135b - ראשית הגז פרק אחד עשר, חולין, דף קלה, ע"ב

And the Rabbis?^[1]

Let the Merciful One write neither the vav nor “reishis”!

ורבנן לא לכתוב רחמנא לא וי"ו ולא ראשית - The Rabbis say to you: If you think they were compared to anything, let it write neither “reishis” to separate them nor the vav to join them again. Rather, it certainly separated them and did not compare them. [Rabbi Il’ai needs the comparison] so that “your flock” is left over to exempt a partnership of Jews; but [according to the Rabbis] “your grain” excludes a partnership with a gentile from terumah, and “your flock” a partnership with a gentile from the fleece, while for a partnership of Jews no verse is left over.

And Rabbi Il’ai?

Since this one [the fleece] has sanctity of value, and that one [terumah] has intrinsic sanctity,^[2] it separates them, and then joins them again.

תרומה קדושת הגוף - For it is forbidden to non-kohanim; while the first of the fleece has sanctity of value – mere money; and “sanctity” is not meant literally.

פסיק - It is the Torah’s way to separate them and then join them again: to learn the exemption of a partnership with a gentile from the comparison to terumah, and then “your flock” is left over to exempt a partnership of Jews.

Or if you prefer, say: a partnership with a gentile in terumah – the Rabbis hold it obligated.

ואיבעית אימא שותפות עובד כוכבים בתרומה רבנן חיובי מחייבי - [They obligate] the Jew’s share; so one cannot exempt a partnership with a gentile from the first of the fleece through the comparison to terumah. Therefore “your flock” comes to exclude a partnership with a gentile, and “your grain” comes to exclude grain smoothed by a gentile: for example, a gentile who bought a Jew’s field and smoothed [the grain pile]^[3] – one who buys that grain from the gentile is exempt from tithing, even though it grew in a Jew’s field, as we say in Menachos, in Perek Rabbi Yishmael (67a): the smoothing of a gentile exempts. Alternatively, “your grain,” and not the grain of a gentile – teaching that a gentile has ownership in Eretz Yisrael to remove [produce] from the obligation of tithes;^[4] so the gentile’s share is exempt, and if he later sold it to a Jew, the Jew need not tithe it; but the Jew’s share is obligated. And although from “your flock” they understand [an exemption of] a partnership with a gentile, from “your grain” they do not understand an exclusion of a partnership with a gentile: grain is like something already divided, for it is divided by measure, and “your grain” applies to the Jew’s share; but with sheep the gentile has a share in every single animal, and “your flock” cannot be said of any one of them.

As it was taught: “A Jew and a gentile who bought a field in partnership – tevel and chullin are mixed in one another. These are the words of Rebbi.^[5]

שלקחו שדה - Who acquired a field in partnership.

טבל וחולין מעורבין זה בזה - Even after they divided [the produce], we do not say there is bereirah, that the gentile’s share has gone off and this is the share that came to the Jew and is entirely tevel. Rather, there is no bereirah, and this part that remains is also half tevel and half chullin, for a gentile has ownership in Eretz Yisrael to remove his share from the obligation of tithes. I have heard that it has no remedy, because if he comes to separate [tithes], he would be separating from the exempt for the obligated. But it seems to me that it has a remedy either way. If he has tevel from elsewhere, he separates for this according to half of it, since only half of it is obligated. And if he has no other tevel, he separates from it, for itself, according to all of it: for example, if he has twenty [measures], he separates two of them. For if he separates only one, it is not exempted, since half of what he separated is something on which the name “tithe” does not take effect, being exempt to begin with; but when he separates two, the name takes effect on one, and it exempts the ten that were obligated. And one cannot say that perhaps both separated [measures] grew in the gentile’s share, so that the name “tithe” does not take effect on them; for it is taught in the Gemara of Rosh Hashanah (12b), regarding new and old [produce] mixed together, where we hold that one may not separate terumah from one for the other, and it teaches: He heaps his threshing floor into it, and thus he separates from the new in it for the new in it, and from the old in it for the old in it. And just as there is new and old in the chullin, there is also new and old in the tithe; here too, he separates from the obligated in it for the obligated in it, and from the exempt in it for the exempt in it. And even the one who disagrees with that [teaching] agrees here: for there one can say that there is no mixing – they were not mixed well, and perhaps the new in the tithe is not in proportion to what remains in the chullin, nor the old in the tithe in proportion to what remains in the chullin; but here there is mixing, for in every single grain of wheat the gentile and the Jew each have a share, since there is no bereirah; and when he separates from it for itself, the tithe holds of the obligated in proportion to the obligated and of the exempt in proportion to the exempt. And in the Tosefta of Demai (chapter 5) I found: Tevel and chullin that became mixed – if he has a supply from elsewhere, he takes out according to the reckoning – that is, he separates from elsewhere according to the reckoning of this mixed tevel – and if not, he takes from the chullin according to the terumas maaser in the tevel; and I do not know what this is. And Rebbi and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel disagree thus: Rebbi holds that if he has other tevel, he separates for this according to half of it; and if he separated according to all of it, he turns out to be adding to the tithes, and his tithes are spoiled, though this [produce] is rectified. A further difference: one may not separate from this for other tevel. And Rabbi Shimon [ben Gamliel] holds there is bereirah; since they divided, the Jew’s share is entirely obligated, and even if he comes to separate for it from elsewhere, he separates according to all of it, and the name takes effect on his tithes and they are rectified; and if he wishes to separate from this for produce elsewhere, it is permitted.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: That of the Jew is obligated, and that of the gentile is exempt.”

