Rosh Hashanah 13b — the Talmud in English

And the Sages expounded:

Do not read, “to three,” but rather, “to a third.”

That is, the completion of the grain is when it has reached a third of its ripening.

And we raise an objection against the beraita:

But it is needed for its own subject!

For this verse is not superfluous, since it comes to answer the question, “And if you will say: What shall we eat in the seventh year?”

And since the verse is not superfluous, from where do we know to remove the verse from its plain meaning, “to a third” instead of “for three”?

And we answer: This verse, “and it shall produce the grain for three years,” is indeed superfluous. For

another verse is written

there, verse 22:

“And you shall sow in the eighth year

when you sow in the eighth year, then it will still be

and you shall eat from the old grain

from what you sowed in the sixth year,

until the ninth year.”

And from here it follows that they ate from the grain for three years: part of the sixth, all of the seventh, and the eighth.

And if so, why was it necessary for the verse to say, “and it shall produce the grain for three years”? Rather, this verse is superfluous, and it was written so that we would expound from it, “to a third.”

And until now we have learned that vegetables are tithed according to the year of their gathering. And grain, wine produce, and oil produce are tithed according to the year in which they reached a third.

And now the Gemara brings that the law of legumes differs from the law of vegetables and from the law of grain, wine produce, and oil produce:

We learned there

in tractate Sheviit [2:7]:

Rice, millet, poppy, and sesame

species of legumes

that sprouted before Rosh Hashanah—

If this was Rosh Hashanah of an ordinary year, which is not a Sabbatical year, and they grew in it after having already sprouted in the previous year, before Rosh Hashanah, then they are

tithed according to the past,

according to the law of the produce of the previous year.

That is, if the previous year was the first or second year, he separates Second Tithe, and if it was the third or sixth year, he separates Poor Man’s Tithe.

And

if they sprouted before Rosh Hashanah of the seventh year, then they are

permitted in the Sabbatical year,

for the sanctity of the Sabbatical year does not apply to them, because their law is like the law of the produce of the sixth year.

But if not,

if they did not sprout before Rosh Hashanah,

if this was in the sixth year, and they did not sprout before Rosh Hashanah of the seventh year, then they are

forbidden in the Sabbatical year.

And

if the following year was an ordinary year, and they did not sprout before Rosh Hashanah, then they are

tithed according to the following year,

according to the law of the following year.

Rabba said:

There is cause for wonder: did not

an amora

say that

the Sages

below [15b]:

A tree

is tithed

according to blossoming,

according to the year in which it blossomed.

Grain

grain and wine produce

and olives,

are tithed

according to a third,

according to the year in which they reached a third.

A vegetable

is tithed

according to gathering,

according to the year in which it was gathered.

And if so, it is difficult:

these

legumes—

according to which [principle] did the Sages establish their law?

According to which law of tithes did the Sages judge the legumes? For we have not found anything that is tithed according to the year in which it sprouted!?

Afterward

afterward

Rabba said

a resolution himself:

Since

the legumes are not like other vegetables, for with other vegetables a person gathers everything that grew in his field on one day, whereas legumes

are made to be stripped in strips,

in successive gatherings, for today one gathers a little, and tomorrow one gathers a little—therefore the Sages did not follow with legumes the time of their gathering.

For if we follow the time of their gathering, the new ones gathered after Rosh Hashanah will be mixed with the old ones gathered before Rosh Hashanah. And when he separates tithes from them, there is concern that he may tithe from the new produce for the old, or vice versa.

And therefore,

the Sages followed sprouting!

The Sages followed the year of their sprouting, since the legumes sprout in one year, for they are sown all at once. Thus there is no concern lest he tithe from produce of one year for produce of another year.

He said,

he challenged

Abaye to him,

to Rabba: And what concern is it to us that all the legumes are not gathered at once? For even though the new and the old become mixed with one another, there is still a solution to the matter.

And

this is what they should do:

He shall gather

the owner of the field

his threshing floor into its midst,

he shall mix the entire threshing floor thoroughly toward its middle, and separate terumot and tithes from it.

And it turns out

that when he gives teruma and tithes, he

gives teruma

and tithes also

from the new in it for the new in it,

and also

from the old in it for the old in it.

For in the mixture that he separates as teruma and tithe there is also some of the new and some of the old, according to the proportion that exists in the rest of the threshing floor.

And since it is possible to tithe the legumes even if we follow gathering with them, why did they exclude them from the category of other vegetables and follow sprouting with them?

For

is it not taught,

did we not learn in a beraita:

Egyptian bean is a species of legume. Sometimes it is sown with the intention of eating its seeds, and sometimes it is sown with the intention of eating its leaves.

