Comentario sobre Sheviit 2:7

האורז – in the foreign tongue, RICE

Introduction The year in which produce is tithed also counts with regard to whether it is considered to be sabbatical produce. Thus if something is tithed in the sixth year then it counts as sixth year produce, whereas if would be scheduled to be tithed in the seventh year, it counts as sabbatical produce. Determining what year something is tithed depends on what type of produce it is, and how much it has grown. The standards are different for each type of produce. Thus grain and olives that have grown to 1/3 of their eventual size before Rosh Hashanah are tithed with the previous year. Vegetables belong to the year in which they are harvested. Our mishnah discusses some species that do not fit neatly into either the grain or vegetable category. We should note that it is important to know what year produce is in with regard to tithes because the laws change from year to year. In the first, second, fourth and fifth years second tithe is separated, whereas in the third and sixth year, poor person’s tithe is separated. In the seventh year no tithes are separated. It is also important to know what year the produce is in because one can’t tithe from one year’s produce for another.

והדוחן (a species of millet) – MILLIEV.

Rice, millet, poppy and sesame that had taken root before Rosh Hashanah must be tithed according to the previous year, and are permissible in the seventh year. The criterion for determining whether rice, millet, poppy or sesame are tithed during the previous year (in this case the sixth year) or whether they go with the following year, is whether they have taken root. If they have taken root then they are tithed according to the sixth year, which means that the owner will have to separate regular tithe and poor person’s tithe, which takes the place of second tithe in the third and sixth years of the sabbatical cycle. In addition, they are not subject to the laws of produce grown during the seventh year. We will learn more about these laws later in the tractate.

והפרגין – a kind of pomegranate filled with seeds and its seed shakes within it, and we call it KASHBASH in Arabic and in the foreign language POPOORU.

If they did not then they are forbidden in the seventh year, and are tithed according to the year following. If they did not take root before Rosh Hashanah, then they are forbidden in the seventh year. As we shall learn, this doesn’t mean that they are absolutely prohibited, but rather that the laws governing seventh year produce will govern this produce as well. They will be tithed also as seventh year produce, which means that they won’t have be tithed at all, as seventh year produce is totally exempt from tithes.

מתעשרין לשעבר – with the tithe of the previous year. Of ot was the first year or the second of Shemitah, Second Tithe, and if [it was] the third year, the Poor Person’s Tithe.

ומותרין בשביעית – since it had taken root in the Sixth Year before Rosh Hashanah of the Seventh Year, they do not have the holiness of Seventh Year [produce].

ומתעשרין לשנה הבאה – like the year of its harvesting since that in that year, it had taken root. And if it is the Seventh Year, they are not tithed at all and they have the holiness of the Seventh Year. Even though with a tree, we follow after the formation of fruits/leaves, and with vegetables after their harvesting, and with grain and olives after one-third [growth], meaning to say, when they would bring forth one-third of their ripening, then they become liable for tithes; nevertheless, with rice and millet and pomegranates and sesame, which we don’t harvest them as one, we don’t bring one-third of their ripening as one, we don’t follow after them other than following taking root, for in one year, the entire field takes root and we sew it at one time.