Sheviis 1:1 - 1:2

עד מתי חורשין בשדה האילן – further on (i.e., in Mishnah 2), it explains what is a שדה אילן /a field containing at least three trees within a distance of a Se’ah (i.e., a cultivated field in which trees grow; an orchard).

ערב שביעית – that it is necessary to add from the sixth year on to the seventh year in the prohibition of working the land, and further on (i.e., Mishnah 4), we will derive it from Biblical verses.

כל שמן שהוא יפה לפרי – that is to say that the ploughing is auspicious for the produce, as he would prepare the ground for the needs of the sixth year and not for the needs of the seventh [year].

עד העצרת – for until Atzeret/Shavuot, it is auspicious for the produce and not for more than that. And from Atzeret and onward, it appears that he is preparing for the needs of the seventh year. But in a bright, shade-less field (vegetable or grain field) where there is no tree, until Passover. But this Mishnah is the “earliest collection of Mishnah/משנה ראשונה and is not the Halakha, for Rabban Gamaliel and his Jewish court counted on these two periods of time, which are Passover for a bright shade-less field and Atzeret/Shavuot for a cultivated field in which trees grow, and permitted them [to work the fields beyond these established times] [so that] it is permitted to plough until Rosh Hashanah of the seventh year.

לבית סאה – land which is fifty cubits by fifty cubits (i.e., a cubit is a measure equal to the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle-finger).

ככר דבלה – the dry figs are made by with a press similar to a loaf of bread which are called a cake of pressed figs.

באיטלקי – in the Italian Maneh (= 25 Selah) of Greece and since it was such in the days of Moses, we estimate by it and Maneh is one-hundred Denarim and the Denar is six Maot and the weight of each M’ah is sixteen intermediate-sized hairs/panacles.

פחות מכאן – from a cake of sixty Maneh we do not plow the entire field requiring one Seah of seed other than under the tree alone, or outside of it, as much as its light and its basket that collects figs is called “its light” (??chaff) like one who harvests dates and cuts grapes.

וסלו – the basket into which he places what he picks and the rest of the field is considered a bright, shade-less field and we don’t plow it other than until Passover.