Rosh Hashanah 13b (יג:) — the Talmud in English

And the Sages expounded:

Do not read “for three” (leshalosh), but rather “for a third” (leshalish).

That is, the produce is considered to have completed its process when it has reached one-third of its ripeness.

And we raise an objection to the beraita:

But it is needed for its own purpose!

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

Since the verse is not superfluous, from where do we know that we may remove the verse from its plain meaning, reading “for 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, you will still

eat from the old produce

from what you sowed in the sixth year,

until the ninth year.”

Thus, they ate from the produce for three years: part of the sixth year, all of the seventh year, and the eighth year.

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

Until now we have learned that vegetables are tithed according to the year in which they are gathered. Grain, wine, and oil are tithed according to the year in which they reached one-third of their development.

Now the Gemara brings a ruling concerning legumes that differs from the ruling concerning vegetables and from the ruling concerning grain, wine, and oil:

We learned there

in tractate Sheviit [2:7]:

“Rice, millet, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds

species of legumes

that took root before Rosh HaShana”—

If this was Rosh HaShana of an ordinary year, not a Sabbatical Year, and they grew in that year after having already taken root in the previous year, before Rosh HaShana, then they are

tithed according to the previous year,

as is the law concerning the produce of the previous year.

That is, if the previous year was the first or second year of the Sabbatical cycle, one separates Second Tithe; and if it was the third or sixth year, one separates Poor Man’s Tithe.

And

if they took root before Rosh HaShana of the seventh year, then they are

permitted during the Sabbatical Year,

as the sanctity of the Sabbatical Year does not apply to them, since their law is that of produce of the sixth year.

But if not,

if they did not take root before Rosh HaShana,

if this occurred in the sixth year, so that they had not taken root before Rosh HaShana of the seventh year, then they are

forbidden during the Sabbatical Year.

And

if the following year was an ordinary year, and they had not taken root before Rosh HaShana, then they are

tithed according to the following year,

in accordance with the law of the following year.

Rava said:

There is something difficult:

it is said

that

the Sages

said below [15b]:

A tree

is tithed

according to budding, according to the year in which it budded.

according to the year in which its fruit was formed.

Grain

grain and wine

and olives,

are tithed

according to one-third, according to the year in which they reached one-third of their development.

according to the year in which they reached one-third of their ripening.

Vegetables

are tithed

according to gathering, according to the year in which they were gathered.

If so, this is difficult:

These

legumes—

which legumes

did the Sages make them equivalent to?

According to which rule of tithing did the Sages treat legumes? For we find nothing else that is tithed according to the year in which it took root!?

Subsequently

later

Rava said

an answer on his own:

Since

legumes are unlike other vegetables—for with other vegetables, a person gathers everything that grew in his field on a single day, whereas legumes

are gathered in separate portions,

in successive gatherings: today one gathers a little, and tomorrow one gathers a little—therefore the Sages did not treat legumes according to the time of their gathering.

For if we followed the time of their gathering, the new produce gathered after Rosh HaShana would be mixed with the old produce gathered before Rosh HaShana. And when one separated tithes from them, there would be concern that he might tithe from the new produce for the old, or vice versa.

Therefore,

the Sages followed the rooting!

The Sages followed the year in which they took root, since legumes take root in a single year, as they are sown all at once. Thus, there is no concern that one might tithe from produce of one year for produce of another year.

He said

He raised the following objection

to him, Abaye

to Rava: Why should it matter that the legumes are not all gathered at once? Even though the new and old produce become mixed with one another, there is still a solution to the matter.

And

this is what they should do:

The owner of the field should gather

the field’s owner

his granary into it,

that is, he should mix the entire granary thoroughly at its center and separate terumot and tithes from it.

And it will result

that when he separates teruma and tithes, he will

separate teruma

and tithe also

from the new produce in it for the new produce in it,

and also

from the old produce in it for the old produce in it.

For the mixture that he separates as teruma and tithe contains both new and old produce, in the same proportion as exists in the rest of the granary.

