Bartenura on Mishnah Maasrot

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1.1.1
כלל אמרו במעשרות כל שהוא אוכל – to exclude woad/a plant producing a deep blue dye, which they call “NEEL” in Arabic and madder/a plant used in dying red which they call ALETZPUR in Arabic for these do not consume. Even though they are eaten in distress, but they are not liable for tithes.
1.1.2
ונשמר – to exclude that which is ownerless, which have no owners to guard/watch it.
1.1.3
וגידולו מן הארץ – to exclude morils/a kind of mushroom, and truffles and all of these we derive from Scripture, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:22): “You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all of the yield of your sowing,” – “all the yield”– similar to produce that he eats, - “your sowing” – that which is unique to you, excluding that which is ownerless that have no specific/special owners; “your seed” – that which you sow it and it grows, excluding morils and truffles which are not sown.
1.1.4
כל שתחלתו אוכל וסופו אוכל – such as vegetables that immediately when they grow are appropriate for food and we guard them until they grow and add food.
1.1.5
חייב קטן וגדול – for they are appropriate for food, whether for adults or minors.
1.1.6
וכל שאין תחלתו אוכל – such as kinds of fruits.
1.1.7
אינו חייב עד שיעשה אוכל – as it is written (Leviticus 27:30): “whether from the ground or fruit from the tree” until it grows and makes fruit.
1.2.1
מאימתי הפירות חייבין במעשרות – for at their beginning, they are not food and it is necessary to give a measurement for each fruit when its time arrives to be appropriate for eating.
1.2.2
שיבחינו – the beginning of their ripening is called “BOHAL”/a certain stage in the growth of the fig (intermediate between פנה / and צמל/the last stage in the growth of a fig – when its head becomes white, and an example of this is the beginning of the days of female puberty – [between childhood and full womanhood] in a woman is called “BOHAL”, and it explains in the Gemara (Talmud Niddah 47a) when their heads whiten is the beginning of their ripening.
1.2.3
האבשים (a species of inferior grapes) – a species from the kinds of bad grapes like (Isaiah 5:4): “Instead, it yielded wild grapes.”
1.2.4
משהבאישו – that they ripened so much that the pomace of kernels/shells of grapes that are inside can be seen from the outside from within the husk and a cluster that has within it one berry that reached this measurement, it is entirely joined to tithing.
1.2.5
והאוג (red berry of the Venus summachtree) – a tree whose fruits are red and they call them KORNEOLI in the foreign language.
1.2.6
והתותים (mulberries) – In Arabic it is TUT, and in the foreign language it is MORAS.
1.2.7
שימסו – when the eatable portion (core) can be mashed from under his hand and if even a single slice of pomegranate reached this measurement, it is liable for tithing.
1.2.8
משיטילו שאור – if it were to open like leaven which has in it fissures.
1.2.9
משיטילו גידים – when they begin to ripen, there appears in them a kind of red veins.
1.2.10
משיעשו מגורה – when they separate the food from the outer husk/skin, and the food would be like it is placed in store room/bin which is a storehouse.
1.2.11
מישיעשו קליפה – the lower husk nearest the food which is not made until the completion of the ripening of the fruit. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
1.3.1
משינקדו – from when they will have on them black dots, for at the completion of their ripening they begin to blacken.
1.3.2
וכל השחורים – such as the berries of myrtle and the berries of thorn-bushes.
1.3.3
האגסים – in Arabic AGGAS and in the foreign language PEARS.
1.3.4
קרוסטמלין (Crustumenian pear – red on one side) – small apples that are similar to gall-nut that they call a species of oak from which the gall-nut are collected.
1.3.5
פרישין (name of a fruit/quince) – is called KONDUNISH in the foreign tongue and in Arabic SPERGEL.
1.3.6
עוזרדין (medlar/crabapple/sorb-apple) – in Arabic ZAROD and in the foreign tongue SURBASH.
1.3.7
משיקריחו – these fruits in their small size are covered with thin hairs, like a sort of down/feathers, and when they begin to ripen , they gradually become bald/smooth and at the completion of their ripening , everything falls out.
1.3.8
תלתן משיצמח (fenugree)-when it will be completed in its ripening until that if they would seed it, it would grow, and a sign to know when it reached to this measurement is when one places it into the water and every single berry that most of it sinks into the water, it is with the knowledge that if one sews it, it will grow, and we expound upon it as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:22): “You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all the yield of your sowing,” something that is sown and grows.
