Alguien que tiene dinero [ Ma'aser Sheni ] en Jerusalén y lo necesita [para otros usos], si su amigo tiene frutos, puede decirle a su amigo: "Este dinero se hace Chulin [producto no sagrado, mediante transferencia su santidad] en tus frutos ". Así encontramos que este [dueño de las frutas debe] comer sus frutas con pureza, mientras que el otro puede usar su dinero para sus propias necesidades. Pero no se debe decir esto a un Am Ha'aretz [alguien que es negligente en la observación de los diezmos y las leyes de pureza] excepto en el caso de Demai [producto del cual no se sabe si los diezmos ya fueron tomados].
Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
מי שהיה לו מעות – of Second Tithe, and he must with them unconsecrated things that are not for eating, drinking or anointing.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
Introduction
This mishnah deals with a person who has maaser sheni money in Jerusalem, but doesn’t want to use it to buy food or other things that one can buy with maaser sheni money.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
ולחבירו פירות – of unconsecrated produce and he wants to do a favor for him, that he should redeem the monies of Second Tithe for his produce.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
One who has [second tithe] money in Jerusalem and he needs [to spend] it, and his friend had [non-sacred] produce, he may say to his friend: “Let this money be exchanged for your produce.” He may redeem his money by transferring its sanctity onto his friend’s non-sacred produce. The only real difference between this case and a normal case of buying produce with maaser sheni money is that here his friend did not want to sell the produce and the purchaser didn’t want to buy it. There has been only a fictional transaction here the only thing that has been transferred is the sanctity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
אוכל פירותיו בטהרה – for the sanctity of [Second] Tithe takes effect on the produce and he must eat them in purity.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
It turns out that the one [must] eat his produce in purity and the other may do what he needs with his money. Now that the sanctity of the maaser sheni money has been transferred to the produce, the one with the produce has to make sure that he is pure when he eats it. The person with the money can now use the money to buy anything he wants, because its sanctity has transferred to the produce.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
ולא יאמר כן לעם הארץ – who is suspected of eating produce of [Second] Tithe in defilement.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Maaser Sheni
But he may not say thus to an am haaretz except when [the money was] from [second tithe of] demai. A person should not make this type of deal with an am haaretz, a person who is not scrupulous about observing the laws of purity. The am haaretz might eat the maaser sheni in a state of impurity, which is prohibited. However, if the maaser sheni came from demai, then he can make this fictional exchange even with an am haaretz. An am haaretz is suspected of not separating tithes. When a person buys produce from an am haaretz he must tithe the produce because we are concerned that it hasn’t been tithed. This tithe is called “demai” hopefully you remember this concept because there was a whole tractate dedicate to the subject. The rules are generally more lenient with demai, because if the am haaretz had tithed, there would have been no need to separate another tithe. Returning to our case, if one has maaser sheni money whose origin is in demai, he can transfer its sanctity onto an am haaretz’s non-sacred produce.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Maaser Sheni
אלא בדמאי – such as if those monies of Second Tithe were of דמאי/suspicion as to the tithes therefrom being taken properly, or whether it is permissible to say this even to an עם הארץ/ignoramus/illiterate, lest the monies were not [Second] Tithe.
