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According to the Mishna on our daf there were places where reaping the new crop was permitted even before the korban ha-omer that permitted the new harvest was brought on Passover.
In irrigated fields found in the valleys early harvest was permitted, either because the heat in those places led the grain to ripen early, and it would become ruined if it was not harvested, or because what grew in these places was low quality and unfit for the omer offering, so the Sages’ injunction against harvest did not apply to them.
The Mishna relates that in the city of Yeriḥo the farmers followed this policy and harvested early with Rabbinic approval; nevertheless when they stacked the harvested grain it was done without the approval of the Sages, who, nonetheless, did not stop them from doing so.
We continue our exploration of sefirat hammer with particular attention to the innovations of the ARI z’l.