Commento su Hallah 1:4

ופרגין – we call it KASHKASH in Arabic and in foreign language, POPORRO.

Introduction This mishnah is the opposite of yesterday’s mishnah. Today, the mishnah lists things that are, for various reasons, liable for tithes, but exempt from hallah.

ופחות מחמשת רבעים בתבואה – grain that makes less than five quarts of flour is obligated in tithes. And the dough that is kneaded from this flour is exempt from the Hallah, since the measure of the dough be liable for Hallah is five-forths flour and more, that is, a bit more than five quarts.

The following are liable for tithes, but exempt from hallah: rice, millet, poppy-seed, sesame seeds, pulse, and less than five-fourths [of a kab] of [the five kinds of] grain, sponge-cakes, honey-cakes, dumplings, a cake [cooked] in a pan and medumma are exempt from hallah. Rice, millet, poppy-seed, sesame seeds, pulse: These are all liable for tithes but exempt from hallah because only the five grains are liable for hallah. Less than five-quarters [of a kav] of [the five kinds of] grain: This small amount is not liable for hallah because it is too small of an amount. We shall return to this issue in a later chapter. Sponge-cakes, honey-cakes, dumplings, a cake [cooked] in a pan: These are all exempt from hallah because they are not baked in an oven. Only things baked in an oven are liable for hallah. Medumma: Medumma is a mixture of hullin and terumah in which there is not sufficient hullin to nullify the terumah (there are less than 100 parts hullin for each part terumah). This mixture is treated like terumah and can only be eaten by a priest. It is exempt from hallah because it already has terumah in it, and as we have seen hallah is called terumah by the Torah. The rabbis ruled that one doesn’t separate terumah/hallah from something that is already, even partially, terumah.

הסופגנים – bread whose mixture is soft and is made like a sponge. Another explanation: thin wafers; its Aramaic translation of wafers of unleavened bread, sponge-cake and spongy-bread.

הדובשנים – fried in honey. Alternatively, kneaded in honey.

האסקריטין – the Aramaic translation of a tenacious batter dripped on a hot griddle (a sort of waffle), a kind of paste, and their mixture is very soft.

וחלת המשרת – Challah that is like a paste prepared in a pan by stirring (i.e., a dumpling). The Aramaic translation of a pan is a camp/resting place.

המדומע – a SEAH of priest’s due that fell in less than one-hundred SEAH of non-sacred dough, and they were made altogether into something, otherwise usually exempt, but now subject to the law of priest’s due, and it is forbidden to foreigner (i.e., non-Kohanim), and is exempt from Hallah, as it is written (Numbers 15:20): “…you shall it aside as a gift…,” and not something that had already been set aside.