Kommentar zu Maasrot 2:15

היה עובר בשוק – an illiterate who is suspected of [not removing] tithes.

Introduction This mishnah deals with someone who gets produce from someone else while walking on the street. There are two questions here: 1) can he eat them without tithing? 2) What if they were already tithed?

אוכלין ופטורים – a devoted object/sacrifice which is offered on the Altar that did not see the presence of the Temple and were not appointed for Tithes, and even though a sale establishes it for tithes, this gift he gives to them and the gift does not establish it.

If one was passing through the street, and said “Take for yourself from my figs,” one may eat them and be exempt from tithes. Therefore if they brought them into their houses, they must separate [tithes and terumah] as if they were certainly untithed. The mishnah deals with a person who is bringing figs into his home and offers some to someone else. One can assume that they have not been tithed because usually produce that one is not bringing to market is not tithed until one brings it home. Had the figs already been tithed, he would have told the person he was giving them to that he could eat them at home. The receiver can eat the figs without tithing them before he brings them home, but once he brings them into his house he must tithe them before he can eat them. The tithes that he separates have to be considered “certain tithes” because we can be quite certain that they were not yet tithed.

מתקנים ודאי (that undoubtedly requires the separation of tithes – to make things legally fit for use) – for the giver did not tithe for he held that they would eat it in the marketplace and would not require tithing, but since they brought them into the house, they were appointed [for tithing], and specifically when he gave them a little bit that was appropriate to eat it in the marketplace. But, if he gave them a large portion or that the recipient was a person who did not have the practice of eating in the marketplace, or that the thing that he was given is not consumed like it is, in all of these, it is like he said [to them]: “bring them into your homes,” and it is forbidden to eat from them an incidental meal, for it is not explicitly stated, it was already established for tithing.

[If he said], “Take and bring it into your houses,” they may not make a chance meal of them. Therefore if they brought them into their houses, they need tithe them only as demai. In this case, the person told him that he can eat the figs in their own home. This is taken as a hint at two possible things. First of all, he may be saying that the figs have already been in his home, which would make them liable for tithes, but they have not yet been tithed. Therefore, it is forbidden to make a chance meal of them before he tithes them. The other possibility is that he is telling him that he can eat them even in his own home because they have already been tithed. Therefore, when he brings them into his home he must tithe them as if they are “demai” doubtfully tithed produce. In sum, the mishnah is concerned for two opposite problems while in the street he can’t eat them lest they already were brought into the original person’s house and they were not tithed; once he brings them home, he must be concerned lest they already were tithed and therefore, the tithes that he takes out have the status of demai and not certain tithes.

אין מתקנים אלא דמאי – and he would give the heave-offering/Terumah and tithes to the Kohen, but First Tithe and the Poor [Tithe] he would take for himself.

ואמר טלו לכם תאנים – the owner of the gate or the owner of the store said so (to take figs for themselves).

Introduction Our mishnah continues to deal with people who receive figs from passersby (I’d like to receive figs from passersby, but I guess people aren’t as nice as they used to be) and with the question of whether they can eat the figs before they tithe them.

ובעל השער ובעל החנות חייבין – for the house of a person makes obligatory the setting aside of tithes and not to others.

If they were sitting at the gate or a shop, and one said [to them], “Take for yourselves figs,” they may eat and be exempt from tithes, but the owner of the gate, or the owner of the shop, is liable [to give tithe]. Except for the owners, the people sitting at the gate or inside the shop can eat the figs without tithing them because the gate and the shop don’t belong to them. When we learned that once food is brought into one’s home it cannot be eaten before it is tithed, that meant one’s own home. Since these people didn’t own the gate or the shop, the figs are not liable for tithes for them. However, the owners of the gate and the shop have had the tithes brought into their homes (or at least a building owned by them), and therefore they can’t eat until they tithe.

ורבי יהודה פוטר – because a person is embarrassed to eat at the gate or in the store, but the courtyard establishes [liability] for tithing, for a person is not embarrassed to eat in it.

Rabbi Judah exempts him unless he turns his face or changes the place where he was sitting [and selling]. Rabbi Judah holds that a gate and a shop do not make food liable for tithes because it wasn’t considered decent to eat in such places. People would be embarrassed to eat there because people generally didn’t eat in public places. So if he nevertheless eats in one of those places, he need not tithe before he eats. However, if he turns around so that they don’t see him eating, or he moves to another place within the gate or shop where he won’t be embarrassed to eat, then he must tithe before he eats the figs.

עד שיחזיר פניו – in the place where he sits and sells, he is embarrassed to eat without turning his face, but in a place that he doesn’t sit and sell, he is not embarrassed [to eat] and we hold that a place where he is embarrassed, he is exempt [from tithing] and a place where he is not embarrassed, he is obligated [to tithe] but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

המעלה פירות מן מגליל – he harvested fruit/produce In the Galilee in order to sell them in Judea and they were not established for tithing, even if he lodged along the way until he would arrive in Judea for it was his intention to sell them there.

