Commentary for Kiddushin 101:1

המרבה במעשר פירותיו מתוקנים ומעשרות מקולקלין ואמאי נימא כל שאינו בזה אחר זה אפי' בבת אחת אינו

If one gives excessive tithes, his produce is made fit, but his tithes are unfit.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'spoiled'. After measuring off four measures, he separated one whole measure as tithe, instead of the half (= one tenth) due. Actually. however, only half becomes tithe, while the other half remains ordinary, untithed produce (tebel) , and the two are inextricably mixed up. No man may eat tebel, not even a priest or a Levite, and hence the whole tithe is forbidden until it is made fit by a further proportionate separation.');">1 But why; let us say: That which cannot be [done] consecutively cannot be [done] simultaneously?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For if he first separates half a measure as tithe and then another half, the second is certainly not tithe. Accordingly, when he separates the whole simultaneously, none of it is tithe, on Rabbah's principle: why then is the produce fit?');">2

Daf Shevui to Kiddushin

If one gives 2/10 of one’s produce as tithe, the produce is considered tithed and may be eaten. But the tithes themselves are ruined since we do not know which part is the tithe and which part is not. But why, Abaye asks, is the second tenth considered even potentially a tithe? If I can’t first separate 1/10 and then another 1/10 both as tithes (indeed, one cannot), then when both are separated at the same time, neither of them should be tithes? This seems to refute Rabbah.

Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy

Full Chapter Next Verse