1.3.9
משיכניסו שליש – when they have grown one-third from what they will eventually grow; alternatively, when one comes to store away and to press them out, one removes from them now one-third from what they will produce when they ripen well.
1.4.1
ובירק הקשואים והאבטיחים - that is to say that these four species of vegetation which are cucumbers, melons, gourds and squash/cucumber-melon. But with the fruits of the tree, apples and citrons are obligated/liable [for tithing] whether large or small because they are food at their beginning and at the end, and they are consumed whether they are big or small.
1.4.2
רבי שמעון פוטר את ה אתרוגי בקטנן- because he holds that they are not consumed when small, and they are not food at their beginning, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Shimon.
1.4.3
שקדים המרים – are eaten when they are small, but are not eaten when they are large. But the opposite is the case with sweet almonds.
1.5.1
איזהו גרנן למעשרות (what is their harvesting time for making them liable for tithes) – when are the fruits appointed for tithing and it is forbidden to eat of them as an incidental meal like the grain in the threshing floor for even though the produce arrived at the season of tithing, it is still permitted to eat from them an incidental meal until it would be their harvesting time.
1.5.2
משיפקסו – as soon as their blossoms are removed and this is the hair that grows on them when they are small and when they ripen sufficiently, it falls out.
1.5.3
משיעמיד ערימה – when he makes of them a heap/pile.
1.5.4
משישלק (as soon as the gardener trims them) – trimming for a melon is like blossoms falling out for gourds.
1.5.5
מוקצה (until the melon is stored away) – because we don’t make piles from the melons, but rather spread them out and the place where we spread out the fruit is called a storage.
1.5.6
ירק הנאגד (vegetables put up in bunches when they are tied) – for it is the manner to sell it in bunches.
1.5.7
ואם אינו ממלא את הכלי – such as the case when he wants to fill two or three utensils, he eats an incidental meal from each one until he fills up the concluding one.
1.5.8
כלכלה (basket containing chosen fruits designated for use) – He who harvests/gathers vegetables into the basket containing chosen fruits, which is a basket.
1.5.9
עד שיחפה – the vegetation with the long and thin foliage of a palm-branch spreading from the stem or with leaves that are used to cover it.
1.5.10
בד"א – that this is their harvesting time for making them liable for tithes.
1.5.11
במוליך לשוק – to sell [in the marketplace] for it was not dependent upon his intention lest he find buyers and the produce will be subject to sacred gifts being set aside (and as such forbidden to be consumed until such time), that the sale will establish it for tithing.
1.5.12
אבל במוליך לביתו אוכל עראי עד שמגיע לביתו – since the matter was dependent upon his intention and the produce would not be subject to sacred gifts being set aside until he arrives home for the eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts are not liable for tithing until he sees the house, as it is written (Deuteronomy 26:13): “I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; [and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me.”
1.6.1
הפרד (dried pomegranates) – it was the practice to spread/separate the pomegranates and to dry them and those dried berries are called פרד/split and dried pomegranates on account that we separate them in order that the [(heat of the) sun] can enter into from every side.
1.6.2
משיפקל (to strip them) – like to peel/husk them, that is to say when he removes from upon them the bad husks.
1.6.3
משימרח – after we clean the grain from its chaff, we collect/heap them in one place in the threshing floor/granary and beautify the face of the pile and we divide it and it is called giving the pile of grain an even shape.
1.6.4
משיכבור – for it was the practice to uproot the peas with the dust, one must sift them in a basket used as a sieve/a large round vessel.
1.6.6
מן הצדדים – the sides of the pile that were not shaped into an even pile.
1.6.7
וממה שמתוך התבן – that was not winnowed from the chaff.
1.7.1
משיקפה (from when he skims) – when he will remove the shells of grapes (i.e., the exterior) and the pomace of grapes (i.e., the interior) that cause the wine to rise in the wine pit at the time of its foaming.
1.7.2
מן הגת העליונה – for it still had not gone down into the pit.
1.7.3
ומן הצינור (and from the duct/water-pipe) – that is made at the mouth of the vat used for wine-pressing, and the wine splashes from the duct to the pit, but the wine that is in the vat used for wine pressing or in the duct are not completed in its work.
1.7.4
לעוקה (trough) – an indentation/hole that is before the building containing the tank and all implements for pressing olives, that the oil goes down into it.
1.7.5
עקל (a bale of loose texture containing the olive pulp to be pressed) – a utensil made from ropes that collects the olives into it when they sweep the beam on them.