Introduction In yesterday’s mishnah we learned that bring one’s produce into another person’s home doesn’t make the produce liable for tithes. Only bringing it into one’s own home makes it liable for tithes. In today’s mishnah we learn about people traveling on the road and staying at other people’s homes and when their food becomes liable for tithes.

וכן בחזרה – if prior to his arrival in Judea, he changed his mind to return them to the Galilee, he consumes from them an incidental meal on the road until he would arrive in the Galilee.

One who brings produce from the Galilee to Judea, or if he goes up to Jerusalem, he may eat of them until he arrives at the place to which he intends to go, and the same is true when he returns. When one is traveling on the road for business, or making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and he enters an inn to spend the night while on the way, he can continue to eat the harvested produce without tithing it until he gets to the place, meaning the home that he intended to go to. This is true even if that house is not actually his home. However, bringing the produce into someone else’s home while still on the way does not make it liable for tithes.

עד שהוא מגיע למקום השביתה – to the place where he wants to rest there on the Sabbath, and immediately upon his arrival there, his produce/fruit became established for tithing, even though Shabbat had not yet arrived, but the Halakha Is not according to Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Meir says: [he may eat] until he reaches the place where he intends to rest [on Shabbat]. Rabbi Meir says that once he gets to the place where he wants to spend Shabbat he can no longer eat his produce without tithing it, even if he gets to that place at some earlier time during the week. The beginning of Shabbat always means that produce must be tithed before it is eaten, but Rabbi Meir adds that just merely being at the place where one will spend Shabbat already makes the produce liable for tithes even if it is not yet Shabbat.

But peddlers who travel from town to town may eat until they reach the place where they intend to stay over night. Peddlers are constantly on the move, going from one place to another, and they don’t really have one place to which they are going. Therefore, the arrival at any place where they intend to spend the night makes their produce liable for tithes.

והרוכלין המחזרין בעיירות – to sell spices and women’s anointing [perfumes] and he brings with him produce/fruit, they consume from them an incidental meal until they arrive at the place of lodging and when they arrive there, the produce has been established for tithing.

Rabbi Judah says: the first house [he reaches] is his house. Rabbi Judah is even stricter and rules that even if he doesn’t intend to spend the night in a certain place, just entering any house makes his produce liable for tithes. A peddler’s home is whatever place he ends up in, and not just one that he plans on going to beforehand.

ר' יהודה אומר בית ראשון – [the first house] that is in the city where he is lodging there, establishes for tithing, and even if he dodges in the other portion of the city, because a person wants to empty/remove his utensils at the first house that he approaches in order to lodge there, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

עד שלא נגמרה מלאכתן – their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived, each and every fruit, according to what is explained above (chapter 1 of Tractate Maaserot, Mishnayot 2-7).

Introduction Our mishnah deals with a person who separated terumah from his produce before he finished its processing and before he separated the tithes.

ר' אליעזר אוסר לאכול מהן עראי – until he separates all of their tithes of Terumah/heave-offering, making obligatory the setting aside of tithes.

Produce from which he separated terumah before its work was finished: Rabbi Eliezer says: it is forbidden to make a chance meal of it, But the sages permit it except when it is a basket of figs. According to Rabbi Eliezer, once one has separated terumah from produce it can no longer be eaten in a chance fashion until tithes have also been separated. To put it another way, taking out terumah makes the produce liable for tithes. The rabbis generally disagree and hold that separating terumah does not make produce liable for tithes. One can continue to eat chance meals from the produce. The one exception is a basket of figs. Albeck tentatively explains that it was common to give figs to several people (as we saw above in mishnayot 1-2) and if he took out terumah then he has shown that his intention is to give away the figs while they are in the basket and therefore this is considered the final step in their processing. Furthermore, once he has separated the terumah he won’t put more hullin figs into the basket and therefore, their processing is complete. Therefore, he can no longer eat in a “chance” fashion from these figs.

וחכמים מתירים – as they hold that the heave-offering/Terumah does not make obligatory the setting aside of tithes unless he made the heave-offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.

A basket of figs from which one separated terumah: Rabbi Shimon permits it. But the sages forbid it. Rabbi Shimon does not distinguish between figs and other types of produce even though he separated terumah from the basket, it is still not liable for tithes and he can continue to eat in a chance fashion.

כלכלת תאנים שתרמה – if their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived.

ר' שמעון מתיר – even if he separated the heave offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.

