Komentarz do Demaj 3:1
מַאֲכִילִין אֶת הָעֲנִיִּים דְּמַאי, וְאֶת הָאַכְסַנְיָא דְּמַאי. רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הָיָה מַאֲכִיל אֶת פּוֹעֲלָיו דְּמַאי. גַּבָּאֵי צְדָקָה, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, נוֹתְנִין אֶת הַמְעֻשָּׂר לְשֶׁאֵינוֹ מְעַשֵּׂר, וְאֶת שֶׁאֵינוֹ מְעֻשָּׂר לִמְעַשֵּׂר. נִמְצְאוּ כָל הָאָדָם אוֹכְלִין מְתֻקָּן. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, גּוֹבִין סְתָם וּמְחַלְּקִין סְתָם, וְהָרוֹצֶה לְתַקֵּן יְתַקֵּן:
Można nakarmić biednych ludzi Demai [produkty, z których nie jest pewne, czy dziesięcina została już pobrana] i gościa Demai . Rabban Gamliel karmił swoich pracowników Demai . Jeśli chodzi o zbieraczy dobroczynności, szkoła Szammaja mówi, że daje się dziesięcinę tym, którzy nie oddają dziesięciny, a niecałkowitą, tym, którzy ją oddają: w ten sposób każdy spożywa stały [dziesięcinę] produkty. Mędrcy mówią, że ktoś po prostu bierze i po prostu rozprowadza, a kto chce naprawić, naprawi.
Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
מאכילין את העניים דמאי – even if they are members of the order for the observance of Levitical laws to daily intercourse and one needs to inform them and the one who wishes to tithe will tithe them.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
Introduction
This mishnah discusses various people to whom one might legitimately give demai. As we have seen already, since treating the produce of an am haaretz as demai, that is doubting whether it was tithed, was only a rabbinic stringency, the rabbis allowed the law to be lenient in certain circumstances.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
ואת אכסניא – army of the king of Israel that passes from place to place and it is upon the people of that place to support them, they feed them doubtfully tithed produce, at the time when it passes, but if he stayed there overnight, it is obligatory to make things legally fit for use by giving the priestly dues.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
They may feed demai to the poor and to guests (alt. passing. Rabban Gamaliel used to feed demai to his workmen. Since the rules of demai are only stringencies, for as we have said deoraita, from Torah law, one can eat demai without tithing it, there are certain leniencies. One is that a person may use demai to feed the poor and to feed his guests. It is a mitzvah to feed both the poor and to treat guests hospitably and hence one can use demai. Others explain that the Hebrew word which I have translated and explained as for “guests” actually mean passing troops, who are treated like the poor because they have no home to call their own. Rabban Gamaliel would even feed demai to his workers, probably because there is a mitzvah for an employer to feed his workers.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
רבן גמליאל היה מאכיל את פועליו דמאי – they were poor. But the Halakha is not according to Rabban Gamaliel for since he is liable for their food, it is found that he repays his obligation with doubtfully tithed produce.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Demai
[As for] charity collectors: Bet Shammai says: they should give tithed [produce] to one who doesn’t tithe, and untithed [produce] to one who does tithe. In this way it will turn out that every one will eat [produce] that has been fixed (. But the sages say: they may collect indiscriminately and distribute indiscriminately. And one who wishes to fix [his produce by tithing it], let him fix it. According to Bet Shammai, when charity collectors collect produce to give to the poor, they should separate the tithed produce from the untithed produce and give the tithed produce to those who won’t tithe it, and the untithed produce to those who will. In other words, the charity collector has a responsibility to make sure that those receiving the charity observe the laws of tithing. Bet Hillel, on the other hand, gives greater trust and freedom to people. Charity collectors can collect either tithed or untithed produce and then it will be up to the person buying it to decide whether to tithe or not. Perhaps we might even say that there is something beneficial about leaving the choice to tithe in the hands of the purchaser. By choosing to tithe he is making a more active choice as to his religious observance, as opposed to Bet Shammai’s system, in which a person has to tithe (or at least his produce will end up being tithed) without having any choice in the matter.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
ואת שאינו מעושר למעשר – and the give him at a higher price because of his tithings, and it would be found that every person is eating that which is legally fit for use by having given the priestly dues. But the School of Shammai, according to their reasoning that states, they don’t feed the poor people doubtfully tithed produce.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Demai
הרוצה לתקן יתקן – for the doubtfully tithed produce was not permitted to the poor other than when they eat one meal with the owner, but the produce that would come into their hands, it is obligatory for them to tithe the doubtfully tithed produce. You can also deduce it from as it is taught in the Mishnah: “We feed the poor doubtfully tithed produce,” but it does not teach that the poor eat doubtfully tithed produce. Such Maimonides wrote.
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