Sheviit שביעית

The tractate works out what may be done in the field in the sixth year so as not to overrun into the seventh, how to handle the produce of the sabbatical year—it may neither be sold in the ordinary way nor spoiled—and how the holiness of the year is kept in practice.

The last chapter is on the prozbul, Hillel's enactment. The Torah commands that debts be released in the seventh year; people stopped lending before the sabbatical, and the poor were left without loans. Hillel found a way of transferring the debt to the court—and so saved the very commandment of helping the poor.

Order: Zeraim. There is Gemara only in the Jerusalem Talmud.