Bartenura on Mishnah Challah

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2.8.4
כדי שיטול מן המוקף – that the ritually impure is attached to the ritually pure on that which is less than an egg’s bulk, and it is as if the ritually impure and the pure [are found] in one [piece of] dough.
2.8.5
וחכמים אוסרין – to take from the ritually pure on that which is impure, and we are suspect lest they come in contact with each other, but he should take from the ritually pure to itself, and from the ritually impure to itself. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
3.1.1
אוכלין עראי עד שתתגלגל – when it becomes combined well, because there is no designation of the term “dough” until it is rolled [and shaped].
3.1.2
ותטמטם בשעורים – because the dough of barley scatters and does not combine well with the dough of wheat, but rather kneads into a cohesive shapeless mass in the hand
3.1.3
חייב מיתה – for its work had been completed and it is an eatable forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts, becomes [liable for] death [if consumed].
3.1.4
מגבהת חלתה – it is the ordinance of the Sages regarding ritually pure dough to rush to separate Hallah in purity, lest the dough become ritually impure, for the essence of the Mitzvah is to wait until the completion of the kneading.
3.1.5
ובלבד שיהא שם חמשת רבעים קמח – that had been combined in water, for less than this, the dough did not reach to the general obligation for Hallah. And there are books which have the reading: ובלבד שלא יהיה שם חמשת רבעים קמח/ and as long as there will not be there five-fourths flour, that is to say, that there should not remain five-fourths flour that was not mixed/combined with water, for if there remained five-fourths, they would not be exempt from Hallah if he separated it prior to be rolled [and shaped]. And in the Jerusalem Talmud, we prove that if he said, “Behold this is Hallah,” on the leaven and on the dough and on the flour that remains after the dough had been rolled [and shaped], all of it is sanctified/dedicated in my hands for the sake of Hallah, this would be permitted. And similarly, a person should teach the women to say this as we separate Hallah, immediately after rolling [and shaping] the dough, but before the forming of the bread.
3.2.1
נדמעה עיסתה – The priest’s due was mixed with less than one-hundred parts of non-sacred food. -
3.2.2
משגלגלה חייבת – for since it became liable for Hallah already, further, it cannot be affected by the mixture of Terumah and Hullin.
3.2.3
עד שלא גלגלה תעשה בטומאה – since even if it had been made in ritual purity, no Kohen is permitted to eat it because of the doubt that had resulted in it, for it could have been made ritually impure immediately before rolling [and shaping].
3.2.4
משגלגלה תעשה בטהרה – if after the rolling [and shaping] a doubt would originate, it is prohibited to defile it, for non-sacred food which is subject to sacred gifts for Hallah is considered like Hallah, and Terumah which is made for handling requires guarding.
3.3.1
עד שלא גלגלה ופדאתה – but after she redeemed it, she rolled it. חייבת – since at the time of the rolling, it was not dedicated [to the Temple].
3.3.2
שבשעת חובתה היתה פטורה – for the rolling of sanctified produce exempts it, as it is written (Numbers 15:20): “As the first yield] of your baking….” And not the dough that was sanctified [to the Temple].
3.4.1
עד שלא באו לעונת המעשרות – each one is according to the statute that is explained in the first chapter of Ma’aserot (see Mishnah 1).
3.4.2
וגמרן הגזבר – and were completed while they were under the hand of the treasurer.
3.4.3
שבשעת חובתן היו פטורים – as it is written, "דגנך"/”your grain” (see Deuteronomy 14:23: “[You shall consume the tithes] of your new grain,[and wine and oil]…” and Deuteronomy 12:17: “[You may not partake in your settlements of the tithes] of your new grain [or wine or oil….”).
3.5.1
פטורה מן החלה – for the rolling by an Israelite does not make the dough of a heathen liable [for Hallah], and similarly, the rolling by a heathen of the dough of an Israelite does not make it exempt [from Hallah].
3.5.2
אם אין בשל ישראל כשיעור – that we are obligated to separate Hallah from it, which is five-fourths.
3.6.1
ספק חייב – because there is a doubt about a prohibition, and we follow the stricter practice, so we separate the Hallah and sell it to a Kohen.
3.6.2
ואין חייבין עליה חומש – a foreigner (i.e., non-Kohen) who eats it does not pay the additional one-fifth, but he pays the principal. The payments of Terumah are an atonement. Therefore, we separate the payments and atone out of doubt, and sell them to the Kohen.
