Menachot 55a (נה.) — the Talmud in English

and by intention,

as he need not separate it with his hands; rather, he directs his eyes toward this side and eats from the other side,

so terumat ma'aser is likewise taken by estimation and by intention

[and this is not a derivation of terumat ma'aser from teruma gedola; rather, both are derived together, as it is written concerning both: “And it shall be reckoned for you”

And we likewise learn:

Just as teruma gedola

is to be given

generously, so too terumat ma'aser is given generously.

Therefore, when one comes to tithe figs with respect to dried figs, he tithes ten fresh figs for ninety dried figs generously, as though the volume of the dried figs were now equal to the volume of the fresh figs.

But now we challenge this from the opposite direction:

And from it,

from Rabbi Elazar's own statement in this beraita, you can prove the opposite. For

Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Yosei said: My father would take ten dried figs that were in the corner

for ninety fresh

figs in the basket.

Granted, if you say that they would estimate according to their former quantity,

they

would calculate it properly,

calculating the dried figs as though their volume were that of fresh figs, as it had been before they dried.

But if you say that they estimate according to their present quantity,

then when he separates ten shriveled dried figs for ninety full fresh figs,

he diminishes

their measure, since if he were measuring them by volume, he would have to separate more dried figs!?

And we answer:

When

Rav Dimi

came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he

said

in the name of

Rabbi Elazar: Dried figs are different,

as they are estimated according to their present quantity,

since one can boil them

in water

and restore them to their former quantity

as they had been previously. This is not so with regard to calf meat that has swollen and the meat of an old cow that has shrunk, as they cannot be restored to their former quantity; and it is with regard to those cases that they disagreed there whether they are estimated according to their present quantity or according to their former quantity.

The Sages taught in a beraita: One may take teruma from fresh figs for dried figs

in a count of ten fresh figs for ninety dried figs,

in a place where it is customary to make

the

fresh figs into dried figs. But one may not take

teruma of

dried figs for fresh figs

by count,

even in a place where it is customary to make fresh figs into dried figs!

And the beraita proceeds to explain this.

The Master said: One may take teruma from fresh figs for dried figs in a place where it is customary to make fresh figs into dried figs.

We raise a difficulty:

In a place where it is customary—

yes,

he may take teruma from fresh figs and make them into dried figs, and they will keep; but

in a place where it is not customary—

no,

because one must take teruma from produce that will keep, and if it is not customary to make dried figs from the fresh figs, they will spoil before he finds a koen to whom to give them.

What are the circumstances? If there is a koen

and he can give them to him immediately, then this is difficult:

in a place where it is not customary

to make fresh figs into dried figs,

why may he not

separate from the fresh figs?

But we learned in the Mishna: In a place where there is a koen, one takes teruma from the superior produce,

from the fresh figs, which are superior to the shriveled dried figs, and one should prefer the superior fresh figs, despite the fact that they do not keep for a long time, to the inferior dried figs, despite the fact that the dried figs keep for a long time, since the koen can eat them immediately, before they spoil. If so, why may he not separate from the fresh figs in a place where it is not customary to make fresh figs into dried figs!?

Rather, it is obvious

that it is referring

to a case where there is no koen,

and therefore, in a place where it is not customary to make dried figs from fresh figs, he may not separate from the fresh figs, so that they will not spoil before they reach the koen.

But if so, this raises a difficulty:

Say the latter clause—

“But one may not

take teruma

of dried figs for fresh figs

by count,

even in a place where it is customary to make fresh figs into dried figs.”

And we do not say that there is no loss to the koen, since he too is eventually going to make dried figs; rather, we follow the present situation, in which, when he separates dried figs for fresh figs by count, he diminishes his separation.

And if

it is referring

to a case where there is no koen, why may he not

separate from the dried figs?

But we learned in the Mishna: In a place where there is no koen, one

takes teruma from produce that will keep

and not from the superior produce!?

Rather, it is obvious

that it is referring

to a case where there is a koen,

and if so, this is difficult: Shall we say that the

first clause

of the beraita, which states that one may take teruma from fresh figs for dried figs only in a place where it is customary to make dried figs, and not in a place where it is not customary to make fresh figs into dried figs, is referring to a case

where there is no koen,

whereas the latter clause, which states that one may not separate dried figs for fresh figs even in a place where it is customary to make fresh figs into dried figs, is referring to a case

where there is a koen,

and we should not establish the first and latter clauses as addressing the same matter!?

And we answer:

Yes, the first clause—

where there is no koen; the latter clause—

where there is a koen.

Rav Pappa said: Learn from this

that since we establish the first and latter clauses of the beraita under different circumstances, rather than explaining that there is no koen, and that the first clause follows the opinion of the Rabbis while the latter clause follows the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who disagrees with the Rabbis and holds that one always takes teruma from the superior produce and not from produce that will keep, even in a place where it is customary to make dried figs,

that we force ourselves to establish a baraita according to two rationales

[two different explanations, as here, establishing the first clause as referring to a case where there is no koen and the latter clause as referring to a case where there is a koen]

rather than establishing

the beraita

according to two tannaim.

Mishna:

All meal-offerings are kneaded with

water

that is lukewarm,

since they contain little oil, and it is impossible to bake them without kneading them with water.

And he guards them

for the sake of the mitzva of matza

so that they will not become leavened

during the kneading and shaping.

And if it became leavened,

even

its remainder

of the meal-offering, after the handful was removed, which is destined to be eaten by the kohanim—

he violates a prohibition,

as will be explained in the Gemara.

The Mishna brings the source for the obligation to guard the meal-offering during its sacrificial procedures:

As it is stated

concerning the meal-offering, before its handful was removed:

“No meal-offering that you bring to Hashem shall be made leavened.”

And one is liable for causing the meal-offering to become leavened both during

its kneading, and

during

its shaping,

if it becomes leavened,

and

during

its baking

if it becomes leavened.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna that even for causing the remainder of the meal-offering to become leavened, one violates a prohibition.

We raise a difficulty:

From where are these matters derived,

that one also violates a prohibition for causing the remainder to become leavened? For the verse cited in the Mishna states the prohibition against leavening only when the handful, which is burned on the altar, is within it.

Reish Lakish said: The verse states

in the portion of Tzav:

“It shall not

be baked leavened; it is their portion,”

even the remainder of the meal-offering, which is

their portion

of the kohanim, is also

not to be baked leavened!

We are astonished:

And

is

this

verse

coming for this purpose?