Commentary for Demai 6:1
הַמְקַבֵּל שָׂדֶה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, מִן הַנָּכְרִי וּמִן הַכּוּתִי, יְחַלֵּק לִפְנֵיהֶם. הַחוֹכֵר שָׂדֶה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, תּוֹרֵם וְנוֹתֵן לוֹ. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה, אֵימָתַי, בִּזְמַן שֶׁנָּתַן לוֹ מֵאוֹתָהּ הַשָּׂדֶה וּמֵאוֹתוֹ הַמִּין, אֲבָל אִם נָתַן לוֹ מִשָּׂדֶה אַחֶרֶת אוֹ מִמִּין אַחֵר, מְעַשֵּׂר וְנוֹתֵן לוֹ:
Someone who received a field [as a sharecropper] from a Jew, a non-Jew, or a Cuthite, should divide up [the produce] in their presence. One who rents a field from a Jew, must separate the <i>Terumah</i> [produce consecrated for priestly consumption] and then give [the landlord] his portion. Rabbi Yehudah said: When is this? When the payment is from the same field and the same species; however, if the payment is from a different field or a different species, he must separate the tithes and then give [the landlord] his portion.
Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
המקבל שדה – (i.e., an אריס) for fifty percent, for a third or a fourth in the manner of tenant farmers who till the owner’s ground for a certain share of the crops.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
Introduction This mishnah deals with a Jew who rents a field from someone else, either a Jew, a Gentile or a Samaritan. There are two types of rental agreements referred to here. In the first type of agreement, the owner of the field shares part of the crop with the one renting and working the field. In the second type of agreement, the one renting pays the owner a fixed amount of the produce, whether the field produces a good or a bad crop.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
חולק לפניהם – and he does not have to tithe the portion of that belongs to the owner of the field, but he places before them part of the profit of the ground which is not tithed, and the Sages did not obligate to the sharecropper that he would tithe the part of the owner [of the field] but he gives hm what he arranged with him when it is tithe because of the settlement of the Land of Israel in order that others not be prevented from being sharecroppers who till the land as tenants for a percentage of the yield.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
One who has received a field from a Jew, or from a Gentile, or from a Samaritan [for a share in the produce], he divvies up the produce in front of them [without first separating tithes]. In this case, the owner and the renter share the produce according to a set percentage. The percentage of the produce that the renter gives to the owner never belonged to the renter from the outset it belonged to the field owner. Therefore, when he divides the produce with the field owner he does not need to first separate terumah or tithes.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
החוכר – the sharecropper for a fixed amount – such-and-such KORS per year, whether it produces a lot or whether it produces only a little.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
One who has hired a field from a Jew [for a fixed amount from the produce], he first gives terumah [from the rental] and then gives it to him (the field owner). In this case, the renter is to pay the owner a fixed amount of the produce. Since the produce first belongs to the renter and then he gives it over to the owner, the renter must first take out terumah before he gives it to the owner. However, he does not have to take out tithes as well because with regard to tithes the rabbis were lenient on the sharecropper, forcing the field owner separate them himself.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
תורם ונותן לו – but he does not tithe, for every tenant farmer on this condition goes down to the field that he will give him his stipulated rent from the produce that grows in the field in their eatables that are forbidden pending the separation of priestly gifts, but however, because cannot delay the heave-offering, it is impossible for the granary to be uprooted unless the priestly gifts have been separated because of this, he separates the priestly gifts and gives it to him (i.e., the owner), and it is logical that he deducts for him the heave-offering from his tenancy for what then is the difference of heave-offering from tithes?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
Rabbi Judah said: When is this so? When he pays him [the rental with produce] of the same field and of the same kind; but when he pays him with the produce of another field or of another kind, he must [also] tithe [the rental first] and then give it to him. Rabbi Judah limits the above law. When the renter pays the field owner with produce from the very field that he received from him, then he can get away without separating tithes. In this case, it is almost as if the produce that he gives him actually belonged to the field owner in the first place. However, if the renter is going to pay his debt with produce that he grew in another field, then he must first separate tithes and only then pay his debt.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
אמר ר' יהודה – when is it sufficient for the sharecropper for a fixed amount that he would separate the priestly gifts alone and not tithe? When he (i.e., the tenant farmer) gives him (i.e., the owner of the field his fixed amount from that field and from that species. But if he gave him from a different field, even it was from the same species, or from a different species even it was from the same field as for example, that he sowed part of he field with one species according to the measurement of his tenancy, he liable even to tithe, for it is similar to someone paying back his lien. Alternatively, it is not the intention of the [one who hired the tenant farmer] to receive produce that are not eatable pending the separation of priestly gifts but rather when he pays him from that field and from that species.
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