Pt1 Between Heat and Harvest: The Talmud on Winds and the Timing of Selling Agricultural Products (Gittin 31b-32a)
This is the first installment of a two-part series. The outline is below.
Outline
The periods when grain, wine, and oil are sold during the year
The meaning of the 'east wind' (חרישית) in the Book of Jonah
Story: Geneiva's Encounter with Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda: A Discussion on the Four Winds
Story: Discussion of Heat from winds and its effects
Even the Firmest Connections Loosen: Interpretations of the Biblical word 'yafri'
The Passage
The periods when grain, wine, and oil are sold during the year
A baraita, quoting R’ Yehuda, lists the periods when grain, wine, and oil are sold during the year.
Grain (תבואה) is sold at three times (פרקים) during the year:
Wine is sold at three times during the year:
Before (בפרוס) Passover (spring, around March-April).
Before Shavuot (עצרת) (late spring, around May-June).
Before Sukkot (חג) (early fall, around September-October).
Oil is sold from Shavuot (late spring, around May-June) onward.
תניא,
רבי יהודה אומר:
בשלשה פרקים מוכרין את התבואה –
לפני הזרע,
ובשעת הזרע,
ובפרוס הפסח.
ובשלשה פרקים מוכרין את היין –
בפרוס הפסח,
ובפרוס עצרת,
ובפרוס החג.
ושמן – מעצרת ואילך.
[...]
It is taught in a baraita:
R' Yehuda says that
at three times during the year one sells the grain:
Before the time of the sowing,
and during the time of the sowing,
and before the festival of Passover.
And at three times of the year one sells the wine:
Before the festival of Passover,
and before the festival of Shavuot,
and before the festival of Sukkot.
And oil is sold from the festival of Shavuot and onward.
[...]
The meaning of the 'east wind' (חרישית) in the Book of Jonah
The Talmud discusses the nature of the unusual word used for east wind (חרישית) used in the Book of Jonah 4:8:
ויהי כזרח השמש
וימן אלהים רוח קדים חרישית
ותך השמש על־ראש יונה
ויתעלף
וישאל את־נפשו למות
ויאמר: "טוב מותי מחיי"
And when the sun rose,
God provided a sultry east wind (רוח קדים חרישית);
the sun beat down on Jonah’s head,
and he became faint.
He begged for death,
saying, “I would rather die than live.”
Rav Yehuda interprets "ḥarishit" as a wind that plows furrows2 in the sea, while Rabba argues that it “silences” 3 all other winds, leading to extreme heat, which is why Jonah fainted.
Further, R' Taḥalifa bar Rav Ḥisda cites Rav Ḥisda to explain that heat comes when the south wind stills the earth.
״ויהי כזרוח השמש, וימן אלהים רוח קדים חרישית״ –
מאי ״חרישית״?
אמר רב יהודה: בשעה שמנשבת, עושה תלמים תלמים בים.
אמר ליה רבה: אי הכי, היינו דכתיב: ״ותך השמש על ראש יונה, ויתעלף״?!
אלא אמר רבה: בשעה שמנשבת, משתקת כל הרוחות מפניה.
והיינו דכתיב: ״אשר בגדיך חמים, בהשקט ארץ מדרום״.
אמר רבי תחליפא בר רב חסדא, אמר רב חסדא:
אימתי בגדיך חמים?
בשעה שהשקיט ארץ מדרום.
שבשעה שמנשבת, משתקת כל הרוחות מפניה.
Having mentioned the east wind, the Gemara quotes a related verse: “And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement [ḥarishit] east wind” (Jonah 4:8).
The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the word “ḥarishit”?
Rav Yehuda says: It means a wind that plows [ḥoreshet], as at the time that the wind blows, it forms many furrows in the sea, as though it were plowing the sea.
Rabba said to him: If that is so, then that which is written in the continuation of the verse: “And the sun beat upon the head of Jonah and he fainted” (Jonah 4:8), is difficult; it seems from the continuation of the verse that the wind was extremely hot, not strong.
Rather, Rabba says: At the time that it blows, it silences all the winds before it. Therefore, it is called ḥarishit, because all other winds are silent [maḥarishot] before it. Since only this wind was blowing, it became very hot.
And this is as it is written: “You whose garments are hot, when the earth is still by reason of the south wind” (Job 37:17).
R' Taḥalifa bar Rav Ḥisda says that Rav Ḥisda says in explanation of this verse:
When are your garments hot, i.e., when is there the greatest heat?
It is when the earth is still by reason of the south wind,
as at the time that the southern wind blows, it silences all the winds before it.
See Wheat “Agronomy“ > “Growing wheat”
Wheat is an annual crop. It can be planted in autumn and harvested in early summer as winter wheat in climates that are not too severe, or planted in spring and harvested in autumn as spring wheat.
תלמים, understanding the root harash (חרישית) in the verse in the sense of “plowing".