1.7.6
ממל (crushing tool/press-beam) – the upper millstone that crushes the olives with it.
1.7.7
מבין הפצים (oil from between the boards of the press) - - oil that comes out between the boards.
1.7.8
המיטה- a thin cake that and when they remove it from the oven, they customarily smooth its face with oil and it comes to tell us that it is not considered as cooked, for the fire establishes it for [its liability for] tithing and it is prohibited to eat an incidental meal from all the grain and fruit and vegetables that had been cooked by fire, but this is not considered cooking
1.7.9
וכן לתמחוי (a plate for various dishes) – it is a secondary utensil and it doesn’t cook.
1.7.10
אבל לא יתן – oil for the boiling pot or the tightly covered stew-pot when they are foaming/growing hot, even though that he removed them from the flame and would eat an incidental meal, for all the while that when the hand is put into them it is immediately withdrawn (feeling the scald), it is considered like cooking and establishes it [as liable] for tithing.
1.7.11
לכל הוא נותן – for all the boiling pots that are boiling or the tightly covered stew-pots that are bubbling, he places [his hand] after he has removed them from the fire, it does not establish it [as liable] for tithing.
1.7.12
חוץ מדבר שיש בו חומץ וציר – for the sharpness of the vinegar and juice aids in cooking. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
1.8.1
העגול של דבילה – it was customary to smoothen its face with liquids and that is the completion of work [to make it liable] for tithing.
1.8.2
בתאנים ובענבים של טבל - with liquids that come out from the figs and grapes of eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda in the entire Mishnah.
1.8.4
המחליק בענבים – he rubs the grapes on the cake of pressed figs.
1.8.5
לא הוכשר – the cake [is not fit for Levitical uncleanness] to become susceptible to ritual uncleanness and that which comes forth from the grapes is not considered liquid, but the first Tanna/teacher and Rabbi Yehuda dispute regarding liquid that stands to become clear whether it is considered a liquid or not.
1.8.6
משידוש – we dry the figs and afterwards thresh them with staffs into the arched, pouched vessel/jug or press it with hands into the store-house, and threshing the jug and making the molds for pressed cakes of figs in the store-room is the completion of labor [to make it liable for tithing].
1.8.7
לא יאכל מהן עראי – for he holds that the upper layer does not need the lower layer, and the lower layer does not need the upper layer and their work had already been completed. But Rabbi Yosi holds that each still needs the other and their work was not completed. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi.
2.1.1
היה עובר בשוק – an illiterate who is suspected of [not removing] tithes.
2.1.2
אוכלין ופטורים – a devoted object/sacrifice which is offered on the Altar that did not see the presence of the Temple and were not appointed for Tithes, and even though a sale establishes it for tithes, this gift he gives to them and the gift does not establish it.
2.1.3
מתקנים ודאי (that undoubtedly requires the separation of tithes – to make things legally fit for use) – for the giver did not tithe for he held that they would eat it in the marketplace and would not require tithing, but since they brought them into the house, they were appointed [for tithing], and specifically when he gave them a little bit that was appropriate to eat it in the marketplace. But, if he gave them a large portion or that the recipient was a person who did not have the practice of eating in the marketplace, or that the thing that he was given is not consumed like it is, in all of these, it is like he said [to them]: “bring them into your homes,” and it is forbidden to eat from them an incidental meal, for it is not explicitly stated, it was already established for tithing.
2.1.4
אין מתקנים אלא דמאי – and he would give the heave-offering/Terumah and tithes to the Kohen, but First Tithe and the Poor [Tithe] he would take for himself.
2.2.1
ואמר טלו לכם תאנים – the owner of the gate or the owner of the store said so (to take figs for themselves).
2.2.2
ובעל השער ובעל החנות חייבין – for the house of a person makes obligatory the setting aside of tithes and not to others.
2.2.3
ורבי יהודה פוטר – because a person is embarrassed to eat at the gate or in the store, but the courtyard establishes [liability] for tithing, for a person is not embarrassed to eat in it.
2.2.4
עד שיחזיר פניו – in the place where he sits and sells, he is embarrassed to eat without turning his face, but in a place that he doesn’t sit and sell, he is not embarrassed [to eat] and we hold that a place where he is embarrassed, he is exempt [from tithing] and a place where he is not embarrassed, he is obligated [to tithe] but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
2.3.1
המעלה פירות מן מגליל – he harvested fruit/produce In the Galilee in order to sell them in Judea and they were not established for tithing, even if he lodged along the way until he would arrive in Judea for it was his intention to sell them there.
