Olelot (Unformed Clusters)

Olelot is the commandment to leave the unformed grape clusters - the small, incompletely developed clusters - for the poor. During the grape harvest, the farmer does not pick the olelot, but leaves them on the vine for the poor and the stranger. This mitzvah is one of the gifts to the poor that apply to the vineyard, alongside peret (fallen grapes). Just as the field has pe'ah, leket, and shichecha, the vineyard has olelot and peret. The Sages taught that olelot are the clusters that do not develop properly - they remain small and incomplete. These are not a loss but a gift, and the act of leaving them is a mitzvah. The vineyard, like the field, has its portion for the poor.