SHABBOS - 127b – מפנין – פרק שמונה עשר – שבת, קכז ע”ב

These too belong among those.^[1]

ה"ג הני נמי בהני שייכי - They are included in gemilus chassadim: hospitality and visiting the sick are gemilus chassadim, and contemplating one's prayer is also within gemilus chassadim, as it is written (Mishlei 11:17): "The man of kindness benefits his own soul." Coming early to the beis midrash and raising sons to Torah study are Torah study. Judging one's fellow favourably is within bringing peace, for when he inclines towards merit and says, "He did not sin against me in this; he was forced, or he meant well," there is peace between them. Rabbi Yochanan came to explain that these six are included in the three of the Mishnah, and honouring father and mother is there as well; Rabbi Yochanan does not disagree.

The Rabbis taught: One who judges his fellow favourably is judged favourably.

And there was an incident with a certain man who came down from the Upper Galilee and hired himself out to a certain householder in the South for three years.

On the eve of Yom Kippur he said to him: Give me my wages, and I will go and feed my wife and children.

He said to him: I have no money.

He said to him: Give me produce. He said to him: I have none.

Give me land - I have none. Give me an animal - I have none. Give me pillows and blankets - I have none.

He slung his belongings over his shoulder and went home dejected.

בפחי נפש - In anguish of spirit.

After the festival, the householder took his wages in his hand, together with the load of three donkeys - one of food, one of drink and one of various delicacies - and went to his house.

After they had eaten and drunk, he gave him his wages.

He said to him: When you said to me "Give me my wages" and I said "I have no money", what did you suspect me of? I said: Perhaps merchandise came your way at a low price, and you bought it with the money.

And when you said to me "Give me an animal", and I said "I have no animal", what did you suspect me of? I said: Perhaps it is hired out in the hands of others.

When you said to me "Give me land", and I said to you "I have no land", what did you suspect me of? I said: Perhaps it is leased out in the hands of others.

מוחכרת - Which he gives to another for so-and-so many kor a year.

And when I said to you "I have no produce", what did you suspect me of? I said: Perhaps it is not tithed.^[2]

And when I said to you "I have no pillows and blankets", what did you suspect me of? I said: Perhaps he consecrated all his property to Heaven.^[3]

He said to him: By the Temple service! So it was. I vowed away all my property because of my son Hyrkanos, who did not occupy himself with Torah.

And when I came to my colleagues in the South, they annulled all my vows.^[4]

And you - just as you judged me favourably, may the Omnipresent judge you favourably.

The Rabbis taught: An incident with a certain pious man who redeemed a young Jewish girl, and at the inn he laid her down at his feet.

Wherever it says "an incident with a certain pious man", it is either Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava or Rabbi Yehudah bar Rabbi Ilai.

ריבה - A young girl.

The next day he went down and immersed^[5] and taught his students.

And he said [to them]: When I laid her down at my feet, what did you suspect me of?

We said: Perhaps there is a student among us whom the Rebbe has not tested.

שאינו בדוק לרבי - Whose character the Rebbe does not know well enough to rely on him and leave her among us.

When I went down and immersed, what did you suspect me of?

We said: Perhaps, from the strain of the journey, the Rebbe had a seminal emission.

He said to them: By the Temple service! So it was. And you - just as you judged me favourably, may the Omnipresent judge you favourably.

The Rabbis taught: Once the Torah scholars needed something from a certain noblewoman with whom all the great men of Rome were to be found.

מטרוניתא - A gentile woman.

They said: Who will go?

Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: I will go.

Rabbi Yehoshua and his students went. When he reached the entrance of her house, he removed his tefillin at a distance of four amos, went in and locked the door in their face.

After he came out, he went down and immersed and taught his students.

And he said [to them]: When I removed my tefillin, what did you suspect me of?

We said: The Rebbe holds that words of holiness should not enter a place of impurity.

When I locked the door, what did you suspect me of?

We said: Perhaps there is a government matter between him and her.

דבר מלכות - Which must be kept hidden.

When I went down and immersed, what did you suspect me of?

We said: Perhaps some spittle sprayed from her mouth onto the Rebbe's clothes.

צינורא - Spittle; and the Sages decreed that gentiles are like zavim^[6] in all respects.

He said to them: By the Temple service! So it was. And you - just as you judged me favourably, may the Omnipresent judge you favourably.

We may clear away tahor terumah, etc.:^[7]

Obvious!

It is needed only where it rests in the hand of a Yisrael.

You might have said: since it is not fit for him - it is forbidden;

it teaches us that since it is fit for a Kohen - it is fine.

And demai:^[8]

Demai - it is not fit for him!

Since if he wished he could declare his property ownerless and become a poor man, and it would be fit for him, now too it is fit for him.

As we learned: We may feed the poor demai, and the billeted troops demai.

מאכילין לעניים דמאי - They did not forbid it to them, because they must go round to the doors of amei ha'aretz, and they relied on the fact that most amei ha'aretz do tithe.

אכסניא - The troops of a Jewish king, which he imposes on the townspeople to feed.

And Rav Huna said: It was taught, Beis Shammai say: We may not feed the poor demai, nor the billeted troops demai.

And Beis Hillel say: We may feed the poor demai, and the billeted troops demai.

And maaser rishon whose terumah has been taken, etc.:^[9]

שניטלה תרומתו - At this stage it is assumed this means terumas maaser, which the Levi gives to the Kohen, and all the more terumah gedolah, which the Yisrael must separate, and he separated it before giving the maaser to the Levi.

Obvious!

It is needed only where he took it early, while still in the stalks, and terumas maaser was taken from it, but terumah gedolah was not taken from it.^[10]

And this is like what Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Reish Lakish: Maaser rishon taken early in the stalks is exempt from terumah gedolah, as it says: "And you shall separate from it the terumah of Hashem, a tithe of the tithe" (Bamidbar 18:26).