They disagree only in this: one master holds there is bereirah,^[6] and one master holds there is no bereirah; but a partnership with a gentile – all agree it is obligated.

Or if you prefer, say: according to Rabbi Il’ai, both of them are derived from “your flock.”

ואי בעית אימא - Do not strain to say that it joined them again; both of them – a partnership with a gentile and a partnership of Jews – come, according to Rabbi Il’ai, from “your flock,” for we require [a flock] exclusively yours and not a partnership, no matter whether with a gentile or with a Jew.

A partnership with a gentile – what is the reason [it is exempt]?

Because it is not exclusively his. With a Jewish partner too, it is not exclusively his!

And the Rabbis?

A gentile is not subject to the obligation; a Jew is subject to the obligation.

ישראל בר חיובא הוא - And all Israel are called in the singular; we do not require exclusive [ownership], so long as I can call it “the flock of Israel.”

Rava said: Rabbi Il’ai concedes regarding terumah.^[7] Even though it is written (Devarim 18) “your grain” – yours, yes; a partnership, no –

אמר רבא - Although Rabbi Il’ai exempts a partnership from the first of the fleece, he concedes in all these that [Rava] states below, each one as he explains the reason.

the Merciful One wrote “your terumos” [in the plural].^[8]

תרומותיכם - It implies two [owners].

But then why do I need “your grain”?

To exclude a partnership with a gentile.

Challah:^[9] even though it is written “reishis,” and one could say, let us derive “reishis,” “reishis” from the first of the fleece –

just as there a partnership is not [obligated], so here a partnership is not –

the Merciful One wrote (Bamidbar 15) “your doughs” [in the plural].

But then, the reason is that it is written “your doughs”; were it not so, I would have said, let us derive “reishis,” “reishis” from the first of the fleece?

On the contrary, let us derive it from terumah!

אדרבה לילף מתרומה לחיובא - For of terumah too “reishis” is written, and a partnership is obligated in it; and [between] a leniency and a stringency, we compare for the stringency^[10] (Yevamos 8b).

Indeed, so it is.

But then why do I need “your doughs”?

למה לי - The verse “your doughs,” to obligate a partnership.

[To teach the measure:] as much as your doughs [in the wilderness].

כדי עריסותיכם - The Torah was given to them in the wilderness, and there they were told: as much as your doughs [now] is obligated in challah. And how much was the dough of the wilderness? An omer per head, and the omer is a tenth of an eifah; the reckoning comes to five Tzippori lugin, which are seven quarters and a bit in wilderness measures, that is, forty-three eggs and a fifth of an egg,^[11] as we say in Eruvin, Perek Keitzad Mishtatfin (83b). An eifah is three se’ah; a se’ah is six kav – so an eifah is eighteen kav; a kav is four lugin – so an eifah is seventy-two lugin. How much is a tenth of it? Seven lugin for the seventy lugin; and for the two lugin, which are twelve eggs, a tenth of them is an egg and a fifth – so seven lugin and an egg and a fifth of an egg; and a lug is six eggs – so forty-three eggs and a fifth.

Pe’ah:^[12] even though it is written “your field” – yours, yes; a partnership, no –

the Merciful One wrote (Vayikra 19) “And when you reap the harvest of your land” [in the plural].

ארצכם - It speaks of two.

But then why do I need “your field”?

To exclude a partnership with a gentile.

The firstborn:^[13] even though it is written (Devarim 15) “Every firstborn that is born in your herd and in your flock” – yours, yes; a partnership, no –

the Merciful One wrote (Devarim 12) “and the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks” [in the plural].

But then why do I need “your herd and your flock”?

בקרך וצאנך - “Every firstborn,” etc. – yet it is written “and the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks,” even of two.

To exclude a partnership with a gentile.

Mezuzah:^[14] even though it is written (Devarim 6) “your house” – yours, yes; a partnership, no –

the Merciful One wrote (Devarim 11) “so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children” [in the plural].

But then, what does “your house” come for?

For Rabbah’s teaching.

