Komentarz do Maaserot 2:4

עד שלא נגמרה מלאכתן – their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived, each and every fruit, according to what is explained above (chapter 1 of Tractate Maaserot, Mishnayot 2-7).

Introduction Our mishnah deals with a person who separated terumah from his produce before he finished its processing and before he separated the tithes.

ר' אליעזר אוסר לאכול מהן עראי – until he separates all of their tithes of Terumah/heave-offering, making obligatory the setting aside of tithes.

Produce from which he separated terumah before its work was finished: Rabbi Eliezer says: it is forbidden to make a chance meal of it, But the sages permit it except when it is a basket of figs. According to Rabbi Eliezer, once one has separated terumah from produce it can no longer be eaten in a chance fashion until tithes have also been separated. To put it another way, taking out terumah makes the produce liable for tithes. The rabbis generally disagree and hold that separating terumah does not make produce liable for tithes. One can continue to eat chance meals from the produce. The one exception is a basket of figs. Albeck tentatively explains that it was common to give figs to several people (as we saw above in mishnayot 1-2) and if he took out terumah then he has shown that his intention is to give away the figs while they are in the basket and therefore this is considered the final step in their processing. Furthermore, once he has separated the terumah he won’t put more hullin figs into the basket and therefore, their processing is complete. Therefore, he can no longer eat in a “chance” fashion from these figs.

וחכמים מתירים – as they hold that the heave-offering/Terumah does not make obligatory the setting aside of tithes unless he made the heave-offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.

A basket of figs from which one separated terumah: Rabbi Shimon permits it. But the sages forbid it. Rabbi Shimon does not distinguish between figs and other types of produce even though he separated terumah from the basket, it is still not liable for tithes and he can continue to eat in a chance fashion.

כלכלת תאנים שתרמה – if their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived.

ר' שמעון מתיר – even if he separated the heave offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.

וחכמים אומרים – and the Halakha is according to the Sages, that the heave-offering establishes the obligation to tithe, for when he made the heave-offering/Terumah from the basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use. But after he separated the heave-offering, it is forbidden to eat an incidental meal from that basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use until he separates all of the tithes.