3,122. The Crops Become Permitted to Everyone

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 1:10

The Torah says to leave the gifts for the needy and the convert; this is when the needy demand them. If the needy stop looking for them, what’s left becomes permitted to everyone. This is not like t’rumah (the gift for the kohanim) because the actual produce is in no way sanctified. One is likewise not required to give the value of the crops to the needy because it doesn’t say to give them to the needy, it says to leave them for the needy. One is not obligated to leave the crops for the animals and the birds; he's obligated to leave them for the needy, and in this case there are no needy.

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 1:11

The gleanings are permitted to everyone after the second wave of gatherers comes and goes. The loose grapes that fell and the undergrown clusters are permitted to everyone after the needy have passed through the vineyard and gone; what’s left is permitted to everyone. Forgotten olives in Israel are permitted to everyone as follows: if they were forgotten on the tree, one may take them starting from Rosh Chodesh Kislev, which is the time of the second rains. However, groups of olives that were gathered and then forgotten under a tree may be taken after the needy have stopped looking for them.