Commentary for Bava Metzia 177:13

איבעיא להו פועל מהו שיהבהב באור ויאכל מי הוי כענבים ודבר אחר או לא תא שמע רשאי בעה"ב להשקות פועלים יין כדי שלא יאכלו ענבים הרבה רשאין פועלין לטבל פיתם בציר כדי שיאכלו ענבים הרבה

Another [Baraitha] taught: 'Threshing': just as threshing is peculiar in that it is a process which does not finish its work for <i>hallah</i>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. ');">¹¹</span> and the labourer may eat whilst engaged thereon; so during every process which does not finish its work in respect of <i>hallah</i>, the labourer may eat. Thus kneading, shaping [the dough] and baking are excluded; since its work is completed in respect of <i>hallah</i>, the worker may not eat whilst engaged thereon. But its work is complete in respect of tithes!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And, as stated above, that alone forbids the worker to eat; why then base the ruling upon hallah? ');">¹²</span> — There is no difficulty: the reference is to the Diaspora,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'outside the land,' sc. Palestine. ');">¹³</span> where there are no tithes. If so, <i>hallah</i> too is not practised!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though a small Portion of dough is separated and burnt even in the Diaspora, that is only symbolical; but the real law of hallah requires that a definite portion be given to the priests, and that is not practised outside Palestine. ');">¹⁴</span> — But after all, this refers to Palestine, yet there is no difficulty. For the reference is to the seven years of conquest and seven years of division.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the Baraitha treats of the fourteen years during which Palestine was conquered and allotted to the tribes by Joshua. ');">¹⁵</span> For a Master said: In the seven years of conquest and the seven of division there was a liability to <i>hallah</i>, but not to tithes. But is it the tithing that is responsible? It is the finishing of the work that is responsible!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As deduced by analogy from 'threshing'. And therefore, whether the law of tithes is in force or not, once the stage of threshing or its equivalent is reached, when there would be a liability to tithes if the law were in force, the labourer may not eat. And so the difficulty remains: why exclude kneading on the grounds of liability to hallah, seeing that threshing preceded it? ');">¹⁶</span> — But, said Rabina, combine [the two Baraithas] and read [thus]: 'Threshing': just as threshing is peculiar in that its work is not complete in respect of tithes and <i>hallah</i>, and the worker may eat whilst engaged thereon, so during everything, the work of which is not complete in respect of tithes and <i>hallah</i>, the labourer may eat.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence, if it is a process which completes the work for tithes, and there is no further stage to subject it to hallah, e.g., the separating of dates, the labourer may not eat. If, however, its final stage is liability to hallah, e.g., wheat, the last stage of which is the kneading, when it is subject to hallah, if the worker is engaged upon an earlier stage, though it is already liable to tithes, he may eat. Rashi and Tosaf. ');">¹⁷</span> The scholars propounded: Is the labourer permitted to parch [the ears of corn] at a fire and eat them? Is it the equivalent of [eating] grapes together with something else,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which is forbidden. Supra. ');">¹⁸</span> or not?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For it may be argued that since grapes may not be eaten with bread, because thereby an unreasonably large quantity is consumed, the same holds good of parched corn, which is more palatable than unparched. ');">¹⁹</span> — Come and hear: An employer may give his employees wine to drink, that they should not eat many grapes; [on the other hand,] the labourers may dip their bread in brine, that they should eat many grapes!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The moistened bread creating an appetite. So, by analogy, a labourer may parch the corn. ');">²⁰</span>

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