3,171. Noteworthy Trees

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 5:23

The previous halacha (about trees becoming shich’cha) only applies to trees that aren’t well known or noteworthy because of (a) their locations – such as a tree next to an olive-press or a fence’s opening, (b) its yield – i.e., it produces a lot of olives, or (c) its name – such as if it’s called “the flowing olive of olive trees” because it’s so prolific, or “the pouring one,” “the shy one,” etc. If the tree is remarkable in any of these ways, it’s not shich’cha. Deuteronomy 24:19 tells us, “If you forget a sheaf in the field,” which limits it to something that can be forgotten and never recalled without going back and seeing it. It doesn’t include a tree that is so well known and noteworthy that you’ll inevitably remember it even without seeing it.

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 5:24

If a tree is noteworthy in its owner’s mind, that’s the same as being well known and remarkable. If an olive tree is next to a palm tree, the palm makes it noteworthy. If two trees are "flowing olives," each renders the other noteworthy. However, if all the trees in one’s field are "flowing olives" and the owner forgets one or two of them, then they are shich’cha. These ideas apply when the owner has not yet started harvesting a noteworthy tree. If he started harvesting it and then forgot part of it, what he forgot is shich’cha. This is true even of a noteworthy tree so long as less than two seah (about seven gallons) of fruit remains unpicked. If two seah remains, then it’s not shich’cha unless he forgets the entire tree, as has already been discussed.