Comentario sobre Jalá 4:10

מביתר – name of a place outside the Land of Israel

Nittai of Tekoa brought hallah-portions from Be-Yitur, but they did not accept from him.
The people of Alexandria brought hallah, but they did not accept from them.
The people from Mt. Zevoim brought bikkurim prior to Atzeret (, but they did not accept from them, on for it is written in the Torah: “And the festival of the harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field” (Exodus 23:16).
Our mishnah mentions people who did two things that were against rabbinic law. The first thing is that they brought hallah from outside of Israel into Israel. The rabbis forbade bringing hallah or terumah into Israel from outside Israel. This was prohibited in order to discourage priests from going outside of Israel to bring back terumah or hallah (see also Sheviit 6:6).
The second issue mentioned is that some people would bring bikkurim before Shavuot. The rabbis also forbade this, for the verse in Exodus alludes to the fact that the first fruits should be brought on Shavuot.
I find several interesting things in this mishnah. First of all, the people who did not observe rabbinic law were actually acting in some ways stricter than the rabbis demanded. They were shlepping their hallah all the way from outside of Israel into the land of Israel. They were bringing their bikkurim before they were supposed to. The picture we get is of people who were zealous in their observance, and who were being calmed down by the rabbis. It is also interesting that those outside of Israel were not following rabbinic law. We know from many places that rabbinic influence was felt largely in Israel, where most rabbis lived. This mishnah supports the notion that outside of the land, Jews did not always follow, or perhaps didn’t even know, what rabbis were teaching. But to emphasize this does not mean that they were not observant of Jewish law.
Secondly, while the rabbis opposed these practices, they also bothered remembering them. The mishnah disapproves of what these people did, but it is almost as if the mishnah is also saying that although the practices are not sanctioned, they are still in some ways admirable.
The mishnah itself should be easily understood, and hence there is no explanation below.

ולא קבלו ממנו – to eat them is impossible, for they were defiled in the land of the heathens, and to burn them, is impossible since their ritual impurity is unknown, lest people say that we say sacred pure produce of the priest that was burned, and to return them to their places is impossible so that people don’t say that Terumah went out from the Land of Israel to outside the Land of Israel, but rather, we leave them until the eve of Passover and burn them [as part of the Hametz that is burned].

וחג הקציר בכורי מעשיך – for the two loaves are called Bikkurim/First Fruits, and we permit the [consumption of the] new [grain] in the Temple.