ראש השנה 13 — Soncino English Talmud

¹But perhaps even though it has not begun to ripen at all, the All-Merciful has still laid down that it is to be left alone until the feast of Tabernacles? — Do not imagine such a thing. For it is written, and the feast of ingathering [asif] at the end of the year. Now what is ‘ingathering’? Shall I say it means the feast which comes at the time of ingathering? This is already signified in the words when thou gatherest in. What then must be meant here by asif? Harvesting; and the Rabbis take it for granted that all produce which is harvested by Tabernacles must have grown to a third by New Year, and Scripture applies to it the words at the end of the year. Said R. Jeremiah to R. Zera: And were the Rabbis certain that there is this distinction between a third and less than a third? He replied to him: Am I not always telling you not to let yourself go beyond the established rule? All the measurements laid down by the Sages are of this nature. In forty se'ahs [of water] a ritual bath may be taken; in forty se'ahs less a kurtub it may not be taken. [A quantity of food equal to the] size of an egg can be rendered unclean as foodstuff; if it is short of that quantity by a grain it cannot be rendered unclean. [A piece of cloth] three handbreadths by three can be rendered unclean by being trodden on, less than this quantity by one hair is not so rendered unclean. R. Jeremiah subsequently said: What I said is of no account. For R. Kahana was asked by members of the college, Whence did the Israelites bring the omer which they offered on their entry into the Land [of Israel]? If you say, it grew while still in the possession of the heathen, [this cannot be, since] the All Merciful prescribed your harvest and not the harvest of the stranger. (But how do we know that they [the Israelites] offered it at all? Perhaps they did not offer it at all? — Do not imagine such a thing. For it is written, And they did eat of the produce of the land on the morrow after the Passover. On the morrow after the Passover they ate, but not before, [which shows that] they brought the omer and only then ate. Whence then did they obtain it?) — He [R. Kahana] replied to them: All that had not grown to a third while in the possession of the stranger [was fitting for their use]. Now [it might be argued here also that] perhaps it had grown [in the possession of the stranger] and they were not certain. The fact, however, [that they ate it] shows that they were certain. So here, the Rabbis are certain. But perhaps [the Israelites brought the omer from] corn which had not commenced to grow [when they entered the land], but where it had grown to a quarter they were not certain about the difference between a third and less than a third? — Do not imagine such a thing. For it is written, And the people went up from the Jordan on the tenth of the month. Now if you assume that by then the corn had not grown at all, could it become ripe in five days? But [on your assumption] that it had grown to a fourth or a fifth, could [such corn] become ripe in five days? What you consequently have to answer [even on this assumption] is that the land of Canaan is called ‘the land of the hind’; so [on the other assumption] you can answer that it is called ‘the land of the hind’. R. Hanina objected strongly to the statement made above. Can you, he said, maintain that this ‘asif’ is ‘harvesting’, seeing that it is written, when thou gatherest in from thy threshing floor and from thy wine press, and [commenting on this] a Master has said , The verse speaks of the waste of the threshing floor and the wine press? Said R. Zera: I thought I was sure of this, and now R. Hanina has come and put a spoke in my wheel. How then do we know [this rule about a third]? — As it has been taught: R. Jonathan b. Joseph says: And it shall bring forth produce for the three years;19^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ

^ᵃnote:Ex. XXIII, 16.
^ᵇnote:Ibid.
^ᶜnote:The verse meaning that the harvest gathered in at this season belongs to the year going out.
^ᵈnote:Which shows that it is regarded as belonging to the year which is going out.
^ᵉnote:Viz., that what is grown to a third belongs to one year, and what is less grown to another year. This seems to R. Jeremiah rather arbitrary.
^ᶠnote:A small liquid measure equal to 1/64 of a log.
^ᵍnote:By one who had a flux.
^ʰnote:A third (Rashi).
^ⁱnote:Ye shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest. Lev. XXIII, 10.
^ʲnote:Josh. V, 11.
^ᵏnote:With reference to the corn that is harvested at the season of Tabernacles.
^ˡnote:And it was not from such corn that they brought the omer.
^ᵐnote:Josh. IV, 19.
^ⁿnote:Dan. XI, 16 (E.V. beauteous land). The Sages say that the Land of Israel is compared to a hind on account of its swiftness in bringing its products to maturity. Keth. 112.
^ᵒnote:Deut. XVI, 13. ‘From’ is taken in the partitive sense.
^ᵖnote:To show that it may be used for covering the sukkah; and the phrase, Festival of ‘asif’ (‘ingathering’) here too has the same signification — the festival that comes at the time when people ‘gather in’ the waste products for the sukkah.
^ᵠnote:Lit., ‘this thing was in our hand’.
^ʳnote:Lit., ‘has thrown into it an axe’.
^ˢnote:Lev. XXV, 21.