3.6.3
אחר הקרימה בתנור – for Rabbi Akiba holds that completion of work [to make it liable] for Hallah does not occur until the formation of a light crust on the face of the dough in the oven. And this is the stage for Hallah. Therefore, if he converted prior to the formation of a light crust on the face of the dough in the oven, he is liable for Hallah. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Akiba.
3.7.1
אורז – it is not from the species of grain. And all that is not from the species of grain is exempt from Hallah, and a person does not fulfill his religious obligation [for Matzah] from it on Passover.
3.7.2
יש בה טעם דגן חייב בחלה – and even though the grain lacks the measurement for Hallah.
3.8.1
אם יש לו פרנסה ממקום אחר – if he has other flour besides from this dough, he brings flour according to the measure, that if he would combine to this measure that is liable for Hallah, it would have five-fourths which is the measure of Hallah, and he kneads the dough and mixes it with the dough that has the measure, and removes from it according to the measure for Hallah that he must separate from the five-fourths.
3.8.2
ואם לאו – if he lacks flour מוציא חלה – one twenty-fourth on each dough, for eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts are prohibited in any amount in its species, and all of it would be made subject to sacred gifts for Hallah.
3.9.1
זיתי מסיק – olives that the owner harvests, and the harvesting of the olives is called “olive harvest.”
3.9.2
זיתי נקוף – olives that the poor people glean, as it says (Isaiah 17:6): “[Only gleanings shall be left of him] as when one beats an olive tree: two berries or three [on the topmost branch…,]” and they are exempt from tithes.
3.9.3
ענבי בציר – which are liable for tithes.
3.9.4
עם ענבי עוללות – which are exempt from tithes.
3.9.5
אם יש לו – other eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts and similar things, he removes from them the correct proportion according to measure of what he must remove from olive harvests or from vintage grapes that require tithing.
3.9.6
ואם לאו – if he lacks any other eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts, we see it as if they are all eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts, and we remove the Priest’s Due and the [Levite’s] tenth of the First Tithe [that goes to the Kohen] on everything.
3.9.7
והשאר מעשר – First [Tithe]
3.9.8
ומעשר שני – or Second Tithe, which we don’t remove other than according to proportion, and not that he should not separate only according to proportion, for behold, it is impossible to separate Terumat Ma’aser (i.e., the tenth of the tenth) until we first separate [First] Tithe on everything. And furthermore, if we do not separate [First] Tithe on everything, everything that he tithes, there is non-sacred produce [contained within] by proportion. And it is found that he would be separating from that which exempt [from tithes] on that which is liable [for tithes], but the tithes have to be separated on everything. But one does not have to give the Levite or to the poor other than according to proportion, and the rest he may combine with his produce. And similarly, the Second Tithe does not have to be redeemed other than by proportion, but Terumah (i.e, the heave-offering to the Kohen of two percent) and Terumat Ma’aser (i.e., tenth of a tenth of the rest which the Levite gives to the Kohen) which are [punishable] by death, when one separates [tithes] on everything, it is found there is found non-sacred produce mixed in, and one must give everything to the Kohen.
3.10.1
הנוטל שאור מעיסת חיטין – which had not separated/consecrated its Hallah.
3.10.2
ואם לאו פטורה – for the eatables forbidden pending separation of sacred gifts does not prohibit it, since it lacks taste.
3.10.3
א"כ למה אמרו הטל אוסר בכל שהוא – as we said above (Mishnah 9), if he lacks the means to do so, that he brings Hallah for everything. These words refer to [Hallah] from the same species, but if it is not from the same species, such as the case of wheat with rice, that provides a flavor, for the reason that [we require taking Hallah] from eatables forbidden pending separation of sacred gifts for any amount, because when they permitted that of one wheat [batch], it exempts the entire pile; so too its prohibition, and for that reason it does not belong other than one species with another of the same species.
4.1.1
שתי נשים אפילו הן ממין אחד פטורים – and neither the adhering nor the fusion (i.e., thing contained in one vessel are to be considered as one mass) in a basket does not combine them, since they are strict [in this area]. And even if they kneaded the two Kabs as one, since they are destined to be divided, they are exempt. And the anonymous Mishnah is according to the School of Hillel who say that [we require] two Kabs for Hallah (see Mishnah Eduyot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2), but it is not the Halakha, for we establish that five-quarters [of dough] is the [minimum] measure for Hallah.
