Chagigah 25a (כה.) — the Talmud in English

Wine jugs and oil jugs

that are doubtful [

and one might have thought that they became intermingled in jugs containing untithed produce, teruma, and non-sacred produce]

are trusted concerning them during the winepressing season. And before

the winepressing season, seventy days.

This will be explained in the Gemara.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: In Judea, they are trusted with regard to the purity of wine and oil throughout the entire year:

And we infer:

In Judea—

yes;

indeed, ammei haaretz are trusted.

And

if

in the Galilee they are not

trusted.

What is the reason?

Rabbi

explained:

Reish Lakish:

The people of the Galilee do not accept even from haverim,

because a strip of the land of the Samaritans separates them [

between the Galilee and Judea]. Jerusalem is located in Judea, and it is impossible to bring them to Jerusalem in a state of ritual purity, because the Sages decreed that anything entering the airspace of the land of the nations—whether a person, vessels, or food—[if no tent separates it from the airspace of the land of the nations] becomes impure.

The reason for this decree is the concern that the person, food, or vessel might have formed an enclosure over gentile graves while passing over them. For gentile graves impart impurity through a tent to anything passing over them, since when one passes over them, it is considered as though one “forms a tent” over them.

And we challenge this: Could he not bring them even from the Galilee,

and let him sit [

remain seated]

in a chest, a box, or a tower [

closed boxes into which a person can enter and lock himself] on top of an animal, and pass with them to Jerusalem? For they would constitute a tent separating between the consecrated property and the airspace of the land of the nations?!

And we answer:

Whose opinion is this—

our Mishna?

It is Rabbi’s, who said: A suspended tent [

a tent that is carried and thrown from place to place]

is not considered a tent

and does not separate.

As it was taught in a beraita: One who enters the land of the nations in a chest, a box, or a tower:

Rabbi deems

the person entering impure, because it is a suspended tent and does not separate.

And Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, deems him pure,

because he maintains that a suspended tent is considered a tent and separates.

We still challenge this:

Let him bring it in an earthenware vessel enclosed by

a tzamid patil,

bring the consecrated property to Jerusalem inside a covered earthenware vessel, so that the consecrated property will no longer become impure from the airspace of the land of the nations. For an earthenware vessel enclosed by a tzamid patil protects against impurity in a tent over a corpse, since an earthenware vessel contracts impurity only through its airspace?!

Rabbi Eliezer said: The tannaim teach

in the beraita:

Consecrated property is not saved by a tzamid patil,

because the Sages instituted an additional stringency with regard to consecrated property, like the other stringencies that the Sages instituted concerning the purity of consecrated property.

And we challenge this answer:

But didn’t we learn

in the Mishna in tractate Para:

The sin-offering [

the consecrated water into which the ashes of the red heifer were placed]

is not saved by a tzamid patil.

What, is it not

specifically the water of the sin-offering that is not saved,

but consecrated property is saved,

and this contradicts what you said: Consecrated property is not saved by a tzamid patil?!

And we answer:

No,

do not infer that consecrated property is saved. Rather, infer as follows:

Water that has not been consecrated [

water into which the ashes of the heifer have not yet been placed]

is saved by a tzamid patil,

and one may place the ashes upon it afterward.

We still challenge this:

But didn’t Ulla say: Our colleagues purify their wine in the Galilee [

our colleagues purify their wine and oil in the Galilee in preparation for the possibility that the Temple will be rebuilt in their days; Rashi, Niddah 6b].

And if it is as you say, that a strip of the land of the nations separates them [Rashi], and they cannot bring them from the Galilee to Jerusalem because of the impurity of the land of the nations, for what purpose do they purify their consecrated property there?!

And we answer:

They leave them

in their place,

and when Elijah comes and purifies it [

he will show them a path that is not part of the land of the nations], then they will bring them to Jerusalem.

We learned in the Mishna:

During the winepressing season

and the oil-pressing season,

they are trusted even with regard to teruma:

And we raise a contradiction

from what we learned in the Mishna in tractate Tohorot, chapter nine: a. “When do olives become susceptible to ritual impurity? When the sweat of the vat has appeared, but not the sweat of the basket.”

That is to say: It is customary to place olives, before pressing them, in a vessel or in a pit in the ground, which is called a vat. In that vat, as they lie one upon another, sweat emerges from them. This is a liquid that renders them susceptible to ritual impurity, since it emerges with the owner’s consent. But the sweat that emerges from them while they are still in the basket—in which the olives were gathered—does not render them susceptible to ritual impurity, since it emerges without the owner’s consent, as the sweat is spoiled.

b. An am haaretz

who finishes

his

olives

in order to place them in the vat [Meiri]. If he places all of them in the vat, he will no longer be able to separate teruma from them and give it to a haver who is a kohein, since they will have become susceptible to ritual impurity, and an am haaretz is not trusted to safeguard it.

What should he do?

He should leave one basket

of olives and not place them in the vat, so that they will not become susceptible to ritual impurity,

and present it before [

Rashi’s version, as explained by Tosafot]

a kohein

who sees that they have not yet become susceptible to ritual impurity; and the kohein will prepare it in purity.

You have therefore learned that even during the oil-pressing season he is not trusted to say that the oil is pure. Consequently, he must leave it in the basket and show the kohein that it indeed has not become susceptible.

Rav

answered:

Rav Naḥman said: This is not difficult,

because:

This—

our Mishna, which we learned says that an am haaretz is trusted during the oil-pressing season—speaks

of those who press early [

those who begin pressing early], since most people press at that time.

This—

the Mishna in Tohorot—speaks

of those who press late [

those who press late], after most people have already pressed their olives; this is not the winepressing and oil-pressing season during which an am haaretz is trusted.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said

to Rav Naḥman:

What is an example

of those who press late?

Like those of your father’s household

who pressed after most people.

Rav Yosef said

to answer why the Mishna in Tohorot does not present a difficulty:

In the Galilee [

in the Galilee]

they taught

it. They have a great deal of oil and press late, because of the large quantity of oil they have to process; therefore, they are not trusted [Tosafot].

Abaye raised an objection

to Rav Yosef’s answer from the following beraita:

The Transjordan and the Galilee are like Judea,

for

they are trusted with regard to teruma wine

of teruma

during the wine season [

the winepressing season]

and with regard to oil during the oil season [

the oil-pressing season],

but not with regard to wine during the oil season, nor with regard to oil during the wine season.

You have therefore learned that with regard to teruma no distinction was made between Judea and the Galilee.

Rather, it is well established as we answered initially [

the primary explanation is according to Rav Naḥman’s first answer].

We learned in the Mishna:

If the winepressing and oil-pressing seasons passed, and they brought him

a common person brings a reliable associate

a barrel of wine, he may not accept it from him, but he leaves it

in the am haaretz’s possession

until the next winepressing season:

They asked him

the members of the academy

of Rav Sheshet:

If

the haver

accepted it—

from an am haaretz, outside the winepressing and oil-pressing seasons—

what is the law regarding his leaving it

in the haver’s possession

until the next winepressing season

and then consuming it?

He said to them

Rav Sheshet said to the members of the academy:

You can learn the answer

to your question from a beraita:

For we learned in the Mishna in tractate Demai: