daf bit: Bava Metzia 89

[cellio]

The mishna teaches: laborers are permitted to eat from what they were hired to work on, provided it grows from the soil. So a hired picker may eat wheat from the stalks, grapes from the vine, and so on. The g'mara discusses this at some length, observing that this does not include produce that does not grow from the ground, such as milk from cows. The g'mara then goes on to discuss alterations; is the laborer permitted to cook the food, for instance? The laborer may not cook the food over a fire, nor crush it with stones, nor warm it in the earth, but he is permitted to crush it between his fingers. All of this is on account of time because he is doing it while working. (Mishna 87a, g'mara 89a-b).

Comments

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

This implies that they may eat *while they work*, but that they may not, for instance, bag up some of the grain to take home with them. No?