4.2.1
החטים אינן מצטרפות עם הכל – if there were two doughs: one of wheat and one of another species of the five species, and there in neither of them had the [sufficient] measure for Hallah, and they adhere to each other.
4.2.2
השעורים מצטרפות עם הכל – even with spelt, and even though this is part of the species of wheat, it is not specifically the species of wheat, but rather the species of barley, and even the species of wheat, and it is explained at the beginning of the first chapter (Mishnah 1 and see the Bartenura there).
4.2.3
שאר המינים מצטרפין זה עם זה – such as spelt, oats and rye. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri.
4.3.1
שני קבין – of one of the five species that are liable for Hallah (see Chapter 1, Mishnah 1).
4.3.2
וקב אורז או תרומה – which are not liable for Hallah in the middle
4.3.3
אין מצטרפין – to become liable for Hallah
4.4.1
יטול מן האמצע – from the place that they adhere one to the other, we find that we separate [Hallah] from both of them.
4.4.2
וחכמים אוסרים – for one who sees that it is thought that it is permitted to give priest’s due and to tithe from the new grain [of this year] with the old grain [of last year] and from the old grain [of last year] with the new grain [of this year]. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
4.4.3
מן הקב – which lacks the [appropriate] measure for Hallah (i.e., five-fourths).
4.4.4
ר"ע אומר חלה – and he that completed the dough afterwards according to the [appropriate] measure for Hallah, for since the measure was completed, it is [liable] for Hallah retroactively.
4.4.5
אינה חלה – since at the time when he separated it, the dough was exempt. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
4.5.1
ר"ע פוטר – He follows his line of reasoning that it goes back and becomes Hallah retroactively.
4.5.2
נמצא חומרו קולו – the stringency of Rabbi Akiba who said above (Mishnah 4) that when he takes Hallah from one Kab that becomes Hallah and has become sanctified, causes him to be lenient and to exempt with two Kabim when he took his Hallah from this [Kab] on its own and that [Kab] on its own.
4.6.1
נוטל אדם כדי חלה – [A person] who wishes to knead a few batches of dough of impure doubtfully-tithed [dough -for Hallah], he can establish their Hallah from pure dough whose Hallah had not yet been dedicated, and that it will be this particularly batch of ritually pure dough that will be established for Hallah on all the dough that he will need from the ritually impure doubtfully-tithed [dough- for Hallah].
4.6.2
עד שתסרח – this particular batch of dough and that it won’t be appropriate for human consumption, for regarding doubtfully tithed produce, the Rabbis were lenient [to permit] dedication from something pure [to fulfill the liability] on that which is impure and from that which is not nearby. And they (i.e., the Rabbis) were also lenient to dedicate from that which was of poor quality [to fulfill the liability] on something that was good, and the Hallah of doubtfully-tithed [dough] is that grain which a person buys from an ignoramus who feeds it to the poor and to troops on the march, as it is taught in the Mishnah (Tractate Demai, Chapter 3, Mishnah 1): “We feed the poor Demai produce and the troops on the march Demai produce.” But the Hallah that we separate from it is Hallah of doubtfully-tithed dough.
4.7.1
סוריא – lands that [King] David conquered, and lack the sanctity like the sanctity of the Land of Israel.
4.7.2
רבי אליעזר מחייב – he holds that they made Syria like the Land of Israel with regard to Tithes and Seventh Year produce.
4.7.3
ורבן גמליאל פוטר – since he holds that they did not make Syria like the Land of Israel. And he is not liable for Tithes in Syria other than at the time when the land belongs to an Israelite and the heathen has no portion in it.
4.7.4
ר"ג אומר שתי חלות בסוריא – In the manner that they separate two Hallot loaves outside the Land [of Israel], one is burnt because it is ritually impure with the defilement of the lands of the nations (i.e., heathens), and the second is given to the Kohen in order that the law of Hallah from an Israelite should not be forgotten.
4.7.5
ר' אליעזר אומר חלה אחת – Rabbi Eliezer according to his reasoning who said that they made Syria like the Land of Israel and its dust does not defile like the dust of the land of the heathens. Therefore, one Hallah [only] and not more than this.
4.7.6
אחזו קולו של רבן גמליאל – who exempts Syria from Tithes and Seventh-year produce.
4.7.7
וקולו של ר' אליעזר – who says that in Syria [only] one Hallah [is necessary]. And we hold hat he who acts according to the lenient opinion of this master and the lenient opinion of that master is [considered] wicked. Therefore, they retracted to act like Rabban Gamaliel in two matters – that Syria is not like the Land of Israel – either with regard to Tithes and Seventh-year produce when the heathen has a share in the land and not in regard to Hallah, and such is the Halakha.
