Comentario sobre Demai 1:1

הקלין שבדמאי – that the Sages were lenient with regard to these produce which are mentioned in our Mishnah to not tithe what is doubtfully tithed, because their presumption is that they come from that which is ownerless because they are not important and they have two aspects of doubtfulness: there is a doubt that they come from that which is ownerless and they are exempt from the tithes. And even if you can say that they come from what is guarded and are liable for tithes perhaps they were tithed. Butדמאי /doubtfully tithed produce are the grain and the fruit that are taken from those who are not observing certain religious customs regarding tithes for they are suspect on tithing. But a חבר/member of the order for the observance of Levitical laws in daily intercourse who purchases produce from those who are not observing certain religious customs regarding tithes/עמי הארץ must separate from them only the heave-offering of the tithe and the Second Tithe if it is the year of the Second Tithe (i.e., years 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the seven-year cycle), but [regarding] תרומה גדולה/the Great Tithe (i.e., two percent) those who are not observing certain religious customs regarding tithes are not suspected [of violating] because it [is punishable] by death, and there is no limit/definite quantity or size that one piece of wheat can exempt all of the pile and everyone is careful concerning it. But First Tithe and the Tithe of the Poor there is no need to remove from that which is doubtfully tithed even though those who do not observe certain religious customs regarding tithes are suspected of [not observing] them, because the owner of the produce can say to the Levite or to the poor person who come to take the tithes: “bring proof that this produce is tithed and take it,” for we hold in every place (see Tractate Bava Kamma, Chapter 3, Mishnah 11): “He who wants to exact [compensation] from his fellow bears the burden of proof.” But [regarding] the heave-offering of the tithe, one doesn’t say this, for a person who eats produce that is forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts that were not separated from it is liable for death and because of the prohibition, we separate out for the heave-offering of the tithe, and also Second Tithe in order that they will not consume it in a state of ritual impurity, or that they should not eat it outside of Jerusalem.

The [following] are treated leniently in regard to [the rules of] demai: unripe figs, wild jujuba, azarolus, wild white figs, young sycamore figs, fallen dates, fennel and capers.
In Judea also sumac, Judean vinegar, and coriander.
Rabbi Judah says: all unripe figs are exempt, except for those from a tree that bears fruit twice a year. All wild jujuba are exempt, except the wild jujuba of Shikmonah. All young sycamore figs are exempt, except those that have been scarified.
As I explained in the introduction, when one purchases produce from an am haaretz, one must suspect that he did not separate tithes. This produce is called demai. Our mishnah teaches that with regard to certain types of produce the rules of demai don’t apply. This is because these things are not important items and are usually left out in the fields for anyone to take. They are “ownerless” or “hefker” and anything that is ownerless is exempt from the laws of terumah and tithes in the first place. Therefore, we assume that the am haaretz gathered this produce from ownerless property and hence it was never liable to be tithed.
Sections one and two: This is a list of things that are usually left ownerless, as I explained in the introduction above. One who purchases one of these things from an am haaretz need not separate tithes from them. I must confess, I do not know exactly what all these things are.
Section three: Rabbi Judah limits the list found in section one. Unripe figs that come from a tree that bears fruit twice a year are subject to the laws of demai. Evidently, these figs are good, and are not left ownerless. So too the wild jujuba of Shikmonah, a place near Haifa, is good. Finally, young sycamore figs that have been scarified to hasten their ripening are good figs and are not left ownerless.

השיתין – desert/wild figs.

הרימין (lote) – it is explained in the Arukh as POLTZARA”KI in the foreign language.

והעוזרדין (sorb-apply/crab-apple) – In Arabic ZA’A’RUD, and in the foreign language SORBISH.

ובנות שוח – white figs that grow every three years , and grow in the forests.

ובנות שקמה (young sycamore trees) – a fig that is grafted with a platanus.

ונובלות תמרה – dates which do not ripen on the tree and they detach them and place them one upon the other until they ripen. But there are those who say that the inferior quality of dates are dates that the wind blew them down prior to their ripening.

גופנים (late grapes) – grapes that they place them in the vine at the end of the harvesting season and they ripen with difficulty.

הנצפה – caper-bush that they call in the foreign language KAIPRI.

האוג (red berry of the Venus summachtree) – a red fruit that we call in the foreign language KORNIOLI. But Maimonides says that it is a tree that makes a kind very red clusters of grapes, and we call them in the foreign language SUMMACH. But this fruit was not important in Judea.

והחומץ – at first, the wine that was in Judea would not ferment because they would bring from it libations and all the vinegar that was in Judea was not in it but rather from the husks and stalks of (pressed) grapes, seeped in water,, used ass an inferior wine; therefore the vinegar in Judea is exempt [from tithing]. But after the libations were abolished and the vinegar came from the wine, the vinegar was liable for being doubtfully tithed even in Judea like in the rest of the places.

והכוסבר (coriander) – like (Exodus 16:31): “[The house of Israel named it manna;] it was like coriander seed, [white and it tasted like wafers in honey];” the Jerusalem Targum calls כוסבר – KOLIANDARO in the foreign language.

דיופרא (a species of figs) – bearing its fruit twice a year. דיו in the Greek language is “two.”

שקמונה – name of a place.

המוסטפוס (fruit burst open – naturally or through scarification) – that ripened on the tree until it burst open from on its own. For all of these are important and their presumption is that they don’t come from something ownerless. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.