The Eriyat B. Sit edition and audio series of the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Hagigah, has been dedicated in memory of Hacham Raful Muhedde ben Garaz and Marie Muhedde bat Jamile. May their souls rest in the highest Garden of Eden. Amen. It is dedicated by Dr. Isaac and Lily Muhedde. May God protect them and grant them life. Amen.
We begin with the Mishnah, eight lines from the bottom: “The stringencies of terumah.” Until now, we discussed the stringencies that sacred produce has over terumah. Now we go in the other direction and discuss the stringencies that terumah has over sacred produce.
In the region of Judea, people who are not careful about ritual purity are trusted regarding the purity of wine and oil designated for sacred use throughout the entire year. This is a significant level of trust. An ordinary unlearned person may bring wine or oil into the Temple, and we may accept it from him because we trust that it was handled in a state of purity throughout the year.
With regard to terumah, however, they are trusted only during the time of the winepresses and oil presses. The winepress is the season when wine is produced, and the oil press is the season when oil is produced. An unlearned person is trusted that his produce is pure only during the pressing season. Before or after that season, he has no reliability regarding terumah.
Thus, sacred produce has year-round reliability, whereas terumah has reliability only specifically during the pressing season. If, for example, a person pressed wine during the pressing season and designated it for the Temple, we trust him whenever he brings it to us during the year. The novelty of the Mishnah is that although he produced it during the pressing season and brings it later in the year, he is still not trusted regarding terumah.
This also explains why the Mishnah specifies Judea. With regard to sacred produce, an unlearned person is trusted throughout the year. With regard to terumah, he is trusted specifically when he brings it during the time of the winepresses and oil presses. This is a stringency that terumah has over sacred produce.
If the pressing season has passed and an unlearned person brings a barrel of terumah wine, the priest may not accept it from him. The Sages instructed the priest not to accept it because after the pressing season we assume that the person was not careful to maintain its purity.
The novelty, however, is that the unlearned person can keep it until the next pressing season. When the next pressing season arrives, the process begins again, and he regains his reliability. He can wait until the following pressing season and then give it to the priest, because during the pressing season we say that the unlearned person is careful regarding purity. Since these are rabbinic stringencies, the Rabbis can also be lenient in this respect.
The Gemara then discusses another case. Suppose an unlearned person has a barrel of terumah, and it is not the pressing season. Ordinarily, he is not believed. However, he says that he also designated a quarter-log of sacred produce in the barrel. In other words, the barrel contains a mixture of terumah and sacred produce. He designated some of the wine for sacred use, and the method works through the principle of retroactive clarification: whichever quarter-log he eventually removes and uses for sacred purposes is considered, retroactively, to have been the portion he designated from the outset.
In the end, the barrel contains both sacred produce and terumah. We say that since he is believed regarding the sacred produce, he is also believed regarding the terumah mixed into it. When do we say that an unlearned person is not believed regarding terumah throughout the year? That is when the barrel consists entirely of terumah. In that case, he is trusted only during the winepress and oil-press seasons. Here, however, he is telling us that there is a quarter-log of sacred produce in the barrel. Since he is already trusted regarding the sacred produce, he is trusted regarding the terumah as well.
The final case of the Mishnah concerns a barrel of wine or oil containing a mixture of ordinary produce and terumah. Such a mixture is called medumah. Since some of the ordinary produce is supposed to be separated as terumah and given to the priest, we assume that the barrel contains both ordinary produce and terumah.
Ordinarily, the unlearned person should not be trusted regarding such a mixture except during the pressing season. The Mishnah therefore says that he is trusted during the time of the winepresses and oil presses. But the novelty is that he is granted an additional seventy-day period before the pressing season. He is trusted even seventy days before the pressing season because that is when people begin purifying their vessels.
This appears to contradict what we said earlier. Regarding terumah, we said that the unlearned person is trusted only during the pressing season. Now, regarding a mixture of ordinary produce and terumah in a barrel, we say that he is trusted even seventy days before the pressing season. Why is he granted those additional seventy days? We will have to wait for the Gemara to clarify the precise case and explain why this additional period is granted.
Rashi explains that “winepresses” is the terminology used for wine, while “oil presses” is the terminology used for oil. Both refer to their respective pressing seasons.
