Commentaire sur Ma'aserot 5:9

העוקר שתלים –[he who uproots/takes out] shoots/young plants after they have sprouted and grown a bit, they uproot them and plant them in another place and they thicken and extend and grow there.

One who uproots saplings from of his own [property] and plants them [elsewhere] within his own [property] is exempt [from tithes]. The person in our section is uprooting saplings in order to plant them in another place on his own property. The mishnah teaches that even if there are fruits on these plants and even if he gathers the plants temporarily in to his courtyard [the place where produce generally becomes liable for tithes], they are still exempt from tithes because his intent was not to harvest the fruit but rather to replant the saplings.

פטור – even though they have seen the presence of the house, because they their work has not yet been completed.

If he bought [saplings] attached to the ground, he is exempt. We have previously learned that when one buys produce, one cannot eat it until it is tithed. Being involved in a financial transaction causes produce to become liable for tithes. However, this is only true when produce is bought. If saplings are bought when they are still attached to the ground, their produce is not liable for tithes. If they had been bought detached from the ground, then one can not eat the produce until it is tithed.

לקח במחובר לקרקע – he who purchases produce/fruit which are attached is exempt [from tithing] for the purchase does not establish [liability for separating] tithes but rather when one purchases that which is detached [from the ground], and not when it is attached.

If he gathered them in order to send them to his fellow, he is exempt. In mishnah 4:2 Rabbi Judah held that if one gathers fruit to send to his friend, the fruit must be tithed before it can be eaten. In our mishnah, we learn that this is only when he gathered produce to send to his friend. When he gathers the saplings and sends them to his friend he is still exempt.

לקט – plants to send to his colleague, he is exempt [from tithing].

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: if similar ones were being sold in the market, behold they are liable [for tithes]. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah says that if the fruit that is hanging on these saplings is similar to fruit being sold in the market, meaning this fruit has ripened enough so that it could be sold in the market, then one cannot eat from it until it has been tithed.

אם יש כיוצא בהם נמכרים בדוק – they are considered as if their work had been completed, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah.

ונוטע בתוך שלו לזרע – [turnips and radishes] that the seed [will ripen] in them in the place of their planting.

One who uproots turnips and radishes from within his own [property] and plants [them elsewhere] within his own [property] for the purpose of seed, he is liable to tithe, since this is [equivalent to] their threshing floor. In this case the person must tithe the turnips and radishes before he replants them because as soon as he uprooted them their processing has been completed. The seeds that will subsequently come from the turnips and radishes will be exempt from tithes (we will learn this in mishnah eight). Therefore, before they are replanted they must first be tithed at this early stage.

מפני שהוא גרנן – their uprooting is their harvesting time, for they have no other harvesting time to make them liable for tithing, for their sowing is exempt from tithing, as it is written (Leviticus 27:30- listed incorrectly in the text of the Mishnah): “[All tithes from the land,] whether seed from the ground [or fruit from the tree, are the LORD’s,” but not every seed, except for garden seeds (i.e., seeds of vegetables) which are not eaten (see Mishnah Kilayim, Chapter 2, Mishnah 2), and it is found that their work had been completed and it is prohibited to plant them until one sets aside tithes.

If onions take root in an upper story they become clean from any impurity. Onions that took root in debris/dirt found in an upper story of a building are treated as if they had been planted in the ground. What this means is that if they had previously been made ritually impure, they now revert to a state of purity, as do all plants when they are planted into the ground. The Tosefta notes that these onions are not liable for tithes because only plants that grow in the field are liable for tithes.

טהרו מלטמא – as they are like they are sown, and the Torah increased the purity of seeds, as it is written (Leviticus 11:37): “[If such a carcass falls upon] seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean.” But, for all the rest of the things are like they are detached, and their presumption is for tithing and Seventh year produce, and even to purify them from ritual uncleanness , and especially when they had taken root in the attic that underneath them is the dust of the concrete pavement of stone chippings, but if they had taken root in the basket/pile is considered as detached even regarding ritual defilement.

If some debris fell upon them and they are uncovered, they are regarded as though they were planted in the field. Albeck explains that this section is not a continuation of the previous section. If the onions were in the field and some debris fell on them and their leaves were exposed, they are treated as if they were planted in the field and they, unlike the onions referred to in section two, are liable for tithes.

