SUMMARY
דף פ"א
Ten decrees issued by יהושע בן נון
Although the tribes and their individual members were entitled to private ownership, they were required to consider the collective needs of כלל ישראל as well.
1. They were required to allow others to let their small domesticated animals graze in their privately owned dense forests. Any damage would be minimal.
2. An owner of a field must permit another to gather prickly trees and shrubs that were still moist and not cut down as long as not uprooted. Removing them benefits their owners.
3. An owner of a field must permit another to gather grasses that grow wild with what is planted except in a fenugreek field that is grown for their seeds or if they are for human consumption because the grasses weaken the seeds. If it is for the stalks the grasses reinforce their growth by supporting them or for animal consumption the grasses can be fed to them as well.
4. Cutting shoots from another's trees is permitted for planting or grafting. One is permitted to cut shoots from another's olive trees as long as he leaves the stump the height of an egg. Grapevines and reeds one can cut from the knot closest to the vine. Other trees from soft and thin branches that have not as of yet produced fruit and are not exposed to the sun.
5. One can draw water from a private spring without paying for it.
6. Any tribe can fish in the Kinneret even though it is part of the inheritance of Naftali as long as they do not construct a wall in the water to trap the fish that would impede the movement of boats. However they may use nets. Actually this was agreed upon by the tribes without a special תקנה. Naftali was given an additional area on the south shore to pull in its nets which was not part of their inheritance.
7. Wayfarers were permitted to defecate behind a privately owned fence. They were permitted to use a stone from the fence to clean themselves even on שבת. According to רש"י, even cemented in the wall since it was not ע"מ לבנות. Others hold only placed one on top of the other.
8. People could shortcut through others fields until the second rainfall of the season when the grain begins to sprout. In בבל it was after the first dew. This was תקנה instituted by שלמה המלך.
9. People were permitted to walk on the sides of the road after the winter because it was difficult to walk through the main thoroughfare.
10. One who was lost in a vineyard was permitted to cut his way through to the road rather than going around the perimeter. According to the מאירי he has to compensate the owner.
11. A מת מצוה one who has nobody to bury him acquires the spot where he died unless it is in the middle of the road. He can be moved to an area at the side of the road that will be the least damage to the owner such as if on one side there is a plowed field and the other is fallow he is buried in the fallow field.
The גמרא questions the number ten. There was a תקנה for one to leave his refuse in the street by people walking on it for thirty days to make it into fertilizer. Also one was permitted to cut off a branch from another's tree to retrieve his bees that left the beehive. Also one was required to spill out his barrel of wine to save another's honey as long as he would be compensated for the wine. These represent minority opinions.
