Commentary for Terumot 1:2
חֵרֵשׁ הַמְדַבֵּר וְאֵינוֹ שׁוֹמֵעַ, לֹא יִתְרֹם. וְאִם תָּרַם, תְּרוּמָתוֹ תְרוּמָה. חֵרֵשׁ שֶׁדִּבְּרוּ בוֹ חֲכָמִים בְּכָל מָקוֹם, שֶׁאֵינוֹ לֹא שׁוֹמֵעַ וְלֹא מְדַבֵּר:
A deaf person who can speak but cannot hear may not set aside <i>Terumah</i>. But if one did set aside <i>Terumah</i>, one's <i>Terumah</i> is valid <i>Terumah</i>. A deaf person that the Sages refer to in all cases can neither hear nor speak.
Bartenura on Mishnah Terumot
לא יתרום – ab initio for one needs to let his ears hear as he makes the blessing (see Mishnah Berakhot, Chapter 3, Mishnah 3 which also deals with the issue of “letting his ears hear”/"צריך להשמיע לאזניו" .
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English Explanation of Mishnah Terumot
Introduction
Our mishnah clarifies the meaning of “heresh” which I translated in yesterday’s mishnah to mean “deaf-mute.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Terumot
חרש שדברו בו חכמים – it is not a general principle, for at the beginning of Tractate Hagigah it is taught that a deaf person who speaks but does not hear is included, and in the chapter מצות חליצה/The command of Halitzah (see specifically, Mishnah 4), regarding the subject of “removing the shoe” [of the dead husband’s brother who refuses to perform a levirate marriage].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Terumot
A “heresh”, who speaks but cannot hear, may not give terumah, but if he does so, his terumah is terumah. In yesterday’s mishnah we learned that if a “heresh” separates terumah, his terumah is not terumah. Here we learn that mishnah one referred only to the typical type of “heresh,” one who neither speaks nor hears. However, if the heresh can speak but not hear then he still may not give terumah but if he does so, it is valid. The Talmud explains that he shouldn’t give terumah because he cannot hear the blessing. His terumah is valid because if he can communicate, then we know that he has “da’at” (legal cognizance of his actions.)
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Bartenura on Mishnah Terumot
שאינו שומע ואינו מדבר – who born deaf from his mother’s womb, and since he never heard what they are saying to him, it is impossible for him that he could speak.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Terumot
The “heresh” of whom the sages generally speak is one who neither hears nor speaks. This section clarifies that generally when we talk about the “heresh” it refers to a deaf-mute and not to a deaf person who can speak. Assumedly a deaf person who could speak would almost always have been someone who went deaf later in life. A person who was born deaf would probably, in those days, never learn to speak.
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