A sheaf was forgotten by the field owner but clearly remembered by the workers. What is the halachic status of that sheaf?
Halachah 1 teaches that shicicah requires universal forgetting — by the owner, the workers, and any bystanders. If even one of these parties remembers the sheaf, it does not become shicicah.
Question 2
An owner in the city says, "I know my workers forgot a sheaf near the gate," but later forgets about it himself. Is that sheaf shicicah?
Halachah 2 distinguishes between the city and the field: in the field, only a sheaf forgotten from the outset is shicicah. In the city, even if the owner first remembered it and then forgot it, it is shicicah — because the verse specifies "in the field," implying stricter rules apply only there.
Question 3
A harvester begins at one end of a row. He forgets grain both in front of him (not yet reached) and behind him (already passed). Which grain is shicicah?
Halachah 10 establishes the principle: "Do not go back to take it" defines shicicah. Grain behind the harvester — which he has already passed — is shicicah. Grain still in front of him is not, because he has not yet been to that area and is not forbidden from taking it.
Question 4
A farmer forgets three separate sheaves scattered across his field. What is the halachic status?
Halachah 14 rules that two separate forgotten sheaves are shicicah, but three are not — because their number suggests the owner had not finished collecting and intends to return for them. The same rule applies to bundles, mounds of olives, and bundles of flax.
Question 5
A farmer forgets a single sheaf containing exactly two se'ah of grain. Does the mitzvah of shicicah apply?
Halachah 18 rules that a sheaf containing two se'ah is not shicicah, derived from the verse "when you forget a sheaf" — implying a sheaf, not a grainheap. A quantity that large cannot realistically be "forgotten," and the Torah's gift to the poor was designed for smaller, genuinely overlooked amounts.