Let us review the first ruling of the Mishnah before proceeding to the Gemara. In Judea, an unlearned person is trusted regarding wine and oil designated for sacred use throughout the year. If someone brings us sacred wine in the middle of the year, we do not even question him; we accept it as pure.
Regarding terumah, however, he is not trusted unless he brings it during the pressing season. The Gemara emphasizes that this applies specifically to Judea, because the Mishnah says, “The stringencies of terumah in Judea.”
The Gemara asks: Does this mean that an unlearned person is trusted regarding sacred produce from Judea but not from the Galilee? The Mishnah is precise when it says “Judea,” apparently excluding the Galilee.
The answer is that a strip of land belonging to the Cutheans separates the Galilee from Judea. Judea is the region of Jerusalem. In order to bring produce from the Galilee to Judea, one had to pass through this strip of Cuthean land.
The Cutheans were people who had converted to Judaism, but the Sages considered their conversions insincere. Some had converted because they were afraid of lions, rather than for the sake of Heaven. The Sages therefore imposed ritual impurity upon the lands of the Cutheans, just as they imposed impurity upon the lands of the other nations.
Consequently, produce transported from the Galilee to Judea would become impure when it passed through the land of the Cutheans. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Galilee. The difficulty is geographical: a strip of Cuthean land lies between the Galilee and Judea. Produce made in Judea, however, could be transported directly to Jerusalem and the Temple without passing through foreign or Cuthean land.
The Gemara cites the formulation: “A strip of the land of the nations separates the Galilee from Judea, and it is impossible to bring it to Jerusalem in a state of purity, because the Sages imposed impurity upon the land of the nations.” This applies even to the produce of Torah scholars in the Galilee. The issue is no longer the reliability of an unlearned person; there is simply no way to transport the sacred produce through that region without encountering the imposed impurity.
The Gemara asks: Why not transport it in a carriage, a box, or a cabinet? If it is placed in a sealed container, perhaps the container will separate it from the impurity. Put the barrel into a box and transport it that way.
The Gemara answers that this follows the opinion of Rabbi. A suspended object is not considered to be located in the land. If oil is being carried through the air, it is considered “flying oil.” Since it is suspended and does not rest upon the ground, it is not considered to be part of the land. Nevertheless, the Sages imposed impurity even upon the airspace of the land of the nations.
Thus, placing the barrel in a box would not solve the problem. The airspace of the land of the nations would still enter the box, and the produce would become impure. It is not like a house or structure resting upon the ground. The oil is suspended in the air, and the airspace of the land of the nations is itself subject to impurity.
The Gemara cites a teaching: If a person enters the land of the nations in a carriage, a box, or a cabinet, Rabbi says that the person is impure. The reason is that the object is being carried through the air, and a suspended object is not considered to be located in the land. It therefore does not serve as a barrier against the impurity.
Rashi explains that “flying” or moving oil is carried through the air. Since the container is being transported, the produce is considered suspended rather than resting upon the ground. Therefore, the Mishnah follows Rabbi’s opinion, and there is no way to bring sacred produce from the Galilee to Judea in this manner.
The Gemara suggests another solution: Why not place the sacred produce in an earthenware vessel that is sealed and tied shut? We know that an earthenware vessel can become impure only from within. Perhaps such a vessel would protect the sacred produce from external impurity.
The Gemara cites a teaching that the waters of the red heifer, once sanctified, are not protected even by a sealed earthenware vessel. This seems to imply that ordinary sacred produce would be protected. The very fact that the teaching specifically mentions the waters of the red heifer appears to exclude another case.
The Gemara rejects that inference. The teaching means that the waters that have not yet been sanctified are protected by a sealed vessel. Ordinary water, before it has been designated for the purification process, can be protected in this manner. Once the water has been sanctified as the water of the red heifer, however, a sealed vessel does not protect it from impurity.
Therefore, the sealed vessel protects water that has not yet been sanctified, but it does not protect sacred produce. A sealed earthenware vessel is not an option for saving sacred produce from impurity.
Ulla said that Torah scholars would press wine or oil in the Galilee and purify themselves in order to prepare sacred produce. What could they do with it? They could not transport it to Judea, since they would have to pass through the strip of land of the Cutheans.