והן מגולין – their leaves, in the manner of their growh, they are as planted in the field, and a person who uproots from them on Shabbat is liable for Seventh Year produce and tithes.

לא ימכור אדם פירותיו וכו' – for he transgresses (Leviticus 19:14): “[You shall not insult the deaf,] or place a stumbling block before the blind.”

Introduction The first three mishnayot of chapter one taught that fruit is not liable for tithes until it has reached a certain stage of ripening. Our mishnah teaches that after it has reached that stage one may no longer sell it to a person who is suspected of not tithing.

ואם בכרו – if there are ripening early which arrived at the season of [liability] for tithing and the rest did not arrive [yet at that season], he taks them, and sells the rest.

One may not sell produce after the season for tithing has arrived to one who is not trusted concerning tithes. Once produce has ripened enough such that it is liable for tithes, one shouldn’t sell it to an “am haaretz” who is not trusted to tithe the food before he eats it, or gives it to others.

Nor in the sabbatical year [may one sell sabbatical year produce] to one suspected of [transgressing] the sabbatical year. Similarly, while it is permissible to sell produce that grows during the sabbatical year, one shouldn’t sell it to a person who is not trusted to observe the laws of the sabbatical year that apply to that fruit. The most important of these laws is that once that particular fruit can no longer be found in the field, the fruit must also be removed from one’s storehouses. The seller must be concerned lest the person to whom he sells the produce will hold it in his home beyond this date.

If only [some] produce ripened, he takes the ripe ones and may sell the remainder. If some of the fruit has ripened and become liable for tithes, but some of it is still unripe, he can take for himself the ripe fruit and he can sell the unripe fruit to anyone, even one who is not trusted to tithe. The ripe fruit can only be sold to someone who is trusted to tithe.

תבנו – ears of corn that were threshed and sometimes, there remains in them wheat.

Introduction Our mishnah continues to deal with selling produce to a person not trusted to tithe.

גפתו – refuse of olives.

One may not sell his straw, nor his olive peat, or his grape pulp to one who is not to be trusted in [with respect to] tithes, for him to extract the juice from them. Although straw, olive peat and grape pulp are not truly edible and therefore are not liable for tithes, one shouldn’t sell them to someone who is not trusted to tithe, if the purchaser is intending to squeeze the juice out of the olive peat or grape pulp, or to search for the left-over grains within the straw. These products would be liable for tithes, and since he doesn’t tithe, one cannot sell to him.

זגין – refuse of grapes.

If he did extract the juice he is liable for tithes, but is exempt from terumah, because when one separates terumah he has in mind the fragments which [is] by the sides, and that which is inside the straw. If, nevertheless, he did sell these to someone else, the purchaser must take out the tithes. However, he need not take out terumah because when the original seller takes out terumah for the main-product he will intend to separate terumah on behalf of these by-products as well. For instance, one who takes out terumah from grain, intends to exempt the grain that is found in the broken stalks that weren’t threshed properly, as well as the grains that are left among the straw. Since the original owner separates tithes for this grain, the purchaser need not do so. The same is true for olives and grapes. However, the purchaser still needs to separate tithes because the original owner separates tithes based on measurements, and these by-products are not part of that measure.

להוציא מהן משקין – it is referring to its [olive] peat and interior kernels.

על הקטועין – improperly threshed ears of corn.

על הצדדין – sides of the pile, and similar one who separates heave offing in the pit, in his heart on what is in the exterior and what is the interior parts of the grape, and one who separates the heave offering in the olive press,, in his heart, on what is within the peat.

הלוקח שדה ירק – from the heathen.

Introduction In rabbinic language “Syria” refers to the land that borders Israel to the north and east but is not considered fully part of Israel. The rules of tithing and terumah do apply to produce grown by a Jew in Syria but one who purchases produce in Syria can assume that it grew on gentile land and is therefore exempt from the laws of tithing and terumah. Our mishnah deals with a person who is buying land in Syria from a Gentile, and the land has produce growing on it that is in various stages of growth.

בסוריא – they are the lands that [King] David conquered, such as Damascus, Aram Naharayim and Aram Zovah. But in some of the things, he made them like the Land of Israel, and in some of them, not.