4.8.1
שלש ארצות – are divided in the law of Hallah
4.8.2
מא"י ועד כזיב – that is to say, all of the Land of Israel until K’ziv, which is a strip that goes out from Acre to the northern side, and those who came up from Babylonia conquered it and sanctified it for a second time.
4.8.3
מפרישים חלה אחת – and it is given to the Kohen who eats it in ritual purity.
4.8.4
מכזיב ועד הנהר – to the eastern side and from K’ziv until Amanah on the western side. And it is not really the Land of Israel, since it was conquered by those who came up from Egypt but it was not conquered by those who came up from Babylonia, and the first sanctification was not sanctified for the time to come.
4.8.5
מפרישין שתי חלות – The first is burned because it is ritually impure with the defilement of the land of the heathen nations, and since those who came up from Babylonia did not capture it, the second [Hallah] is eaten, since the defilement of the first Hallah is not well-known, for it is not completely in the land of the heathens. But, if they would not separate the second Hallah which is consumed, they (i.e., people) will say that pure Terumah was burned, but when they separate the second Hallah and it is eaten, one who sees this will place upon his heart to understand the reason for the matter, or ask the Sages and they will inform him.
4.8.6
של אור יש לה שיעור – because this land was already holy. This appears like the Hallah of the Torah, therefore, he would separate according to the [appropriate] measure that they separate from a ritually impure dough, one out of twenty-four or [one] out of forty-eight.
4.8.7
ושל כהן אין לה שיעור – because this is from the words (i.e., teachings) of the Scribes/Sofrim.
4.8.8
ומן הנהר ומן אמנה ולפנים – that is to say, from the beginning of the river and inward from it, and similarly, from the beginning of Amanah and inward from it, which is actually outside the Land [of Israel], and we separate two Hallot and both of them are from the words of the Scribes.
4.8.9
אחת לאור – which is ritually impure with the impurity actually of the land of the heathens.
4.8.10
ואחת לכהן – in order that the Torah of Hallah not be forgotten when it is given to the Kohen.
4.8.11
של אור אין לה שיעור – for since both of them are from the words of the Scribes, it is better to increase with that which we give to the Kohen that is eaten and not with what is burned.
4.8.12
וטבול יום אוכלה – to the Hallah that is thrown into the fire belongs to outside the land of Israel. And the person who has bathed in the day time (but must wait for sunset to be perfectly clean – see Leviticus 22:7 and Mishnah T’vul Yom, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1), that is spoken of here is the Kohen who immersed for his nocturnal pollution, for the Hallah that is to be burnt in fire of outside the Land [of Israel] is not prohibited to him, other than to someone whose ritual impurity comes out upon him from his body, but someone who is impure in other impurities is permitted to eat it. Therefore, where outside of the Land [of Israel] there is a minor-age Kohen who had ever seen a nocturnal emission in his life, or the High Priest in years that immersed for his nocturnal emission, we separate one Hallah alone and give it to the Kohen. But if there is no minor-age Kohen, or a Kohen who immersed for a nocturnal emission , but there is a Kohen to whom a pollution happened, we separate two Hallot, one for the fire and it has no fixed measure, and one for the Kohen and it has a fixed measure, one out of forty-eight, according to the law of all dough that was defiled by accident. For the defilement of the land of the heathens is one that is unavoidable (i.e., by accident), and the Kohen eats it while a pollution happened, in order that the Torah of Hallah not be forgotten from Israel.
4.8.13
אינו צריך טבילה – And someone to whom a pollution happened is permitted [to eat] the Hallah of outside the Land of Israel. Bu the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi.
4.8.14
ואסורה לזבים ולזבות – The Rabbis stated this, for had Rabbi Yosi permitted this for those men and women afflicted with gonorrhea, in order that it would be permitted to those whom a pollution occurred.
4.8.15
ונאכלת עם הזר על השלחן – and we don’t decree that placing it on the table is on account of eating.
