Menachot 71 – Harvesting Before the Omer

Fields that require constant irrigation produce crops inferior to those watered by rainfalls. Since their harvest is not fit for the Omer offering, it is allowed to harvest them prior to it. However, one should not pile the grain, because he may come to eat it. The Jewish residents of Jericho harvested the irrigated fields before the Omer, which agreed with the wishes of the Sages, but they also piled the grain, which disagreed with the wishes of the Sages, who nevertheless did not reprove them in that case.

One may harvest unripe grain in order to feed it to the animals. Rabbi Yehudah says that this is only allowed if he started harvesting before the grain reached a third of its growth. Rabbi Shimon disagrees and allows to harvest unripe grain for animal fodder even after it grew to a third. One may harvest the new grain to save the trees sapling in the field, or to clear room for mourners to sit down, or for a public Torah study.

The reaping and other works for the Omer has to be done on the night after the first day of Pesach, even if it is Shabbat.

Art: Vincent Van Gogh - Wheat Field In Rain