Audio by Dr. Michael Sokolow

 פרק א - משנה ב
הקשות והמלפפון Chate melons (green melons resembling hairy cucumbers) with musk melons (a sweeter species that includes cantaloupe)
אינם כלאים זה בזה are not כלאים when together;
רבי יהודה אומר כלאים R' Yehuda says that they are כלאים
חזרת וחזרת גלים lettuce with wild lettuce;
עולשין ועולשי שדה chicory with wild chicory;
כרישים וכרישי שדה leek with wild leek;
כסבר וכסבר שדה coriander with wild coriander;
חרדל וחרדל מצרי mustard with Egyptian mustard;
ודלעת המצרית והרמוצה Egyptian gourd with ash gourd;
ופול המצרי והחרוב and Egyptian bean and carob bean;
אינם כלאים זה בזה are not כלאים when together.
   
   
 פרק א - משנה ג
הלפת והנפוץ Turnips with rape (rapeseed oil is better known as canola),
והכרוב והתרובתור Kohlrabi with garden cabbage,
התרדים והלעונים chard (a.k.a. spinach beets) with Mediterranean saltbush (a shrub native to Europe and Northern Africa, it is also known as sea orache or shrubby orache)
אינם כלאים זה בזה are not כלאים when together.
הוסיף רבי עקיבה R' Akiva added:
השום והשומנית garlic with chives
הבצל והבצלצול onions with shallots
והתורמוס והפלוסלוס lupine with yellow lupine (types of legumes)
אינן כלאים זה בזה are not כלאים when together.

NOTES

משנה ב

הקשות והמלפפון . . . רבי יהודה אומר כלאים - Various interpretations are given for these two species; all regard them as a member of the gourd family.  The רע"ב indicates that קשות are a type of cucumber, which is consistent with the רמב"ם who describes them as green, as are chate melon.  The רמב"ם also says that מלפפון are a white or paler variety of squash or cucumber.   According to the ירושלמי, R' Yehuda was of the opinion that מלפפון was actually the product of an apple and melon seed that had been crossbred (מלפפון appears to be a portmanteau of the Greek words for apple (melo) and melon (pepn)).  As such, he held it was a sufficiently different species to make the combination of these two gourds כלאים.  The ירושלמי does not give the reason of the תנא קמא, and some (כלאי זראים והרככה) have suggested that the ת"ק held מלפפון was just another species of melon, so named merely because of its resemblance to apple; others (ספר משנה רשאנה) state that a mutation affecting regular melon seeds produced this fruit which resembled apples, and so like זונים in the first משנה it was permitted to be combined with its progenitor.

וחזרת גלים - Although all the other wild variations given in this משנה are described as varieties of the "field" (e.g. עולשי שדה), in the case of lettuce it is called חזרת גלים, or lettuce of heaps (Jastrow).  The  מפרשים seem to indicate that it was thus named because it grew on elevated spots in the fields or on mountains.

והרמוצה - So called because it was bitter and needed to be cooked slowly in embers (מרץ) before it was edible (רמב"ם, רע"ב); however in (.נדרים (נא the גמרא appears to reject this translation, concluding that it was a type of gourd native to a region called קרקוזא.

והחרוב - This was a long bean that was a subspecies of Egyptian beans, its pods resembled carobs.

 

משנה ג

הלפת והנפוץ - The רמב"ם and רע"ב identify נפוץ as an elongated radish having a markedly different taste than rounder radishes known as צנון; the ירושלמי says that this combination is not כלאים  because their leaves are similar.  However, as rounded and elongated species of radish taste quite similar, there are those (כלאי זראים והרככה) who identify it as rape, which is a better fit to these criteria; indeed turnip (לפת) historically was described as a bulbous variety of rape (O.E.D.).

והתרובתור - According to the ירושלמי this is a smaller variety of cabbage, which is consistent with garden cabbage; the רמב"ם however indicates that it is a wild form of cabbage with a small stem.

והשומנית - This is described as wild garlic by the רע"ב, smaller than the garden grown variety; the רמב"ם describes it as wild garlic with a large bulb lacking the multiple cloves found in regular garlic.

והבצלצול - Again, this is described by the רע"ב as a wild variety, smaller than garden grown onions    

 

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