וחכמים אומרים – and the Halakha is according to the Sages, that the heave-offering establishes the obligation to tithe, for when he made the heave-offering/Terumah from the basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use. But after he separated the heave-offering, it is forbidden to eat an incidental meal from that basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use until he separates all of the tithes.

עד שיעשר – for the sale makes it obligatory for the setting aside of tithes.

Introduction In our mishnah we learn that produce that has been sold and bought cannot be eaten, even in a chance fashion, until it has been tithed.

ואם צירף – if the owner of the garden took two at once, and gave it to him, he is liable [to tithe], but at the time when the purchaser harvests and ate, Rabbi Meir admits that he eats one at a time.

One who says to his friend: “Here is this issar, give me five figs for it”, he may not eat of [them] until he has tithed them, the words of Rabbi Meir. According to Rabbi Meir, once the figs have been bought, they must be tithed before he can eat from them.

אמר רבי יהודה עשה בגנת ורדין וכו' – and there, the owner of the garden was harvesting, for they would not permit a person to enter there because of the roses but even though that the heave-offerings and tithes were not ever separated out, and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi Judah says: if he ate them one by one, he is exempt, but if he gathered them [to eat them] together, he is liable [to tithe.] According to Rabbi Judah, if the seller gives the buyer one fig at a time, he can eat them without tithing them. However, if the seller gathers several together and sells them to him at one time, then he can’t eat them at all until he has tithed them. According to Rabbi Judah, this is the type of sale that makes produce liable for tithes.

Rabbi Judah said: it happened in a rose-garden in Jerusalem that there were figs being sold three or four for an issar, and neither terumah nor tithe was ever given from it. Rabbi Judah relates a story about a rose-garden in Jerusalem in which figs grew and people bought them at the price of three or four for an issar (a coin worth 1/24 of a dinar) and they never had to tithe them, because they ate them one at a time. Evidently, these rose-garden figs were quite delicious. I’ll keep my eye out for them here in the Holy City!

שאבור – that I will select and choose.

Introduction This mishnah teaches ways in which a person can buy produce and yet continue to eat it without tithing.

בורר ואוכל – he detaches one by one and eats, but if he didn’t detach and combined two of them, he is liable [for tithing].

One who says to his friend: “Here is an issar for ten figs which I choose for myself,” he may choose them and eat [one at a time without tithing]. [If he said] “For a cluster of grapes which I choose for myself,” he may pick grapes from the cluster and eat. [If he said], “For a pomegranate which I choose for myself,” he may take apart [the pomegranate] and eat [it one piece at a time]. [If he said] “For a watermelon, which I choose for myself,” he may slice and eat [it one piece at a time]. In all of the cases in this mishnah, the person gives the person money on condition that he chooses which particular piece of fruit he is buying. The fruit is still attached to the ground. The purchase is only completed once he picks the fruit. Therefore, he can eat them without tithing, but only one at a time, as was Rabbi Judah’s opinion in yesterday’s mishnah. The same is true for the grapes, pomegranate and watermelon mentioned in the remainder of this section. Since he doesn’t determine which piece of fruit he is buying until he picks it, this is considered a case of buying produce that is already detached from the ground.

מגרגר – he harvests each berry and eats them.

But if he said “For these twenty figs,” or “For these two clusters,” or “For these two water-melons,” he may eat them in his usual way and be exempt [from tithe], because he bought them while they were still attached to the ground. In this case he specifies which of the fruit he wants to eat. In this way, he succeeds in acquiring the fruit while it is still attached to the ground. Buying fruit while it is still attached to the ground does not make it liable for tithes, and therefore, he can eat from it in a chance fashion before it is tithed.

פורט – while the pomegranate is attached [to the ground], he splits it into segments/singles them out and eats berry after berry.

ובאבטיח סופת ואוכל – that is to say, he cuts small slices and eats [them].

לקצות בתאנים – to make a fig-harvest (by cutting and packing figs). There are those who interpret to spread them out to dry and there are those interpret to cut them with a tool to cut fig-cakes (i.e., a knife or a saw) for they regularly cut the figs.

Introduction According to the rabbinic interpretation of Deuteronomy 23:25-26, the Torah allows a worker in a field to eat from the owner’s produce while he is working in the field (see also Bava Metzia 7:2). The produce that he eats is not considered a wage and hence it can be eaten without having been tithed. Our mishnah deals with several ramifications of this law.

ואמר לו ע"מ שאוכל תאנים – but there was no need for this condition for without that , he eats according to the law of the Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 23:25): “When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes [as you want, until you are full, but you must not put any in your vessel].” But the Biblical verse speaks about the worker, therefore, it is not like a purchase and it doesn’t establish [for requiring] tithing.

