Sheviis, Chapter 9, Mishnah 3. This mishnah continues the discussion of the previous mishnah, which taught that there are three distinct geographical regions in Eretz Yisrael for the purposes of biur - the obligation to dispose of sheviis produce, either by destroying it or declaring it ownerless, from the moment that this produce has ceased to be found in the field. In each of the three regions, once the fruit has run out in that region, the obligation of biur takes effect.
Three regions or nine?
The previous mishnah established that each of these three regions has three sub-regions, nine in all. The commentators differ in how to understand this:
There are literally nine separate regions, and each and every one of them is treated on its own, and the division into three groups of three is merely a recognition of the fact that the nine can be grouped into three clusters.
Although each of the three regions has three sub-regions, what determines the matter is whether the produce is no longer to be found in any one of the three sub-regions of that region. In other words, we look at the region as a whole: as long as pears are still available somewhere in Yehudah, that is enough, and only when the produce has run out in all three sub-regions of Yehudah is biur required.
This is expressed in the opening line before us. The mishnah asks: "Lamah amru shalosh ha'aratzos?" - why did they say that there are three lands, three distinct regions? And it answers: "Sheyihyu ochlin b'chol achas v'achas ad sheyichleh ha'acharon shebah" - that they may eat in each one of the three regions until the last of it has run out.
Here too there are two ways of understanding this:
"The last" refers to the very last fruit found in one of the three sub-regions, and once it has run out, biur takes effect.
"The last" refers to the last of the three sub-regions, and biur does not take effect until the produce has run out in all three of them. Therefore, if the fruit has run out in the mountain area of Yehudah but is still found in the lowland of Yehudah, that is enough for biur not to be required.
The view of Rabbi Shimon:
Rabbi Shimon comes with an entirely different approach from that of the tanna in the previous mishnah, and says: "Lo amru shalosh aratzos ela biYehudah" - the law of the three lands was stated regarding Yehudah alone, and not regarding the other lands; in Yehudah there were three regions. "Ush'ar kol ha'aratzos k'har hamelech" - all the other lands have the status of Har HaMelech, which is one of the regions within Yehudah.
"V'chol ha'aratzos k'achas l'zeisim ul'tmarim":
Some understand this line as a continuation of Rabbi Shimon's words, and some understand it as the first tanna speaking again. All the lands of Eretz Yisrael are considered a single land with regard to olives and dates: as long as olives or dates can still be found in the field anywhere in Eretz Yisrael, the time of biur for dates and olives has not arrived, until they have run out entirely from all of Eretz Yisrael.
In summary: In this mishnah we examined the reason for the division into three lands - "Sheyihyu ochlin b'chol achas v'achas ad sheyichleh ha'acharon shebah" - and the two ways of understanding it: whether "the last" means the last fruit in a sub-region, or the last of the three sub-regions within that land. We also learned the view of Rabbi Shimon, that the law of the three lands was stated regarding Yehudah alone and that the other lands have the status of Har HaMelech, and the rule that all the lands are considered as one with regard to olives and dates, so that their biur does not take effect until they have run out from all of Eretz Yisrael.