In the verses’ plain meaning, someone happening upon a neighbor’s vineyard may eat grapes to satisfaction, provided he does not put them in a vessel. Likewise, he may pluck and eat ears of grain without a sickle:
When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes until thou have enough at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.
When thou comest into thy neighbour’s standing corn, then thou mayest pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn. (Deuteronomy 23:25–26)כִּי תָבֹא בְּכֶרֶם רֵעֶךָ, וְאָכַלְתָּ עֲנָבִים כְּנַפְשְׁךָ שָׂבְעֶךָ – וְאֶל כֶּלְיְךָ לֹא תִתֵּן.
כִּי תָבֹא בְּקָמַת רֵעֶךָ, וְקָטַפְתָּ מְלִילֹת בְּיָדֶךָ – וְחֶרְמֵשׁ לֹא תָנִיף עַל קָמַת רֵעֶךָ. (דברים כ"ג, כה-כו)
Why does the Torah allow eating another person’s produce without permission, effectively stealing?
The prevailing rabbinic approach departs from the plain meaning and identifies a harvest worker (Sifrei Deuteronomy, section 266). Even so, why may a worker eat without the owner’s express consent? Rabbinic literature also preserves Issi ben Judah’s literal reading, applying to anyone rather than only a worker (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 92b).
Josephus, born more than forty years before the Second Temple’s destruction, explains in Jewish Antiquities that owners should not prevent passersby eating ripe fruit or regard it as a loss:
What a person generously permits others to take is because God gave His abundant blessings not for us alone to be satisfied, but to share with others generously. He wishes His special providence for Israel and abundant prosperity to be revealed to others as well, when we give them from our great bounty. (Book 4, section 237)
מה שאיש מרשה מתוך נדיבות לאנשים לקחת, יען אלוהים נתן את שפע ברכותיו, לא שאנחנו לבדנו נשבע מהם, כי אם שנחלק אותם בלב נדיב עם אחרים. ורצונו הוא שבאופן זה תתגלה השגחתו המיוחדת לעם ישראל ושפע אשרו גם לעיני אחרים, אם ניתן מרוב טובתנו גם לאחרים. (ספר רביעי, פסקה 237)
This nevertheless seems not to fit the plain meaning, since the verses address the person entering the vineyard rather than its owner.
They should therefore apparently be understood against an existing social reality in which people passing through fields or vineyards customarily ate produce without seeing a problem. The Torah confirms an accepted custom and limits it, balancing convention with the owner’s property rights, rather than creating a new rule.
Notice the distinction: a vineyard permits eating to satisfaction, while a grain field apparently permits far less. This may hint at the permission’s reason and extent.
Several sources attest to abundant vines in Israel. Jacob’s blessing to Judah gives a biblical example: “Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; He washeth his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes;” (Genesis 49:11). Many other references to vines and wine indicate grapes were common. Archaeological discoveries, including numerous winepresses, show viticulture as a major economic branch. External ancient historical testimony likewise describes the land’s richness in vines.
Perhaps this abundance meant people saw no problem eating while passing, and the Torah adopted a convention that did not insist on trifles. It nevertheless limited unreasonable use to prevent exploitation: eating one’s fill in vineyards but taking none in vessels, and eating only small amounts in grain fields with lower yields.
The Torah thus balanced tolerance of incidental small-scale taking with protection of field and vineyard owners’ rights.
