Bekhorot 54a (נד.) — the Talmud in English

The Gemara asks:

we find

[that is, we have learned]

wine and oil

which may not be tithed from one on the other, since the Torah distinguished the produce of one as a separate category and the produce of the other as a separate category; and we also find that oil and grain are separate categories, as the Torah designated the produce of each as a separate category, but

wine and grain,

or

grain and grain

[such as wheat and barley], which the Torah did not distinguish from one another, but included them all under one category of “produce,”

from where

do we know that one may not tithe from one of these on the other?

The Gemara explains that this is derived by means of a

kal va-chomer:

Just as wine and oil

[grape seeds and olive seeds]

which are not subject to the prohibition of mixed kinds with one another,

nevertheless

may not be tithed from one on the other; wine and grain

or

grain

and grain, which are subject to the prohibition of mixed kinds with one another,

is it not logical that they may not be tithed from one on the other?

We nevertheless challenge this:

And according to Rabbi Yoshiyya, who said:

there is no prohibition of mixed kinds

unless one sows wheat, barley, and a grape seed in a single act of sowing,

but wine and grain alone, or grain and grain alone, are not subject to the prohibition of mixed kinds by Torah law,

how does he derive it

[how does he derive that one may not tithe even from wine on grain or from grain on grain]!?

And we answer: Rabbi Yoshiyya

derives it in this manner

[this is the derivation according to his method]:

Just as wine and oil, which are not mixed kinds with one another even through the intermediary of another substance, may not be tithed from one on the other, so too wine and grain

or

grain and grain, which are mixed kinds

with one another through the intermediary of another substance,

for wine together with the two kinds of grain constitutes mixed kinds,

is it not logical that they may not be tithed from one on the other?

The Gemara adds a question: Indeed, we have learned that wine and oil, wine and grain, oil and grain, and grain and grain may not be tithed from one on the other,

but

as for other

two species generally—

which are not among these species—

from where do we know

that they may not be tithed from one on the other?

And we answer:

these—

the other species—their teruma and tithes

are rabbinic

in general;

they are,

for the Torah obligated only grain, wine, and oil,

and whatever the Sages instituted, they instituted in a manner analogous to Torah law: Just as by Torah law two species may not be tithed from one on the other, so too, rabbinically

they may not be tithed from one on the other.

Said

Tama:

Rab Abba bar Memel to Rav Ami:

If so—

that two species may not be tithed from one on the other because the Torah distinguished the produce of one as a separate category and the produce of the other as a separate category—

with regard to animal tithe, where it is not written “

and every tithe of cattle and tithe of flocks”

but rather “and every tithe of cattle and flocks” as one category,