They would store it and wait for Elijah the Prophet, who would purify it. What would Elijah accomplish? When he comes, he will show them a route that bypasses the land of the nations. At present, a strip of land blocks the route. When Elijah comes, he will reveal a small path through which they can pass without encountering that land.
They were therefore preparing the sacred wine and oil in anticipation of the immediate rebuilding of the Temple. They wanted the sacred produce to be ready. They were not preparing it for immediate use; they were waiting for Elijah to reveal the path that would allow them to bring it to Jerusalem.
We return to the Mishnah. We said that during the pressing season, an unlearned person is trusted even regarding terumah, because at that time everyone purifies his vessels. The unlearned person is careful during the pressing season, and therefore we may accept terumah from him.
The Gemara raises a difficulty. When a person finishes processing his olives, the oil that emerges can make the olives susceptible to impurity. Olive oil is one of the liquids that can prepare produce to receive impurity. This susceptibility, however, depends upon the person’s desire for the liquid.
At the beginning of the process, the person does not want the oil to emerge, because he is losing oil before the proper stage of production. Therefore, the liquid does not yet make the olives susceptible to impurity. At the end of the process, once he gathers the olives and places them in the press, he is pleased that the oil is emerging. At that point, the oil can make the olives susceptible to impurity.
The Gemara therefore says that when an unlearned person is completing the process of producing olive oil, he should place a box of olives to the side and give it to a poor priest as terumah. The priest should receive the olives before they become susceptible to impurity and then complete their processing in a state of purity.
This seems to indicate that even during the pressing season, the unlearned person is not trusted regarding the olives after they have become susceptible to impurity. The priest must receive dry olives before the process is completed and produce the oil himself.
What do we learn from this? It appears that the unlearned person is not trusted even during the pressing season regarding produce that has already become susceptible to impurity.
The Gemara answers that there is a distinction between an early pressing season and a late pressing season. The late crop is called the late harvest. Certain people would miss the usual season and press their olives later. When a person presses at the normal, early time, when the majority of people are pressing, even an unlearned person is trusted. We are not concerned that the produce became impure, because everyone is purifying his vessels at that time.
The case in the Gemara, however, concerns someone pressing late. If the majority of people have already finished pressing and only this person and a few others are still pressing, this is no longer considered the regular pressing season. He is therefore not trusted. The only way to give his produce to a priest is to give it before it becomes susceptible to impurity: give him dry olives and let the priest complete the processing.
Rashi explains that the case concerns the majority of people. The regular pressing season has passed, and therefore the unlearned person is not trusted. As an example of a late pressing, the Gemara refers to olives associated with one’s ancestors. These are considered a late crop, and when a person presses them, that is considered a late pressing. An unlearned person does not have reliability regarding such a late pressing.
Rabbi Yosef offers a different answer. He says that the case concerns the Galilee. According to his explanation, when we said that the unlearned person is not trusted, we were referring to the ordinary pressing season, but the location is the Galilee. The reliability granted during the pressing season applies specifically in Judea. The case here is in the Galilee, where the unlearned person is not trusted.
Tosafot explains that there was a great deal of oil in the Galilee. As a result, people would often continue pressing even after the usual pressing season. The case could therefore involve a late pressing.
Abaye challenges this explanation. What about the Jordan region and the Galilee? They have the status of Judea. Regarding the pressing season, an unlearned person is trusted in those regions as well—during the winepress season for wine and during the oil-press season for oil.
This means that the ruling itself indicates that even in the Galilee there is reliability during the pressing season. One is not trusted for wine during the oil-press season, nor for oil during the winepress season, but one is trusted for the appropriate produce during its respective pressing season.
We therefore return to the original question. How can we explain the case of the unlearned person who was pressing? The answer must be that it was a late pressing. The discussion applies even in Judea and throughout the Land of Israel. During the regular pressing season, an unlearned person is trusted. When he presses after everyone else, however, there is no reliability.
Why did the unlearned person have to give the olives to the priest before they became susceptible to impurity? Because the case concerned the late pressing season. Since he was pressing after the regular season, he was not trusted. The only solution was to give the priest the olives before they became susceptible to impurity.
