How do people redeem <i>Neta Revai</i> [tree fruits in the fourth year after their planting, which are considered sacred]? One sets down the basket [of fruit] in front of three, and says: "How much would a man want to redeem with one <i>Selah</i> [specific unit of money] on condition that the expenditures must come from his household?" One then sets down the coins and says: "Anything harvested from this [tree], will be made into <i>Chulin</i> [by transferring its sacredness] to these coins, at [a rate of] so-and-so many baskets for a <i>Selah</i>.
Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
מניח את הסך על פי שלשה – [three] specialists in estimation, for ordinary fourth-year’s fruits from a young tree’s monetary value is not known since you have to calculate the expenditures as the Mishnah teaches here.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
Introduction
This mishnah deals with the procedure for redeeming fourth year produce. How is the value of the produce evaluated?
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
לפדות בסלע – that is to purchase with a Selah while it is attached to the ground.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
How does one redeem the fruit of a plant in its fourth year? The owner puts down a basket in the presence of three [people] and says: “How many such baskets would a man wish to redeem for himself for a sela on condition that the costs [to produce the fruit] shall be on his house? In the presence of three people, who will acts as estimators, the owner puts a sample of the produce to be redeemed into a basket. He then asks how much a person would redeem for himself the produce in the basket, under the condition that he would have to pay for the costs involved in growing the produce. We would term this “profit.” This is very important: the owner doesn’t redeem the produce at market cost; he only pays the potential profit. This is why three people are needed to do the estimate. It doesn’t take three people to figure out how much something costs at the market. What is more difficult is figuring out how much it would have cost to grow the produce.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
על מנת להוציא יציאות מביתו – the salary of working the vineyard from the time that it is called a fruit, such as the salary for guarding and hoeing.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
And then he puts down the money and says: “Whatever shall be picked from this plant may it be exchanged for this money at the price of so many baskets for a sela.” Once we have figured out how many baskets of produce can be redeemed for a sela, the owner puts down a sela and says that the sela will redeem however many baskets of future produce were determined.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
ומניח את המעות – according to the estimation, after they estimated so-and-so many baskets per Selah.
