פירוש על מעשר שני 1:3

הלוקח בהמה לזבחי שלמים – from the monies of the Second Tithe, for this is the main object of the commandment of the monies of Second Tithe – to purchase from them peace-offerings, as we derive by a Gezerah Shavah/an analogy between two laws established on the basis of verbal incongruities in the text, as we derive from [the usage of[ שם שם from Mount Ebal (see: Deuteronomy 27:4-5 and Joshua 8: 30,32: “[Upon crossing the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I charge you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster]. There/שם, [too, you shall built an altar to the LORD your God…..]” and “[At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal….and] there/שם, [on the stones, he inscribed a copy of the Teaching that Moses had written for the Israelites].”

Introduction The rest of this chapter deals with using maaser sheni money to buy food in Jerusalem. There are two important rules to keep in mind here: first of all, food that one buys becomes holy and there are certain rules that apply to it. Second, one can only buy food products with maaser sheni money. If one buys non-food products with maaser sheni money, the tule is that he must go and buy in Jerusalem an equivalent value of food. Our mishnah teaches that if there is a product that contains both food and non-food parts, it can be bought with maaser sheni money and the non-food part of it does not become holy.

וחיה – which is not worthy for offering, and was purchased from the monies of the Second Tithe to eat desired meat, that is to say, non-sacred [meat].

One who bought a domesticated animal for a shelamim offering or a wild animal for non-sacrificial eating, the hide becomes hullin [non-sacred], even though the value of the hide exceeds the value of the flesh. It was considered normal to buy sacrifices with maaser sheni money. Only domesticated animals, sheep, goats and cows, can be used for such offerings. Wild animals such as deer are kosher, but cannot be used as sacrifices. One can buy them with maaser sheni money. In these cases, since he acted in a proper manner, the hide, which obviously cannot be eaten, becomes hullin, non-sacred. This is true even if the value of the hide is greater than that of the food-part of the animal, the flesh.

יצא העור לחולין – and you do not have to eat its monetary value in Jerusalem.

Sealed jars of wine [which were bought] in a place where they were usually sold sealed, the jars are hullin. The wine referred to here was sold in sealed jars, meaning that the jars were sold with the wine. This was typical of the place where he bought the wine. The jars were secondary to the wine, and therefore, the sanctity of the maaser sheni money is not transferred to the jugs. The jugs become non-sacred.

יצא הקנקן לחולין – and it is not necessary to sell it and to eat its monetary worth in the holiness of the [Second] Tithe in Jerusalem. And these words [apply regarding] when the seller and buyer are common people and they don’t desire anything other than meat to eat and wine to drink , but if one of them was an artisan who prepares hides, or [someone] who crafts earthenware [vessels] that now surely thinks of (literally, “puts his eye upon”) on hides or jars, he is like one who buys this for himself and the other who buys for himself – and they don’t fulfill [the Mitzvah in a state of being] non-sacred.

Walnuts and almonds, their shells become hullin. Nut shells, such as those of walnuts and almonds, remain hullin, because what he was really buying was the meat of the nuts. The shells were only secondary to the nuts themselves.

התמד – the refuse of grapes when he placed water upon them

Grape-skin wine: before it has fermented it cannot be bought with second tithe money, but after it has fermented it may be bought with second tithe money. Before grape-skin wine is fermented, it is considered like water. One cannot buy water with maaser sheni money because water is not food. Once it has been fermented, one can buy it with maaser sheni money.

אינו נקח בכסף מעשר – for they are considered like water and we require fruit, from fruit or what is grown in the ground.

נקח בכסף מעשר – for since it has soured, it is considered food, and we put upon it three and we find [that it becomes] four.