We return to the Mishnah’s ruling: “The pressing seasons passed, and he brought him a barrel of wine or oil of terumah; he should not accept it.” If an unlearned person comes to a trusted associate who is a priest and gives him terumah after the pressing season, the priest may not accept it. We assume that after the pressing season it became impure.
What does the Mishnah advise the unlearned person to do? He should hold on to it until the following year. When the next pressing season arrives, he can bring it to the priest. Even if the priest knows that this is the same barrel that the unlearned person tried to give him the previous year, the Sages did not prohibit it. During the pressing season, he is again trusted.
The Gemara asks: Suppose the trusted associate mistakenly accepted it after the pressing season, at a time when he should not have accepted it. May he store it until the next pressing season?
One possibility is that he may keep it until the next season and then use it, because during the pressing season everything becomes pure in the sense that the unlearned person regains his reliability. The other possibility is that this would create a danger. If the trusted associate leaves it in his house, he might accidentally eat it before the next pressing season, which would be prohibited.
The Gemara responds by citing a teaching that discusses a trusted associate and an unlearned person who are two brothers. One brother is careful regarding purity, and the other is not. Their father was an unlearned person, and after his death they inherit his fields and produce—wheat, wine, and other goods.
The careful brother may say to his brother, “You take the wheat from that particular place, and I will take the wheat from this particular place.” He may say the same regarding wine: “You take the wine from these barrels, and I will take the wine from those barrels.”
Why is this permitted? Suppose there are one hundred bundles of wheat. Technically, each brother owns half of the entire collection. The careful brother does not want wheat that became susceptible to impurity through moisture, because their father, an unlearned person, handled it. He wants only the dry wheat that never became susceptible to impurity.
They can divide the wheat by invoking the principle of retroactive clarification. Each brother owns half of the entire pile. Retroactively, the portion that the careful brother takes is considered to have belonged to him from the beginning, and the portion that the unlearned brother takes is considered to have belonged to him from the beginning. We do not say that the careful brother took impure produce belonging to the unlearned brother and gave him pure produce belonging to himself. Each person is receiving what was his from the outset.
Rashi explains that the careful brother knows that some of the wheat became wet and therefore susceptible to impurity. He does not want to become involved with that wheat. Since both brothers own half of each species, he takes the dry wheat, and the unlearned brother takes the wheat that became susceptible to impurity. Through retroactive clarification, each is considered to have received his own portion.
This principle applies when there is only one species, such as wheat. But if there are two species, such as wheat and barley, we cannot say that one brother takes all the wheat and the other takes all the barley. Each brother owns a portion of each species. If the careful brother takes all the barley and gives all the wheat to his brother, he is giving his brother part of his own wheat.
That would be prohibited, because he would be giving produce to an unlearned person while knowing that the person would cause it to become impure. When there is only one species, each brother is merely taking his own share. When there are two species and one brother takes one entire species while giving the other entire species to his brother, he is transferring part of his own share to the unlearned person.
The teaching continues: What does the careful brother do with the moist produce? If it is terumah, he burns it. Since he is a priest, he cannot eat terumah that became impure, but he may benefit from it by burning it. He can use it as fuel and benefit from its light.
He keeps the dry produce, which did not become susceptible to impurity. Regarding the terumah that became wet and impure, he burns it. Regarding the dry produce, he may retain it because it did not become susceptible to impurity.
The Gemara challenges this. Why burn the impure produce? Why not wait until the next pressing season? Once the next pressing season arrives, the unlearned person regains his reliability, and perhaps the priest could use it then.
The Gemara answers that the case may concern an item that has no pressing season, such as beer made from dates. Dates can be processed throughout the year, so there is no subsequent pressing season that would restore the reliability of the unlearned person. Therefore, the produce must be destroyed.
The Gemara suggests another possibility: perhaps he can wait until the pilgrimage festival, when unlearned people are considered reliable. The answer is that the item may be perishable. It will not last until the festival, so there is no opportunity to wait. The Gemara therefore leaves unresolved the original question: If a priest mistakenly accepted terumah after the pressing season, may he preserve it until the following pressing season?
Rashi explains that the case involves an item without a pressing season, such as date beer. The word “burn” cannot be understood literally in this case, because beer is not flammable. It means to destroy it; “burning” here is an expression of disposal.
