We continue with Maseches Shevi'is, chapter 6, mishnah 3, which deals with onions that were rained upon during the Shemittah year and sprouted. The question is how we determine whether this growth counts as produce of Shevi'is, which is forbidden to benefit from, or whether it does not come from the power of the ground at all.
Which onions are we talking about?
The commentators disagree about how to define the case:
According to the Rash and the Rav (Bartenura): These are onions planted in the ground, which had already ripened in the sixth year before Shemittah and remained in the soil into the seventh year, during which they added a little growth.
According to the Rambam: The onions are not in the ground at all. They were uprooted and gathered from the soil before Shemittah began, but they were left lying on top of the ground, rain fell on them, and they sprouted.
The words of the mishnah:
"Betzalim she'yardu aleihem geshamim v'tzimchu" - onions that were rained upon and sprouted leaves during the Shemittah year, whether they were planted in the ground or merely lying on it. The mishnah's test is the color of the leaves:
"Im hayu he'alin shelahem shechorim - asurin" - this does not mean literally black, but a very dark green tending toward black. This color shows that the leaves are growth that drew from the power of the ground during Shevi'is, and therefore they are forbidden.
"Horiku - harei eilu mutarin" - when the leaves are a lighter green, the growth does not come from the power of the ground but from the onion itself. Just as an onion left in a drawer sprouts from its own power, so too this growth is not considered produce of Shevi'is, and the onions are permitted.
The view of Chanina ben Antigonus:
"Im yachol l'hitalesh be'alin shelahem - asurin" - in his opinion the criterion is not the color but the strength of the connection: if one can pull the onion out of the ground by grasping those leaves, this proves that the leaves are firmly attached and that they are growth that came from the power of the ground - and therefore they are forbidden.
"U'k'neged kein motza'ei shevi'is mutarin":
The mishnah concludes that if the growth came after Shemittah, the onions are permitted, provided that one can recognize that the growth is from after Shevi'is. The recognition is made by these very same signs, except that their meaning is reversed:
According to the first opinion: dark, blackish leaves, which during Shevi'is indicated a prohibition, indicate after Shevi'is that the growth came after Shemittah - and therefore they are permitted.
According to the second opinion: the ability to pull up the onion by grasping its leaves, which during Shevi'is was a sign of prohibition, is here a sign that it is permitted.
The commentators' precision in defining the case:
The commentators point out that we cannot say that this refers to an onion whose main growth took place during Shevi'is and to which only a small amount was added afterward, with that small addition permitting it - for we would not be so lenient as to say that a minimal amount of growth after Shemittah nullifies all the forbidden growth that took place during Shevi'is.
Rather, this is the case in the mishnah: an onion whose main growth took place before Shemittah, which was uprooted and replanted for a short time during Shemittah - so that it has a small amount of Shevi'is growth - and afterward added further growth once Shevi'is was over. In such a case the growth that came after Shemittah can nullify the forbidden growth, because the growth during Shevi'is itself was only minimal.
In summary: in this mishnah we learned the law of onions that were rained upon during Shevi'is and sprouted - according to the Rash and the Rav while planted in the ground, and according to the Rambam while lying on top of it after having been uprooted. The sign for distinguishing is the color of the leaves: dark leaves are forbidden, since the growth came from the power of the ground; lighter green leaves are permitted, since the growth came from the power of the onion itself. Chanina ben Antigonus sets the sign as the strength of the leaves' attachment. After Shevi'is these same signs apply to permit, provided that the main growth took place before Shemittah and only a small part of it took place during it.