One who buys a field of vegetables in Syria: If before the season for tithing arrived, then he is liable to tithe. If after the season for tithing he is exempt, and he may go on gathering in his usual manner. Rabbi Judah says: he may even hire workers and gather. If he buys a field from a Gentile before the season for tithing the vegetables in the field has arrived, then he is liable to tithe because the vegetables became liable for tithes under his (Jewish) ownership. However, if he buys the field after the season for tithing has already arrived, he need not tithe the vegetables. Furthermore, even if the vegetables continue to grow after this time, he may still collect them and eat without tithing. In contrast, in the land of Israel when one buys a field from a non-Jew he always must tithe the produce, no matter when he buys it.

אם עד שלא בא לעונת המעשרות חייב – since for at the time that they come towards the liability [for tithing], they are in the possession of an Israelite. But if if the time of the liability [for tithing arrived when it was in the possession of an idolater, he is exempt [from tithing].And regarding this thing, they made Syria like the conquest of an individual, which is not called a conquest.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: When does this apply? If he has bought the land. But if, he has not bought the land, even before the season for tithing arrived he is exempt. Rabbi Judah adds that he may even hire workers to help him collect the added growth from the produce, even though this will cause more people to know that he is not tithing this field.

ולוקט כדרכו – and he is exempt from tithing even what was added in his possession. But he should not hire workers, for we are concerned that perhaps they will come to work this, even in a field that he purchased even before the time arrived for tithing. But Rabbi Yehuda did not make [this] decree.

Rabbi [Judah Hanasi] says: he must also tithe according to calculation. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says that he is liable to tithe the produce in this field only if he bought the land. If he didn’t buy the land, but was only renting the land, then the produce is always exempt from tithes.

פטור – even though he doesn’t have in the body of the land anything.

Rabbi holds that when he is exempt from tithing, he is still liable to tithe on the percentage of growth that the vegetable experienced after he bought it. Thus if he buys the field after the season for tithing has arrived, he is exempt from tithing on the growth that occurred before this season, but he is liable to tithe for the percentage of growth that took place after he bought the field.

רבי יהודה אומר אף לפי חשבון – He is referring to the matter of the first Tanna/teacher. But this is what he said: that just as he is liable [for tithing] if he purchased prior to the arrival of the time for tithing, to tithe on everything, that is so, that he is liable [for tithing] if the season for tithing has arrived, to tithe according to the percentage that was added to his possession, such as for example, if they brought one-third in the hand of the heathen, he is liable to tithe on the two-thirds that were added to his possession. But the Halakha is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.

המתמד – if he places water on the exterior shells and on the interior pomace or on the lees/sediment, it is called מתמד/making pomace wine putting water on by measure, and finds – after pressing - the same quantity. But here we are speaking with place waters specifically on the lees/sediment.

Introduction “Temed” is a drink made from the grape-skins that have already been pressed to make wine. They would pour water over the grape-skins and they would give some taste to the water. Our mishnah deals with giving tithe from “temed.” These grape-skins would not have been tithed for because the tithe was taken from the wine, after the grape-skins had already been cast aside.

ומצא כדי מדתו – not exactly the same measure, for even if he placed three jugs of water and found three-and-one-half [jugs], he is exempt [from tithing]. For the taste of the lees/sediment of eatables forbidden prior to the setting aside of priestly gifts is not considered a complete taste but rather merely an acrid taste.

One who makes grape-skin wine, and he put water on by measure, and he finds [afterwards] the same quantity, he is exempt from tithe. If after he pours the water onto the grape-skins and then filters them out he finds that the volume of the temed is the same as the volume of the water he added, then the grape-skins have added color and taste but no volume. Therefore, according to the first opinion he is exempt from tithing the temed.

Rabbi Judah makes him liable. Rabbi Judah holds that the added taste does make him liable to give tithes from the temed.

רבי יהודה מחייב – for he holds that it is impossible that all of the water would depart outside, but rather, half-a-jug of water would remain within the lees/sediment, and it would be found that these three-and-one-half jugs that left, they have within them one jug of wine and two-and-one-half of water, and they would be like mixed wine, for it is the manner of mixing wine. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

If he found more than the measure, he must give [tithe] for it from another place, in proportion. If he finds that the grape-pulp did lead to increased volume, then he must give tithes. The mishnah recommends that he give tithes from other untithed produce. When he does so, he gives it according to the proportion of the increase that the grape-pulp caused in the water. For instance, if he found a one liter increase, he must separate tithes for one liter of grapes. He would end up giving 100 ml of tithe from other wine. However, if he gives from the temed itself, he must separate for all of the temed in order to tithe for all of the wine in the temed. Thus if there was 10 liters of water which increased to 11 liters, he would have to give 1.1 liters of the temed as tithe, in order to account for 10 per cent of the wine in the temed.