When it was sown with the intention of eating its seeds, its law is like the law of legumes, and one follows sprouting. And when it was sown with the intention of eating its leaves, its law is like the law of a vegetable, and one follows gathering.

Rabbi Yosei ben Kippar said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Shezuri: An Egyptian bean that one sowed for its seed,

with the intention of eating its seeds [and its law is like that of legumes, with which one follows sprouting], if

part of it sprouted before Rosh Hashanah, and part of it sprouted after Rosh Hashanah—

one may not give teruma or tithe from this for that.

For one may not give teruma or tithe from the new for the old, nor from the old for the new.

What does he

the one giving teruma

do?

For there is trouble in gathering the old separately and the new separately!

He gathers

the

threshing floor into its midst,

toward its middle.

After he placed the old on one side and the new on the other side, he returns and gathers them together in the middle of the threshing floor until they become thoroughly mixed.

And it turns out

that he

gives teruma and tithes from the new in it

in the threshing floor

for the new in it, and from the old in it for the old in it.

For the teruma and tithe contain new and old in the same proportion as that which exists in the rest of the threshing floor.

And since we learned in the beraita in the name of Rabbi Shimon Shezuri that there is no concern lest the threshing floor was not mixed thoroughly, but rather we rely on the mixing performed in the threshing floor and say that he gives teruma and tithes from the new and the old in the same proportion as that which exists in the rest of the threshing floor, if so it is difficult: Why, with legumes that are not gathered all at once, do we follow sprouting? For even if we follow gathering, as with other vegetables, there is still a remedy: to tithe them by mixing!

He said,

he answered

to him,

Rabba to Abaye: Are you speaking from the words of

Rabbi Shimon Shezuri,

that you prove that we rely on the mixing of the threshing floor?!

For what we learned in the beraita is the opinion of

Rabbi Shimon Shezuri

alone, who

holds, “There is mixing,”

that it is possible to rely on the mixing and say that the teruma and tithe contain new and old in the same proportion as that which exists in the rest of the threshing floor.

Whereas

the Sages hold, “There is no mixing,”

one may not rely on the mixing, because it is possible that the threshing floor was not mixed thoroughly, and most of the tithe is from the new or from the old, not in the same proportion as that which exists in the rest of the threshing floor.

And since according to the Sages one does not rely on mixing, therefore with legumes one does not follow gathering, since their gathering is not all at once, and it is impossible to tithe them by means of mixing.

Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Naḥmani said that Shmuel said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yosei ben Kippar, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon Shezuri,

that it is possible to tithe the Egyptian bean that sprouted before Rosh Hashanah together with what sprouted after Rosh Hashanah.

Rabbi Zeira challenged him: Did Shmuel really say this!?

Did Shmuel say that there is a valid equal mixing?!

But Shmuel said: For everything

else

there is no mixing,

since it is impossible to mix them thoroughly,

except for wine and oil,

which are liquids, and therefore they become thoroughly mixed.

And one who mixes old wine with new wine, or old oil with new oil, may give teruma and tithe from it. For the teruma and tithe contain new and old in the same proportion as that which exists in the entire mixture!

And if so, how is it possible that Shmuel ruled in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri, who holds that Egyptian bean becomes thoroughly mixed?

And we reject Rabbi Zeira’s objection, and say:

It escaped him,

it escaped Rabbi Zeira

that which Shmuel said: Everything follows the completion of the fruit!

For with legumes one does not follow sprouting, but rather the completion of the fruit.

And therefore, even though Shmuel holds that one may not rely on mixing with Egyptian bean, it is nevertheless possible to tithe what sprouted before Rosh Hashanah together with what sprouted afterward, because everything grew and finished developing after Rosh Hashanah.

And when Shmuel said, “The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri,” the intention is only to the law of Rabbi Shimon Shezuri, that it is possible to tithe what sprouted before Rosh Hashanah together with what sprouted afterward in one threshing floor. But not according to the reason of Rabbi Shimon Shezuri: Rabbi Shimon Shezuri holds that one follows sprouting, and nevertheless it is possible to tithe the new together with the old by means of mixing. Whereas Shmuel holds that there is no mixing. But one follows the completion of the fruit.

And in our discussion, three statements of Shmuel were brought:

a. The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri [that one tithes Egyptian bean that sprouted before Rosh Hashanah together with Egyptian bean that sprouted after Rosh Hashanah].

b. Everything follows the completion of the fruit.

c. For everything there is no mixing, except for wine and oil.