes, nor beat the olives. This is the rule; said Rabbi Akiba, “all things similar to that which is allowed in the land of Israel, men may do in Syria.”
3. “Onions upon which fell rain and they sprouted?” “If the leaves on them be dark, they are forbidden; if green, they are allowed.” Rabbi Chanina, the son of Antigonus, said, “if they can be pulled up by their leaves they are forbidden; and contrariwise if it happened so in the close of the Sabbatical year, they are allowed.”
4. “From what time may men buy greens at the close of the Sabbatical year?” “From the time that similar young ones are produced. If the earlier ones are prematurely ripened, than the later ones are allowed.” Rabbi[64] allowed greens to be bought off-hand at the close of the Sabbatical year.
5. Men must not export oil[65] which is only to be burned, nor fruits of the Sabbatical year, from the land to lands abroad. Said Rabbi Simon, “I expressly heard that they may be exported to Syria, but that they must not be exported to lands abroad.”
6. Men must not import a heave-offering from abroad into the land. Said Rabbi Simon, “I expressly heard that they may import it from Syria, but that they must not import it from lands abroad.”