מצא יותר מכדי מדתו – and this is removing three and finding four.

מוציא עליו ממקום אחר – even from another place, meaning to say, that there is no question from this and requiring it – that is permitted, but rather, even from another place, one is able to tithe according to the percentage of the surplus of the measure.

שלנו – an overnight.

Introduction Our mishnah deals with grain found in anthills, and whether or not such grain must be tithed.

הערימה החייבת – the pile which became obligated for tithing, as it is taught in the first chapter (Tractate Maaserot, Mishnah 6), and if he doesn’t give the pile an even shape, when he makes the pile.

Anthills which have remained the whole night near a pile of grain which was liable to tithe, [the grain found in them] is liable, since it is obvious that they [the ants] have been dragging away the whole night from something [of which the work] had been completed. When grain is found in these anthills next to a pile of grain, and they had been that way all night, we can assume that the grain comes from the adjacent pile and that it must be tithed.

שום בעל בכי – pungent garlic that he who consumes it cries and his eyes flow with tears. But it appears to me that it is garlic that grows in Mount Lebanon, for they call Lebanon in Arabic by that language.

Garlic from Balbeck, onions from Rikpa, Cicilician beans and Egyptians lentils, and Rabbi Meir says qirqas, and Rabbi Yose says qotnym are exempt from tithes and may be brought from any man in the seventh year. The produce mentioned in this section can be assumed to come from outside of the land of Israel. Such produce is exempt from tithes. It also may be bought from anyone during the seventh year, even from a person who is generally suspected of selling seventh year produce (see Sheviit 9:1). The identity of the plants mentioned by Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yose is unknown.

רכפא – name of a place.

The seeds of upper arum pods, the seeds of leeks, the seeds of onions, the seeds of turnips and radishes, and other seeds of garden produce which are not eaten, are exempt from tithes, and may be bought from any man in the seventh year; and even though the plants from they grew were terumah, they may still be eaten [by non-priests]. The seeds mentioned here are not eaten and therefore one need not separate tithes from them. Also, one can buy them from a person who is suspected of selling seventh year produce because the sanctity with which one must treat seventh year produce does not apply to these seeds, since they are not generally eaten. The mishnah notes that this is true even if these seeds grew from terumah plants. Although the “father” of the seeds is terumah, the seeds themselves are not even subject to tithes. This would be all the more true if the parent plants were not grown from terumah seeds. Congratulations! We have finished Maasrot! It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. Tomorrow we begin Tractate Maaser Sheni.

גריסין הקילקין – pounded beams that come from Sicily, the name of a place, and they are square, as it is taught in [Tractate] Negaim (Chapter 4, Mishnayot 8-10): “like the square Sicilian pounded bean.

ועדשים המצריות – it has one sharp head, and these species are desert-like and their presumption is that they are ownerless because they are not sewn in a garden. Therefore, they are exempt from tithing.

אף הקורקס – in Arabic KALKAS, and it is a kind of the species of carob.

הקוטנם – from the species of lentils, and the Halakha is according to the anonymous Mishnah.

ונלקחים מכל אדם – even from those who are suspected of selling Seventh-year produce.

זרע הלוף העליון – I heard the [edible] leaves of the wild colocasia/LOF/arum – trained for the leaves (similar to colocasia, with edible leaves and root, and bearing beans) but the seed of the LOF that is regular is liable [for tithing]. And Maimonides explains that this Mishnah is transposed/not in order regarding the higher pods of arum, and arum/LOF is from the species of onions.

שאע"פ שאביהן תרומה – even though that one of each of these which are garden seeds which are not eat, which are heave-offering/Terumah, and their seeds, the large ones are eaten, and we don’t state that hose which grow as Terumah/heave offering are Terumah, but rather, that the seed sewn is from things that are appropriate for eating.

שאביהן – the seed, which is the “father” to that which grew from it.