²read not lishlosh [for three], but lishlish [to a third]. But this text is required for its literal meaning? It is written in another verse, And ye shall sow for the eighth year and eat of the produce, the old store, until the ninth year. We have learnt elsewhere: ‘Rice, millet, hanie and sesame, if they have taken root by New Year, are for purposes of tithe counted as belonging to the year before [the New Year], and are permitted in the seventh year. Otherwise they are forbidden in the seventh year, and are reckoned for tithe as belonging to the next year. Rabbah said: The Rabbis have laid down that [the tithe year of] a tree is determined by its blossoming, that of produce and olives by their becoming a third grown, that of vegetables by their ingathering. In which class have these been placed by the Rabbis? — Rabbah answered himself by saying: Since they are gathered for shelling as required, the Rabbis made the taking root the determining factor. Said Abaye to him: Can he not collect the whole crop in a heap, so that ex post facto he will have set aside from the new crop in it for the new crop in it, and from the old crop in it for the old crop? Has it not been taught: ‘R. Jose b. Kippar says in the name of R. Simeon Shezuri: If Egyptian beans have been sown for seed and part takes root before New Year and part after, terumah and tithe must not be given from one lot for another, because terumah and tithe are not given from the new for the old nor from the old for the new. How then is one to manage? He collects the whole crop in a heap, so that in the end he gives terumah and tithe from the new crop in the heap for the new crop in the heap, and from the old crop in the heap for the old crop in the heap! — He replied to him: You cite R. Simeon Shezuri. R. Simeon Shezuri held that mixing can be relied on, whereas the Rabbis held that mixing cannot be relied on. R. Isaac b. Nahmani said in the name of Samuel: The halachah follows the ruling given by R. Jose b. Kippar in the name of R. Simeon Shezuri. R. Zera strongly demurred to this. Did Samuel, he asked, really say this? Has not Samuel said: Mixing is not relied on for anything save wine and oil? — R. Zera overlooked the following dictum of Samuel: The determining factor is in all cases the full ripening.17^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ

^ᵗnote:Meaning that it is considered ripe when it has grown a third.
^ᵘnote:And how therefore can you use it for a deduction?
^ᵛnote:Ibid. 22. This shows that the produce of the sixth year will last three years, and therefore the other verse is not required to tell us this and may be used for a deduction.
^ʷnote:Sheb. II, 7.
^ˣnote:A species of millet.
^ʸnote:These are all counted as varieties of pulse.
^ᶻnote:In an ordinary year.
^ᵃᵃnote:Second or third as the case may be. V. p. 44, n. 6.
^ᵃᵇnote:Viz. , those that take root in the sixth.
^ᵃᶜnote:V. Sheb. II, 7.
^ᵃᵈnote:I.e., some before New Year and some after. [The phrase ihfrp ihfrp ihhuag is difficult. Rashi renders: They (their gathering) are made (as they are needed) for shelling. R. Hananel reads ihdrp (‘beds’) and renders, They ripen (at different times) in different beds, even though they may ‘take’ at the same time].
^ᵃᵉnote:Because otherwise it would be difficult to keep the old and the new separate for tithing purposes without great inconvenience.
^ᵃᶠnote:Lit., ‘heap up his threshing-floor in the middle of it’.
^ᵃᵍnote:Abaye holds that if the whole crops old and new, is well mixed together, then when he sets aside terumah and tithe from it, the proportion of old and new in the terumah and tithe will be the same as the proportion of old and new in the whole crop.
^ᵃʰnote:Tosef. Sheb. II.
^ᵃⁱnote:To produce old and new in proper proportions in the tithe. Lit., ‘there is mixing’.
^ᵃʲnote:And therefore in fact tithe is given from Egyptian beans all together, whether they took root in the outgoing or in the incoming year, which is as R. Simeon Shezuri said, in so far that the two crops can be tithed together, although according to each for a different reason. For on the view of Samuel the whole is regarded as belonging to the incoming year, which is not what R. Simeon said.