תלמוד על שביעית 7:7

Rebbi Immi in the name of Rebbi Yannai: A Tiberian qab is obligated for ḥallah⁷⁴Which is larger than the standard qab of the Mishnah. Mishnah Idiut 1:2 states that originally the amount was fixed at 1.5 qab. Tosephta Idiut 1:2 reads: “The Sages estimated 7 + something qabim which are 5 quarters in Sepphoris or 1.5 qab in Jerusalem.” According to Rashi (Pesaḥim 48b), Maimonides and R. Abraham ben David (Idiut 1:2) the argument is the following: Since Num. 15:21–21 speaks about “the beginning of your doughs,” the reference is to the size of the doughs made in the desert, which was 1 ‘omer of manna. The ‘omer is defined in Ex. 16:36 as a tenth of an ephah which is 3 seah or 18 qab, 72 quarter qabim. This makes the ‘omer 7.2 biblical quarter qabim. The Jerusalem small measure is defined as 1/6 larger than the biblical, the Sepphoris 1/6 larger than the Jerusalem. This makes the ephah 60 Jerusalem quarters and 50 Sepphoris ones and the amount subject to ḥallah is 7.2 biblical quarters = 6 Jerusalem quarters = 5 Sepphoris quarters.
Maimonides defines the qab(Sepphoris) as 4×4×10.8 digits. The digit is 1/24 of a cubit normally taken to be 55 cm; this makes the qab 2101 cm³ = 2.1 liter and the amount of dry flour so that a dough made from it should be subject to ḥallah equal to 2.65 liter. A Jerusalem qab would then be 2.52 liter and it is possible that the Tiberian measure was equal to the Jerusalem one and R. Yannai’s statement errs on the side of caution, in the spirit of the last sentence of this paragraph.. A maker of fried food asked Rebbi Joḥanan: He said, go, make four, and separate⁷⁵Make batches of 4 quarters of dough and separate the batches so they will never touch. Since fried dough is not subject to ḥallah by biblical law, it is preferable to prepare the dough so the question of ḥallah should never arise.. Could he say to him, three and separate⁷⁶Why did he say “make four” without saying what he meant? Could it be four qabim or three qabim or maybe three quarters of a qab?? Rebbi Zeïra said, in their places, qabim in their places are measured by quarters⁷⁷In his place, the qab was never used as a commercial measure; the standard was the quarter of about 0.5 liter.. Could he have said to him five minus a little bit? That there should not be any doubt of obligation of ḥallah.

It was stated¹⁸⁶Lev. 19:24 declares all fourth-year fruit holy; implying that it must be redeemed. The next verse notes that the rules for the first four years were given so the tree should increase its yield starting from the fifth year. The word yield is taken in Sifra Qedošim Paraša 3(10) to mean that the duty of redemption in the fourth year starts at the point in the ripening of the fruit at which in the fifth year the duty of tithing starts (Ma‘serot 1:2); in the case of grapes if there is some sap in the fruit. The two sources seem to contradict one another but Maimonides (Ma‘aser Šeni 9:2) adopts both of them.: You redeem fruit; you do not redeem either unripe grapes or unripe figs. Rebbi Zavida instructed about unripe dates that they should be buried¹⁸⁷He holds that they cannot be eaten since they cannot be redeemed; they have to be treated like a firstling which died before it could be sacrificed.. Rebbi Jonah asked: If he transgressed and redeemed them, is it not redeemed? And you want to say, it needs to be buried!