שהקדימו בשבולין - Before terumah. The Yisrael should have separated terumah gedolah first, as it is written (Shemos 22:28): "Your fullness and your outflow you shall not delay" - "your fullness" is bikkurim, hence one who puts terumah before bikkurim is given lashes; "your outflow" is terumah, so that if he put maaser before terumah he is given lashes. But that applies only once it has been smoothed in the pile; if he put maaser before terumah while in the stalks, he is not given lashes.

והרמותם ממנו - Written regarding the Levi'im, about terumas maaser.

A tithe of the tithe I told you, and not terumah gedolah and terumas maaser from the tithe.

Rav Pappa said to Abaye: If so, even if he took it early from the pile^[11] it should also be exempt!

He said to him: Upon you the verse says: "From all your gifts you shall separate, etc." (Bamidbar 18:29).

מכל מתנותיכם וגו' - Also written regarding the Levi'im, about terumas maaser, and it says "every terumah of Hashem" - "every" implies every aspect of terumah in it.

And what did you see?

This one became grain, and that one did not become grain.

האי - That had been smoothed.

אידגן - And the obligation of terumah fell on it, as it is written (Devarim 18:4): "the first of your grain"; therefore, when the Levi took it, he must first return to the Kohen the two-in-a-hundred in it, and then the one-in-ten.

And maaser sheni, etc.:^[12]

Obvious!

It is needed only where he gave the principal but did not give the fifth.

This teaches us that the fifth is not indispensable.

And dry lupines, etc.:^[13]

Specifically dry, but moist - no.

What is the reason?

Since it is bitter, the goat does not eat it.

דמריר - That it is bitter.

Tosfos

כיון דחזיא לכהן שפיר דמי - Even though it says at the end of perek Kirah (above, 47a) that clothes fit for poor people are not considered fit for rich people, here it is fit for everyone, only a prohibition rests on it; there they are unfit because of their poor quality. For this reason too we do not say there the reason given just below, that if he wished he could declare his property ownerless. And what it says in perek Kol Hakeilim (above, 125a), that remnants of rags less than three by three may not be moved, implying that three by three may be moved - that refers to poor people; or else even to rich people, in a poor man's house.

דאי בעי מפקר לנכסיה - He could have said, as above, "since it is fit"; but since he found a reason by which it is fit even for him, he said that. And in perek Kol Sha'ah (Pesachim 35b) and in perek Sheloshah She'achlu (Berachos 47a) this reason was needed.

האי אידגן - Since it says "became grain", it implies even if it has not "seen the face of the house".^[14] This is difficult: still, even if he took it early from the pile it should be liable only where it became grain and saw the face of the house! One may answer: had it not written "and you shall separate", I would have said all are liable even if it did not become grain; now that the verse is written, we apply it where it is reasonable, namely where it did not become grain, for even if it had seen the face of the house it would not have been liable. Alternatively, "became grain" means with all its conditions, including seeing the face of the house; but it uses a clear-cut expression, since there is an opinion in Bava Metzia (88b) that seeing the face of the house is required only for olives and grapes, which do not go to the threshing floor.

הא קמ"ל דאין חומש מעכב - Even though in perek Hazahav (Bava Metzia 54a) we ask whether it is indispensable or not, and it is not resolved from here, because one could reject the proof by saying it was taught incidentally to something else.

Notes

1. 1. In the Mishnah (127a), the things whose fruits a person eats in this world while the principal remains for the World to Come are honouring parents, acts of kindness and bringing peace, and Torah study outweighs them all. Rabbi Yochanan listed six more; the Gemara says these too fall under the Mishnah's three, as Rashi explains.
2. 2. Produce from which terumah and maasros have not been separated (tevel) may not be eaten, and he could not pay a worker with it before tithing it.
3. 3. Hekdesh: property consecrated to the Beis HaMikdash. It leaves the owner's possession, so he cannot give any of it away.
4. 4. He had vowed that all his property be forbidden (so that his son would not inherit it). A Sage can annul a vow when the person regrets it, and the property became permitted to him again.
5. 5. Ezra enacted that a man who has had a seminal emission (baal keri) may not study Torah until he immerses; that is why the students suspected an emission.
6. 6. A zav is a man who has a certain bodily discharge; his spittle conveys tumah. The Sages decreed that gentiles have the status of zavim, so her spittle would make him tamei and require immersion.
7. 7. The Mishnah (126b): we may clear away on Shabbos tahor terumah, demai, maaser rishon whose terumah has been taken, maaser sheni and hekdesh that have been redeemed, and dry lupines. None of these is muktzeh, because each is fit to eat for someone. The Gemara now asks why each clause was needed.
8. 8. Demai: produce bought from an am ha'aretz, who may not have tithed it. The Sages required tithes to be separated from it, and it may not be eaten until then.
9. 9. Maaser rishon, the first tithe, is given to the Levi, who separates a tenth of it for the Kohen (terumas maaser). Once that is taken, the rest may be eaten by anyone.
10. 10. Terumah gedolah is the first portion separated for the Kohen from the crop, before the tithes. When the Levi took his tithe before it, part of the terumah gedolah is contained in his tenth.
11. 11. Kri: the pile of grain after it is smoothed (miruach). From then on it is liable to terumah and tithes - it has 'become grain'.
12. 12. Maaser sheni may be redeemed with money; an owner redeeming his own adds a fifth (chomesh). Here he paid the principal but not yet the fifth.
13. 13. Dry lupines may be moved because they are food for goats, so they are not muktzeh.
14. 14. 'Seeing the face of the house': produce brought into the house through the front entrance, which fixes it as liable to tithes.