Peah 5:5-6

Peah 5:5

If a landowner trades some of his crops with the needy in exchange for their gifts (like peah and leket), maaser (tithes) must be taken from what he gives them but not from what he receives. If two needy people jointly receive a field as sharecroppers, each can take the tithe for the needy from the other. If a needy person receives a field to harvest, he may not accept the gifts for the poor from that field (because it’s his own harvest). Rabbi Yehuda says this is only the case when he receives one-half, one-third, or one-quarter of the produce (still attached to ground) as his wages. If the land owner says “one-third of what you harvest is yours” (meaning that he is paid from detached produce), then he may accept leket, shich’cha and peah but not the tithe for the needy (because the obligation for the latter only applies to detached produce).

Peah 5:6

If a land owner sells his field (which is ready to be harvested), the seller may receive the various gifts for the poor (since it’s no longer his field) but the one who bought the field may not. A person may not hire someone to work his field if that person stipulates that his own son will gather after him. (This benefits the owner of the field at the expense of the needy.) If a land owner doesn’t allow the needy to gather the gifts for the poor, or if he allows some but not others, or if he assists some – in any of these scenarios, he is guilty of robbing the poor. Regarding such a person, Proverbs 22:28 says, “Do not remove the boundary of those who come up.”