For Rabbah said …^[15]

ורבנן לא לכתוב לא וי"ו ולא ראשית - And if you ask: for the Rabbis too it is difficult – let it write neither “your flock” nor “reishis,” and I would learn from “your grain” that a partnership with a gentile is exempt from the first of the fleece; for from what the Rabbis said above, that “reishis” interrupted the matter, it is implied that without “reishis” we would learn from the beginning of the verse. One may answer that the Rabbis speak according to Rabbi Il’ai’s own words: “By your words, who wish to learn from the beginning of the verse – ‘reishis’ interrupted the matter.”

ואב"א שותפות עובד כוכבים בתרומה רבנן חיובי מחייבי - From Rashi’s last explanation^[16] it is implied that from “your grain” one cannot exclude a partnership with a gentile, because it is reasonable to distinguish between what belongs entirely to a gentile and a partnership; but with the fleece there is no reason to distinguish, for the gentile has a share in every single animal, and “your flock” cannot be said of any one of them. And it is puzzling: if so, why do the Rabbis need the verse “your flock”? We expound from “your grain” – and not that of a gentile – and learn for the fleece that a gentile’s is exempt; and since a gentile’s is exempt, a partnership is exempt too, as I explained, that there is no reason to distinguish! One must say that this is no reasoning at all: even if we knew that a gentile’s own is exempt, we still would not know that a partnership is exempt, in a partnership with a gentile. And now, from “your grain” we learn for the fleece that a gentile’s is exempt, and “your flock” is needed for a partnership. But according to the first explanation in the Kuntres, that “your grain” comes [to exclude] grain smoothed by a gentile, one must say this reasoning; for if you do not say so, from where would the Rabbis know that a partnership with a gentile exempts in the first of the fleece? Say that “your flock” excludes a gentile’s own, but a partnership with a gentile is obligated!

אמר רבא ומודה רבי אלעאי בתרומה - It seems that he holds like the latter version, that there is no reason to exclude a gentile’s more than a Jew’s; for according to the first version, where from the one verse we can exclude only a partnership with a gentile and not a partnership of Jews, he would not need, in all those cases, to bring a verse to include a partnership of Jews.

Notes

1. 1. Reishis hagez, the first of the fleece: when one shears his sheep, a portion of the wool is given to a kohen. On the previous amud, Rabbi Il’ai exempts sheep owned in partnership, comparing the fleece to terumah, which stands beside it in one verse (Devarim 18:4), joined by the letter vav. The Rabbis, who obligate a partnership, answered that the repeated word “reishis” separates the two gifts.
2. 2. Terumah has intrinsic sanctity (kedushas haguf): the produce itself is holy and forbidden to non-kohanim. The first of the fleece has only sanctity of value (kedushas damim): it is money owed to the kohen, and the wool is forbidden to no one. Because they differ, the Torah first separates them and then joins them.
3. 3. Miruach is the smoothing of the grain pile after threshing; it is the final stage that makes produce obligated in terumah and tithes. Grain smoothed by a gentile is exempt.
4. 4. This follows the view that a gentile’s purchase of land in Eretz Yisrael removes it from the sanctity of the land for tithes, so produce grown in his field is exempt.
5. 5. Tevel is produce from which terumah and tithes have not yet been separated; it may not be eaten. Here the Jew’s portion is tevel, and the gentile’s portion is exempt chullin, mixed together.
6. 6. Bereirah, retroactive clarification: whether a later division reveals what was each partner’s from the start. If there is bereirah, once they divide, the Jew’s share is regarded as his all along and is wholly obligated; if not, every portion remains half the gentile’s.
7. 7. That is, even Rabbi Il’ai, who exempts a partnership from the first of the fleece, agrees that produce of Jewish partners is obligated in terumah, and likewise in each of the cases that follow.
8. 8. The plural form addresses many owners together, so produce owned in partnership is included.
9. 9. Challah is the portion of dough given to a kohen (Bamidbar 15:20, “the first of your doughs”). Tosfos on Sukkah 35b cites this passage: dough owned by partners is obligated in challah.
10. 10. When a comparison could teach either a leniency or a stringency, it is applied for the stringency; so challah should be compared to terumah, which is obligated in a partnership.
11. 11. The smallest dough obligated in challah is an omer, the daily portion of manna each person ate in the wilderness: a tenth of an eifah, forty-three and a fifth egg-volumes.
12. 12. Pe’ah is the corner of the field left unharvested for the poor (Vayikra 19:9).
13. 13. The firstborn male of a kosher cow, sheep or goat is holy from birth and is given to a kohen.
14. 14. A mezuzah is the parchment bearing the passages of Shema and Vehayah im shamoa, fixed on the doorpost (Devarim 6:9).
15. 15. Rabbah’s teaching continues on the next amud (136a): “beisecha” (your house) is read as “bi’ascha” (your entry), so the mezuzah is fixed on the right side of one who enters.
16. 16. “Peirush HaKuntres” is the Tosafists’ name for Rashi’s commentary; “the last” is Rashi’s second explanation of “your grain” above (Rashi beginning ואיבעית אימא).