The Gemara returns to the important rule in the Mishnah. If the unlearned person says, “I designated a quarter-log of sacred produce in this barrel,” he is believed regarding the sacred produce, and since he is believed regarding the sacred produce, he is believed regarding the entire barrel, including the terumah.
The Gemara discusses a related case involving the field known as the field of the fragments. People had been buried in this field, and it was later plowed. The concern was that the plow had brought small fragments of bone to the surface and scattered them throughout the field.
Suppose a person wants to bring the Passover offering, and the only way to reach his destination is to walk through this field. He might step on or move a bone fragment the size of a barley grain and thereby become impure. The procedure is therefore to inspect the field. He walks through it while blowing away the small fragments. If he sees a larger fragment, he avoids it.
There is no concern about fragments beneath the ground, because bone fragments do not transmit impurity through a structure or tent. The concern is only direct contact or carrying. If he steps on a fragment or moves it, he can become impure. Therefore, he clears the fragments from his path and proceeds through the field.
The Mishnah teaches that the Sages agree that the field is inspected for someone bringing the Passover offering, but it is not inspected for someone who wishes to eat terumah. The reason is that the Passover offering must be brought at its designated time. If a person fails to bring it, he incurs the severe punishment of excision. Therefore, the Sages were lenient regarding the rabbinic impurity associated with this field and permitted him to proceed after the inspection.
With regard to terumah, there is no fixed time by which it must be eaten. The priest can wait seven days, undergo purification on the third and seventh days, and then eat the terumah. The Sages were therefore stringent in that case.
Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said in the name of Ulla that the inspection of the field means something different. According to him, one must check whether the field has been trampled by people. If many people have walked through it, we can assume that the bone fragments have been crushed until they are smaller than the size of a barley grain, and they no longer present a problem.
Thus, the inspection may mean either blowing away the fragments while walking through the field or checking whether the field has already been trampled. If it has been trampled, there is no concern. If it has not been trampled, there is a concern regarding the fragments.
The Gemara explains the logic. For someone bringing the Passover offering, the Sages did not enforce their ruling in a situation that could cause excision. Since the obligation to bring the offering applies at a specific time, they were lenient after the field had been inspected, whether by clearing the fragments or by verifying that the field had been trampled.
For someone eating terumah, however, the Sages enforced their ruling in a situation involving the punishment of death at the hands of Heaven. If a person eats terumah while impure, he is liable for that punishment. Since there is no fixed time to eat terumah, he should wait seven days and purify himself.
The Gemara asks: If the person inspected the field for the purpose of bringing the Passover offering, may he now eat terumah? Once the inspection was effective for the Passover offering, perhaps it should also be effective for terumah.
The Gemara initially answers that he is permitted to eat the Passover offering but not terumah. An older rabbi then tells Rav Abba bar Ulla not to argue with Ulla, because Ulla has support from the Mishnah.
What is the support? The Mishnah says that when an unlearned person has a barrel containing sacred produce and terumah, once he is believed regarding the sacred produce, he is believed regarding the entire barrel, including the terumah. Similarly, once the inspection is effective for the Passover offering, it should also be effective for terumah. The Mishnah therefore supports the position that he is believed regarding both.
The Gemara analyzes another statement: An unlearned person is not believed regarding the vessels or regarding terumah. What vessels are being discussed?
If these are vessels used for sacred produce, that cannot be the case. Since an unlearned person is believed regarding sacred produce throughout the year, he should also be believed regarding the vessels in which the sacred produce is held.
Therefore, when the statement says that he is not believed regarding the vessels, it must refer to vessels associated with terumah. If he is not believed regarding the terumah itself, certainly he is not believed regarding the contents of the vessels. The Gemara therefore asks what precise case is under discussion.
The answer is that the case concerns empty vessels that had previously held sacred produce, during the rest of the year. While the sacred produce remains in the unlearned person’s barrel, he is believed regarding both the sacred produce and the barrel. Once he empties the sacred produce from the barrel, however, the barrel loses its status of purity.
The wine or oil may be taken and placed upon the altar, but the empty barrel is no longer treated as pure. Since it is now an empty vessel belonging to an unlearned person, it is treated as impure. This applies even though the person had been careful regarding the sacred produce while it was in the barrel.