Since it is possible to tithe the legumes even if we follow their gathering, why did the Sages exclude them from the other vegetables and follow their rooting?

For

is it not taught

that we learned in a beraita:

The 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 is sown with the intention of eating its seeds, its law is that of legumes, and one follows its rooting. When it is sown with the intention of eating its leaves, its law is that of vegetables, and one follows its gathering.

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

with the intention of eating its seeds [and whose law is that of legumes, for which one follows rooting], of which

part took root before Rosh HaShana and part took root after Rosh HaShana—

one may not separate teruma or tithes from one for the other.

For one may not separate teruma or tithes from the new produce for the old, nor from the old produce for the new.

What does he

who is separating teruma

do?

After all, it is burdensome to gather the old produce separately and the new produce separately!

He gathers

the

granary into it,

at its center.

After placing the old produce on one side and the new produce on the other, he again gathers them together in the middle of the granary until they are thoroughly mixed.

And it will result

that he

separates teruma and tithes from the new produce in it

in the granary

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

For the teruma and tithe contain new and old produce in the same proportion as exists in the rest of the granary.

Since we learned in the beraita in the name of Rabbi Shimon Shezuri that there is no concern that the granary was not mixed thoroughly, but rather we rely on the mixing done in the granary and say that he separates teruma and tithes from the new and old produce in the same proportion as exists in the rest of the granary, this is difficult: Why, with regard to legumes that are not gathered all at once, do we follow their rooting? Even if we followed their gathering, as with other vegetables, there would still be a remedy: to tithe them by mixing them!

He said

he answered

to him

Rava said to Abaye: Are you deriving this

from Rabbi Shimon Shezuri

and proving that we rely on the mixing of the granary?!

But what we learned in the beraita is the view of

Rabbi Shimon Shezuri

alone, who

maintains: “There is effective mixing,”

that one may rely on the mixing and say that the teruma and tithe contain new and old produce in the same proportion as exists in the rest of the granary.

Whereas

the Sages maintain: “There is no effective mixing,”

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

Since, according to the Sages, one may not rely on mixing, legumes are not treated according to their gathering, as they are not all gathered 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 one may tithe an Egyptian bean that took root before Rosh HaShana together with what took root after Rosh HaShana.

Rabbi Zeira raised an objection to this: Did Shmuel really say this!?

Did Shmuel say that effective mixing is possible?!

But Shmuel said: For all

matters

there is no effective mixing,

since it is impossible to mix them thoroughly,

except for wine and oil,

which are liquids and therefore mix thoroughly.

And one who mixes old wine with new wine, or old oil with new oil, may separate teruma and tithes from the mixture, because the teruma and tithe contain new and old produce in the same proportion as exists in the entire mixture!

If so, how could Shmuel have ruled in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri, who maintains that the Egyptian bean mixes thoroughly?

And we reject Rabbi Zeira’s objection and say:

It escaped him,

it was forgotten by Rabbi Zeira

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

Legumes are not treated according to their rooting; rather, one follows the completion of the fruit.

Therefore, although Shmuel maintains that one may not rely on mixing with regard to the Egyptian bean, it is nevertheless possible to tithe what took root before Rosh HaShana together with what took root afterward, because all of it grew and reached completion after Rosh HaShana.

And when Shmuel said, “The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri,” he meant only Rabbi Shimon Shezuri’s ruling that one may tithe what took root before Rosh HaShana together with what took root afterward in a single granary. But he did not accept Rabbi Shimon Shezuri’s reasoning: Rabbi Shimon Shezuri maintains that one follows rooting, yet one may tithe the new produce together with the old by means of mixing. Shmuel, however, maintains that there is no effective mixing. Rather, one follows the completion of the fruit.

Three statements of Shmuel were brought in our discussion:

a. The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Shimon Shezuri [that one may tithe an Egyptian bean that took root before Rosh HaShana together with an Egyptian bean that took root after Rosh HaShana].

b. Everything follows the completion of the fruit.

c. For all matters there is no effective mixing, except for wine and oil.