4.8.16
ונתנה לכל כהן – whether to a Kohen who is a Haver/who observes the Levitical laws in daily intercourse or a Kohen who is an ignoramus, such Maimonides has explained. But the approach of the Talmud does not prove this, but rather, whether [we are dealing with] a Kohen who eats his non-sacred food in ritual purity or a Kohen who does not eat his non-sacred food in ritual purity, but we do not give any gift from the gifts of the priesthood to any ignoramus , as it is written (II Chronicles 31:4): “[He ordered the people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem] to deliver the portions of the priests and Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the Teaching of the LORD.” We do not give a portion other than Kohanim who devote themselves to the Torah of God, and similar, that which is taught in the Mishnah further on (Mishnah 9), these are given to every Kohen, [but] not to a Kohen who is an ignoramus, but to every Kohen, even though he does not eat his non-sacred food in ritual purity.
4.9.1
החרמים – for the Kohanim, as it is written (Numbers 18:14): “Everything that has been proscribed in Israel (see also Leviticus 27:28) shall be yours.”
4.9.2
והבכורות – if he is unblemished, there are the holy things of the Temple, but if he is blemished, it is written (Deuteronomy 12:15): “…The unclean and the clean alike may partake of it, [as of the gazelle and the deer].”
4.9.3
ופדיון פטר חמור – you redeem it with a lamb and it has no sanctity.
4.9.4
ראשית הגז – as it is written (Deuteronomy 18:4): “You shall also give him [the first fruits of your new grain and wine and oil,] and the first shearing of your sheep.”
4.9.5
ושמן שרפה – oil from the priest’s due that was defiled.
4.9.6
וקדשי מקדש – for they did not prohibit giving to the Kohen that which he was not careful about in its ritual impurity, but rather a thing which has a prohibition of defilement in the areas outside the Temple and Jerusalem, such as Terumah/priest’s due and the tithe-of-the-tithe (which the Levite gives to the Kohen from the one-tenth that he received from an Israelite) and Hallah, but the sanctified things of the Temple and Firstlings which he brings them to the Temple Court, they did not suspect, for he would [first] purify himself.
4.9.7
ור' יהודה אוסר בבכורים – for he was suspect that perhaps he would not be careful with them, since the Divine Service is not performed with them. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
4.9.8
ר"ע מתיר – for Rabbi Akiba follows his own reasoning, as he stated in the second chapter of Maaser Sheni (Mishnah 4) that [regarding] vetches/horse-beans – anything done with them is done in a state of uncleanness.
4.9.9
וחכמים אוסרים – for they think that it is food, since is eaten in the years of famine. And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
4.10.1
מביתר – name of a place outside the Land of Israel
4.10.2
ולא קבלו ממנו – to eat them is impossible, for they were defiled in the land of the heathens, and to burn them, is impossible since their ritual impurity is unknown, lest people say that we say sacred pure produce of the priest that was burned, and to return them to their places is impossible so that people don’t say that Terumah went out from the Land of Israel to outside the Land of Israel, but rather, we leave them until the eve of Passover and burn them [as part of the Hametz that is burned].
4.10.3
וחג הקציר בכורי מעשיך – for the two loaves are called Bikkurim/First Fruits, and we permit the [consumption of the] new [grain] in the Temple.
4.11.1
העלה בכורות מבבל ולא קבלו ממנו – as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:23): “You shall consume the tithes of your new grain and wine and oil, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God….”From the place that you bring the tithes of your new grain, you bring firstlings. From outside the Land of Israel where you do not bring the tithe of new grain, you do not bring firstlings.
4.11.2
הביא בכורי יין ושמן ולא קבלו ממני – because the did not cut them from the beginning of this, for had he cut them from the beginning of this, they would have been permitted, and such is taught in the Mishnah in the last chapter of Terumot (Chapter 11, Mishnah 3): “They do not bring first fruits in the form of liquid except for that which is produced from olives and grapes.”
4.11.3
פסח קטן – The Second Passover (see Numbers, Chapter 9, verses 1-15), and his children were small (i.e., minors) and only on the First Passover are they obligated (i.e. 14 Nisan) , for everyone is obligated in appearing [before God], as it is written (Exodus 23:17): “[Three times a year] all your males shall appear [before the Sovereign, the LORD],” but not on the Second Passover.
4.11.4
מאפמיא – we read it such, and it is the name of a place in Syria.
4.11.5
כקונה בפרוורי ירושלים – the fields of Jerusalem and the villages surrounding it. It is the translation of the open space outside of a place called Parva (name of a Persian building and magian – from whom a compartment in the Temple was supposed to have been named – see Mishnah Middot, Chapter 5, Mishnah 3).

Bartenura on Mishnah, trans. by Rabbi Robert Alpert, 2020. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: http://sefaria.org/ Licence: CC-BY. Source.