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We are beginning Klal 13, which discusses the melacha of meameir. After grain was harvested from the fields, the stalks would be bundled together in order to transport them to the threshing floor. The process of bundling changed the transportation process in that it made it significantly easier to transport, and was a necessary step in the harvesting process. Therefore, it is considered a melacha on Shabbos.
The Chayei Adam writes that mideoraysa, meameir only applies to something which is gidulei karka, which grows from the ground. It is the melacha of gathering stalks or fruits into one unit. Mideoraysa, it only applies when they are gathered in the place where they grew, as the melacha deoraysa is transporting them from the place they grew to elsewhere. If they are no longer in the place they originally grew, gathering them is muttar, even if they are gidulei karka. The Chayei Adam explains that people understand that gathering foods in a place other than the field is for a completely different purpose than when they are gathered in the place they were grown, so Chazal did not see the need to even enact an issur derabanan in other places. Therefore, one can gather fruits or the like which spilled out in a person’s home or yard, because it is not their mokom gidulo.
Although there may be no issue of meameir if it is not the mokom gidulo, the Chayei Adam mentions that there may be two other issues with gathering items in a place other than where they grew. One is that when it comes to small berries, there may be a borrer issue if they are mixed into dust or pebbles. Another is that if they spilled out over a large area, it is an issue of uvda d’chol, that it is a weekday activity. Chazal were concerned that if a person can perform an action which involves significant tircha (effort), it will undermine the Shabbos atmosphere, even if there is no concern for melacha. Uvda d’chol has multiple applications, and one of them is the concern of undermining Shabbos when being involved in too much tircha. The Ramban suggests it may be a mitzvah deoraysa to refrain from such activities, learned from the mitzvah of tishbos, to rest. A person can avoid this issue by eating them one at a time, and stopping once they are no longer hungry.
We will discuss the concept of mokom gidulo further in the next shiur, be’ezras Hashem.
Summary
Meameir is the melacha of gathering items from their mokom gidulo in order to transport them elsewhere. It only applies to gidulei karka and only in their mokom gidul.
Even in cases whether gathering items is not a concern of meameir, there may be concerns of borer (if other items are mixed in) or uvda d’chol (if there is too much tircha involved).