One who has hired a worker to help him harvest figs, and he [the worker] said to him “On condition that I may eat the figs,” he may eat them and he is exempt [from tithing]. As I explained in the introduction, the worker is allowed to eat while harvesting the grapes, even if he doesn’t stipulate that he may do so. Therefore, the fact that he says, “On condition that I may eat the figs” does not make the figs part of the contract and thereby like wages; rather he is allowed to eat the figs because of the Torah’s laws. Since the figs are not considered part of his wages, he may eat them without tithing.

ע"מ שאוכל אני ובני – the eating of my children is a purchase and establishes [requiring] tithing.

[If he said,] “On condition that I and my son may eat,” or “that my son may eat of them in lieu of my receiving a wage,” he may eat and he is exempt [from tithing], but his son may eat but he is liable [for tithes]. The Torah does not mandate that a worker’s son can eat of the produce while his father is working in the field. Therefore, if the worker makes this stipulation the figs that his son eats are considered wages and must be tithed before the son eats them.

ולאחר הקציעה – for his work was already complete, he does not eat according to the law of the Torah, but he comes to eat on the strength of the condition and it is like a purchase.

[If he said,] “On condition that I may eat of them during the time of the fig harvest, and after the fig harvest,” during the time of the fig harvest he may eat and he is exempt [from tithing], but if he eats after the fig harvest he is liable, since he does not eat of them in the manner mandated by the Torah. The Torah mandates that he is allowed to eat while he is harvesting but not after the harvest has been completed. Thus, while still harvesting he can eat the figs without tithing them. However, if he eats figs after the harvest has been completed, these are considered to be wages and he must tithe them before he eats.

האוכל מן התורה פטור – And in the chapter (Chapter 7 of Tractate Bava Metzia, Mishnah 2), “He who hires workers” [87a-b], it explains: Which are those who eat from the law of the Torah? He who works on that which is attached to the ground at the time when the work is completed and [that which is] detached [from the ground] until the work has not yet been completed.

This is the general rule: one who eats in a manner mandated by the Torah is exempt [from tithes], and one who does not eat in the manner mandated by the Torah is liable. The general rule here is the basis of all the previous section. It is interesting to note that what the Torah mandates that the employer give his employee is not considered a wage, but a right.

בלבסים – a kind from the species of bad figs (Lesbians/early figs).

Introduction This mishnah continues to deal with when a worker working in field must tithe his produce. Some of the concepts of this mishnah were already taught in Bava Metzia 7:4.

בבנות שבע – a kind of white and good fig.

If a man is working [as a hired worker] among cooking figs, he may not eat of white figs, and if among white figs, he may not eat of cooking figs, but he may restrain himself until he reaches the place where there are the better figs, and then he may eat. While working in the field, a worker may only eat from the type of produce that he is working with. Thus, if he is working with one type of figs, he cannot eat from another type. However, he can wait until he begins to work with the better type of figs and then he may eat from them.

לא איכל בבנות שבע – as it is written (Deuteronomy 23:25): “When you enter another man’s vineyard and you eat as many grapes,” what does the inference teach us, “you eat grapes,” for don’t we know that there isn’t anything in a vineyard other than grapes? From here, if he was working with figs, he should not eat grapes.

If a man exchanges with his friend either [figs] for eating for [figs] for eating, or [figs] to be dried for figs [to be dried], of figs [for eating] for figs [to be dried], then he is liable to give tithes. According to the opinion in this section, when one exchanges any type of figs, figs that are going to be eaten fresh (what the mishnah calls “for eating) or figs that are going to dried, the exchange is treated like a purchase and neither party can eat of the figs before they are tithed.

אבל מונע את עצמו – a worker is permitted to prevent himself that he should not eat a the time that he is working with the bad ones until he reaches to good ones, and he eats from the good ones that which he could have eaten from the bad ones.

Rabbi Judah says: one who exchanges [figs] for [other figs for eating] is liable, but [if for figs] for drying he is exempt. Rabbi Judah says that if he exchanges his figs for other figs that are going to be dried out, then he can eat the figs he gets without first tithing them, because their work has not yet been completed. Rabbi Judah holds that purchasing makes produce liable for tithes only if its work has been completed. If he exchanges the figs for figs that he intends to eat fresh, then their work has been completed, and he cannot eat of them until they are tithed.

זה לאכול וזה לאכול – you should eat from my figs and I will eat from yours.

זה לאכול וזה לקצות – you eat from my fig-harvest that are spread out to dry or the cut pieces with the tool for cutting fig-cakes (i.e., the knife or saw) and I eat from your fig-harvest; in each of these there is a purchase and it establishes [the obligation] for tithing.

המחליף לאכול חייב, לקצות פטור – for a purchase does not establish the thing where the work had not been completed. Therefore, these fig-harvests where their work was not completed, the purchase does not establish them [as liable for tithing] and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.