2.3.2
וכן בחזרה – if prior to his arrival in Judea, he changed his mind to return them to the Galilee, he consumes from them an incidental meal on the road until he would arrive in the Galilee.
2.3.3
עד שהוא מגיע למקום השביתה – to the place where he wants to rest there on the Sabbath, and immediately upon his arrival there, his produce/fruit became established for tithing, even though Shabbat had not yet arrived, but the Halakha Is not according to Rabbi Meir.
2.3.4
והרוכלין המחזרין בעיירות – to sell spices and women’s anointing [perfumes] and he brings with him produce/fruit, they consume from them an incidental meal until they arrive at the place of lodging and when they arrive there, the produce has been established for tithing.
2.3.5
ר' יהודה אומר בית ראשון – [the first house] that is in the city where he is lodging there, establishes for tithing, and even if he dodges in the other portion of the city, because a person wants to empty/remove his utensils at the first house that he approaches in order to lodge there, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
2.4.1
עד שלא נגמרה מלאכתן – their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived, each and every fruit, according to what is explained above (chapter 1 of Tractate Maaserot, Mishnayot 2-7).
2.4.2
ר' אליעזר אוסר לאכול מהן עראי – until he separates all of their tithes of Terumah/heave-offering, making obligatory the setting aside of tithes.
2.4.3
וחכמים מתירים – as they hold that the heave-offering/Terumah does not make obligatory the setting aside of tithes unless he made the heave-offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.
2.4.4
כלכלת תאנים שתרמה – if their harvesting time for making them liable to tithes had not arrived.
2.4.5
ר' שמעון מתיר – even if he separated the heave offering from the basket containing chosen fruits designated for use.
2.4.6
וחכמים אומרים – and the Halakha is according to the Sages, that the heave-offering establishes the obligation to tithe, for when he made the heave-offering/Terumah from the basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use. But after he separated the heave-offering, it is forbidden to eat an incidental meal from that basket containing the chosen fruits designated for use until he separates all of the tithes.
2.5.1
עד שיעשר – for the sale makes it obligatory for the setting aside of tithes.
2.5.2
ואם צירף – if the owner of the garden took two at once, and gave it to him, he is liable [to tithe], but at the time when the purchaser harvests and ate, Rabbi Meir admits that he eats one at a time.
2.5.3
אמר רבי יהודה עשה בגנת ורדין וכו' – and there, the owner of the garden was harvesting, for they would not permit a person to enter there because of the roses but even though that the heave-offerings and tithes were not ever separated out, and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.
2.6.1
שאבור – that I will select and choose.
2.6.2
בורר ואוכל – he detaches one by one and eats, but if he didn’t detach and combined two of them, he is liable [for tithing].
2.6.3
מגרגר – he harvests each berry and eats them.
2.6.4
פורט – while the pomegranate is attached [to the ground], he splits it into segments/singles them out and eats berry after berry.
2.6.5
ובאבטיח סופת ואוכל – that is to say, he cuts small slices and eats [them].
2.7.1
לקצות בתאנים – to make a fig-harvest (by cutting and packing figs). There are those who interpret to spread them out to dry and there are those interpret to cut them with a tool to cut fig-cakes (i.e., a knife or a saw) for they regularly cut the figs.
2.7.2
ואמר לו ע"מ שאוכל תאנים – but there was no need for this condition for without that , he eats according to the law of the Torah, as it is written (Deuteronomy 23:25): “When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes [as you want, until you are full, but you must not put any in your vessel].” But the Biblical verse speaks about the worker, therefore, it is not like a purchase and it doesn’t establish [for requiring] tithing.
2.7.3
ע"מ שאוכל אני ובני – the eating of my children is a purchase and establishes [requiring] tithing.
2.7.4
ולאחר הקציעה – for his work was already complete, he does not eat according to the law of the Torah, but he comes to eat on the strength of the condition and it is like a purchase.
2.7.5
האוכל מן התורה פטור – And in the chapter (Chapter 7 of Tractate Bava Metzia, Mishnah 2), “He who hires workers” [87a-b], it explains: Which are those who eat from the law of the Torah? He who works on that which is attached to the ground at the time when the work is completed and [that which is] detached [from the ground] until the work has not yet been completed.
2.8.1
בלבסים – a kind from the species of bad figs (Lesbians/early figs).
2.8.2
בבנות שבע – a kind of white and good fig.

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