Similarly, when we say that the unlearned person is believed regarding terumah, this applies during the pressing season to the terumah itself, but not to the vessels. The Rabbis trusted him sufficiently to accept terumah from him during the pressing season, but his vessels remained subject to impurity.
Rashi offers an additional explanation for the leniency during the pressing season. The Sages were lenient not only because everyone purifies his vessels at that time, but also to prevent a financial loss for the trusted associates. If the Sages were stringent and declared all the produce of an unlearned person impure even during the pressing season, priests who were careful regarding purity would be unable to receive terumah from anyone. This would cause a major loss.
To ensure that priests could receive the terumah that provided their livelihood, the Sages allowed them to accept terumah during the pressing season. This leniency, however, does not extend to the vessels themselves. The unlearned person may pour the terumah into the priest’s vessel, and the priest may then take back his own vessel.
The Gemara returns to the Mishnah’s case of a mixture in a vessel. The Mishnah says that the unlearned person is trusted not only during the pressing season but also during the seventy days preceding it. What is the mixture in the vessel?
It might appear that the vessel contains ordinary produce and terumah, meaning produce from which the required priestly and tithing portions have not yet been separated. Since a portion of ordinary produce must eventually be separated as terumah, there is automatically a potential terumah component in the mixture.
But why should there also be sacred produce in the vessel? Ordinary produce does not automatically contain a sacred portion. There is an obligation to separate terumah, but there is no automatic obligation to separate sacred produce from ordinary produce.
The Gemara answers that the unlearned person had the intention, when he placed the ordinary produce in the vessel, of eventually taking a portion from it for sacred use. The vessel therefore contains ordinary produce, potential terumah, and a portion intended for sacred use.
Since he is believed regarding sacred produce, he is believed regarding the vessel as well. As long as the vessel contains sacred produce, his reliability regarding sacred use extends to the vessel. Therefore, he is trusted not only during the pressing season but also during the seventy days before it, and he is trusted regarding the vessel that he gives to the priest.
Tosafot asks a question. If there is actually sacred produce in the vessel, why is the person trusted only during the seventy days before the pressing season? Regarding sacred produce, we said that he is trusted throughout the entire year.
Tosafot answers that there is not yet actual sacred produce in the vessel. The person merely intends to take some of the mixture for sacred use in the future. If he had actually designated a specific portion—for example, three ounces of the wine—as sacred, he would be believed throughout the year. Here, however, he has only formed an intention to separate sacred produce later. That is why the additional reliability is limited to the seventy days before the pressing season.
This explains the Mishnah. Terumah by itself grants reliability only during the pressing season. But when the mixture also contains an intended sacred component, we grant an additional seventy days of reliability. The sacred component also explains why the person is believed regarding the vessels.
Let us summarize the resulting laws. Regarding terumah, an unlearned person is trusted only during the winepress and oil-press seasons. Even then, he is trusted regarding the terumah itself but not regarding the vessels in which it was held.
Regarding sacred produce, he is trusted throughout the entire year. If he has a barrel of sacred wine or oil, he is trusted regarding both the sacred produce and the barrel while the sacred produce remains inside it. Once he empties the sacred produce, however, the empty barrel is no longer considered pure.
When a vessel contains a mixture of ordinary produce and terumah, together with an intention to separate sacred produce from that mixture in the future, the unlearned person is trusted not only during the pressing season but also during the seventy days preceding it. In that case, his reliability extends to the vessel as well, because of the sacred component intended for it.
Rashi explains that when a barrel contains both sacred produce and terumah, once we believe the person regarding the sacred produce, we also believe him regarding the terumah, even though it is not the pressing season. We also believe him regarding the vessels, because it would be degrading to sacred produce to say that the barrel that held it becomes impure immediately after the sacred produce is removed.
Finally, the Gemara asks where the number seventy comes from. Why did the Mishnah establish a seventy-day period before the pressing season?
The answer is that a sharecropper who works in the fields is required to begin purifying the vessels seventy days before the pressing season. His responsibility is to prepare the presses in advance. Therefore, the Mishnah chose seventy days as the period during which people begin preparing and purifying their presses.