The obligation to separate trumah and ma’serot only begins when the following two conditions are met. First, the grains’ and fruits’ labor must be completed (גמר מלאכתן) and secondly, they must be brought into farmer’s private domain (ראיית פני הבית). When the produce meets these two conditions and hasn’t been tithed, it is tevel (טבל). One may snack on it, but not make a meal out of the produce until it is tithed. The fourth chapter of our massekhet with daf TB Beitzah 35 ends by providing four things that establish the obligation (koveia-קובע) to tithe even when the labor has not been completed. They are: 1, Shabbat; 2, a courtyard; 3, teruma; and 4, a transaction.
“When Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Whether with regard to Shabbat; or with regard to the separation of teruma from fruit; or with regard to a courtyard into which the fruit is brought; or with regard to a transaction; all of these cases establish a requirement for tithes only for items whose labor is completed.
“The Gemara
notes that each of these details teaches a novel halakha. How so? Shabbat
comes to exclude the opinion of Hillel, as it is taught in a baraita:
One who gathers fruits from one place to another in order to reap
them, and the day sanctified upon them, i.e., Shabbat commenced, Rabbi
Yehuda said: Hillel prohibits the food from the gatherer himself. In
other words, Hillel alone prohibits eating the fruit in that case until its
tithes have been separated, for he believes that the beginning of Shabbat
itself causes the fruit to be considered completed. Rabbi Yoḥanan teaches that
the halakha in this case is not in accordance with the opinion of
Hillel.
“In addition,
it was necessary for Rabbi Yoḥanan to teach the law that a courtyard
does not establish fruit for tithes unless its work is completed, to exclude
the opinion of Rabbi Ya’akov. As we learned in a mishna: One who was
transporting figs in his courtyard to make them into dried figs, his children
and the members of his household may eat from them in a casual
manner, and they are exempt from tithes. And a baraita is
taught in that regard: Rabbi Ya’akov obligates him, and Rabbi Yosei, son
of Rabbi Yehuda, exempts him.
“With regard to
the law that the separation of teruma does not establish fruit as
fixed for tithes, this comes to exclude the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer.
As we learned in a mishna: Fruits from which teruma had been
separated before their work was completed, Rabbi Eliezer prohibits eating from
them in a casual manner, and the Rabbis permit it. (The teruma under discussion is teruma gedolah, the first tithe given to
the priest. After this tithe is separated, the ma’aserot tithes are given to
the Levite, the poor, or eaten in Jerusalem depending on the year of the seven
year cycle.-gg)
“With regard to
the statement that a transaction does not fix fruit for tithes, this is as
we learned in a baraita: In the case of one who acquires figs
from an am ha’aretz in a place where most people press and dry their
figs in order to make them into cakes, the work of the figs is not completed
before this stage, and he may therefore partake of them in a
casual manner. And when their work is completed, he need only
tithe them as doubtfully tithed produce, in accordance with the law with
regard to all produce bought from an uneducated person.
“The Gemara
comments: One can learn from this baraita three halakhot:
Learn from here that a transaction establishes produce as fixed only
with regard to an item whose work is completed, but if its work has not
been completed, even selling it does not obligate it in tithes. And learn
from here that most people who are in the category of am
ha’aretz separate tithes, and therefore one need only separate tithes
as doubtfully tithed produce, rather than definitively untithed produce. And
one can learn from here another law: One may tithe doubtfully tithed
produce purchased from an am ha’aretz, even with regard to
something whose work is not completed.
“Rabbi Yoḥanan rules in accordance with
this opinion to exclude that which we learned in a mishna: One who
exchanges fruits with his friend, which is considered a commercial
transaction, if their intention was for this one to eat and that one to eat,
or for this one to make them into dried fruit and for that one to make them
into dried fruit, this one to eat and that one to make them into dried fruit,
they are both obligated in tithes. Rabbi Yehuda, however, says:
The one who took the fruits in order to eat is obligated, as for him
their labor is completed, but the one who intended to make them into dried
fruit is exempt and may partake of the fruit in a casual manner, as for him
their work has not yet been completed. Rabbi Yoḥanan rules in opposition to the
first tanna. He maintains that the transaction itself does not make the
fruit liable to tithes unless its work has been completed.” (Srfaria.org translation)
On TB Beizah 35a we learn about a
fifth koveia, a verbal declaration.
With the fifth chapter we return to
discussing issues surrounding Yom Tov again.
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