Commentaire sur Orlah 2:4

כל המחמץ והמתבל וכו' – this is how it should be read: whosoever leavens or seasons with forbidden fruit from the first three years (i.e., Orlah) or with mixed seeds of a vineyard is forbidden.

Introduction In the above mishnayot we learned that terumah is nullified if it falls into a mixture that is more than a ratio of 100 to 1 and orlah and kilayim are nullified in a ratio of 200 to 1. Today’s mishnah limits this principle.

והמדמע בתרומה – and/or who mixes unconsecrated produce (and wine or oil) with heave-offering [in proportions to make the whole prohibited to foreigners (i.e., non-Kohanim) (or, more generally, mixing secular with sacred things)]. Whomever leavens the started dough, with apples or with the sediments of wine of Orlah or with the mixed seeds of a vineyard or of Orlah, it is prohibited, and does not neutralize in one in two hundred. And similarly, with Terumah, since the started dough of unconsecrated produce had fermented with the leaven of heave offering and the pot of unconsecrated produce had become seasoned with the spices of heave -offering and all of it became a mixture of secular with sacred things, and is forbidden to foreigners (i.e., non-Kohanim) and isn’t neutralized by one in one hundred.

Whatever causes something to ferment, or seasons, or makes medumma with terumah, with orlah or with ‘mixed-seeds’ of the vineyard, is prohibited. If someone takes starter dough (leaven) made of terumah, orlah or kilayim and uses it to ferment his hullin dough, or seasons a dish with terumah, orlah or kilayim spices, then the whole dish is rendered prohibited. Because the prohibited object caused a substantive change in the entire mixture, either causing it to rise or have flavor, the small prohibited substance cannot be nullified by the larger amount in the mixture, no matter how small a quantity the smaller amount is. The words “or makes medumma” are very difficult to interpret. The Rambam reads not “or makes medumma” but rather “makes medumma” which means that if the starter dough or seasoning is terumah it renders the mixture “medumma” which is terumah mixed in with hullin. Medumma may be eaten by a priest. This reading makes a lot of sense. The problem with this reading is that no other manuscripts read this way.

בית שמאי אומרים אף מטמא – impure leaven that fermented pure started dough, or impure spices that seasoned a ritually pure pot, even though that there isn’t in the leaven or the spices like an egg’s bulk which is the measurement of ritually defiled food-stuffs, the started dough is defiled and the pot is defiled.

Bet Shammai says: it also renders unclean. But Bet Hillel says: it never renders unclean unless it has the volume of an egg. According to Bet Shammai, the same rule holds true when it comes to the rules of purity. If ritually clean dough has been fermented with unclean dough, or a clean dish has been spiced with an unclean dish, the dough or dish is impure, no matter how small a quantity of starter dough or seasoning was used. Bet Hillel, however, holds that in order to render impure there needs to be an egg’s worth of impure stuff. It doesn’t matter whether the unclean stuff is a leavening agent, spices or anything if it’s not the volume of an egg, it can’t render impure.

ובה"א עד שיהא בו כביצה – for food does not defile that is less than an egg’s bulk, it does not make a difference whether it is leaven and spices or other food-stuffs.