More Discussions for this daf
1. Shikmah and Charuv 2. Mishnah 3. Trees Weaken the Land
DAF DISCUSSIONS - BAVA BASRA 71

Joel Wiesen asked:

Dear Rabbi Kornfeld,

Why are sycamore and carob trees so particularly important and unique to be treated differently here and elsewhere?

Don't other trees provide shade (sycamore) and food (carob)?

Thanks.

Yehuda

Joel P. Wiesen, Ph.D., Director

Applied Personnel Research, Newton Mass.

The Kollel replies:

Rashi writes in Erchin 14a DH Ela Charuv, that these two trees (Sadan ha'Shikmah and Charuv ha'Murkav) are very old and large trees, and they nurture from the soil in which they are planted more than other trees.

It is possible that because these trees require more care and nutrients than others, why they are given a "name of their own" (i.e. people don't call it "part of the field" but "the Shikmah" and "the Charuv"), as the Rashbam writes on the bottom of 68b, DH v'Es ha'Charuv, DH Besulas.

M. Kornfeld