Why in the hava amina does the fact that lettuce hardens make us think it needs more space in order not to be considered kilayim? Where do we see such a svara that a vegetable that hardens requires more space?
Yirimiyahu Hazzan, Nashville, USA
1. The Gemara here cites what Rebbi Yosi b'Rebbi Chanina said -- that a larger distance is required before one may sow other plants near a cabbage stalk which has hardened, from which we learn that more space is required for something which will harden in order that the neighboring plant not pose a problem of Kil'ayim.
2. Rabeinu Chananel, printed in the margin of the Gemara, writes that since the stalk of the cabbage has grown and hardened one must give it extra space in which to spread out its roots in all directions. Therefore, in the Havah Amina we thought that more space was also required for lettuce since it hardens.
Kol Tuv,
Dovid Bloom