Rosh Hashanah 30

Chapter 30

א חסורי מיחסרא והכי קתני אתרוג אחר לקטתו למעשר ואחר חנטה לשביעית ורבותינו נמנו באושא אחר לקיטתו בין למעשר בין לשביעית

1 There is an omission in the statement, which should read as follows: '[Abtolmus testified that] a citron tree is determined by its plucking for purposes of tithe and by its blossoming for purposes of the Sabbatical year.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And this is the view taken by Rabbah and R. Hamnunah in respect of the law of clearance. For the purposes of tithes, however, Rabbah is of the opinion that although Abtolmus makes the plucking the decisive factor, he would nevertheless exempt from tithe a citron tree which blossomed in the sixth year and ripened in the seventh, for the reason that it is handled by everybody (Rashi) ].');">1

ב איתמר רבי יוחנן וריש לקיש אמרי תרוייהו אתרוג בת ששית שנכנסה לשביעית לעולם ששית כי אתא רבין אמר רבי יוחנן אתרוג בת ששית שנכנסה לשביעית אפילו כזית ונעשית ככר חייבין עליה משום טבל

2 Our teachers, however, took a vote in Usha and decided that it is determined by its plucking for purposes both of tithe and of Sabbatical year'.

ג ת"ר אילן שחנטו פירותיו קודם ט"ו בשבט מתעשר לשנה שעברה אחר ט"ו בשבט מתעשר לשנה הבאה אמר רבי נחמיה בד"א באילן שעושה שתי בריכות בשנה

3 It has been stated: R'Johanan and Resh Lakish both lay down that a citron tree which blossoms in the sixth year and ripens in the seventh year is always reckoned as belonging to the sixth year.2

ד שתי בריכות ס"ד אלא אימא כעין שתי בריכות

4 When Rabin came [from Palestine], he said in the name of R'Johanan: A citron which blossomed in the sixth year and ripened in the seventh, even though [at the beginning of the seventh] it was no bigger than an olive and it subsequently became as big as a loaf, can render one guilty of breaking the rule of tebel.3

ה אבל אילן העושה בריכה אחת כגון דקלים וזיתים וחרובין אע"פ שחנטו פירותיהן קודם ט"ו בשבט מתעשרין לשנה הבאה

5 Our Rabbis taught: If the fruit of a tree blossoms before the fifteenth of Shebat, it is tithed for the outg year; if after the fifteenth of Shebat, it is tithed for the incoming year.

ו אמר רבי יוחנן נהגו העם בחרובין כרבי נחמיה

6 R'Nehemiah said: This rule applies only to trees which produce two broods in a year.4

ז איתיביה ריש לקיש לרבי יוחנן בנות שוח שביעית שלהן שניה מפני שעושות לשלש השנים

7 5 do you say? - He should say, as it were two broods">.6

ח אישתיק א"ל ר' אבא הכהן לרבי יוסי הכהן אמאי אישתיק לימא ליה אמינא לך אנא רבי נחמיה ואת אמרת לי רבנן

8 Trees, however, which produce only one brood, like date trees, carob trees and olive trees, even though they blossom before the fifteenth of Shebat are tithed for the incoming year.

ט משום דא"ל שבקת רבנן ועבדת כרבי נחמיה

9 R'Johanan said: In regard to carob trees, it has become the general custom to follow the rule of R'Nehemiah.

י ולימא ליה קאמינא לך נהגו ואת אמרת לי איסורא דא"ל במקום איסורא כי נהגו שבקינן (ליה)

10 Resh Lakish sought to confute R'Johanan from the following: 'As regards wild fig-trees, their seventh year is the second year [of the Septennate] because [after blossoming] their fruit takes three years to grow'.7

יא ולימא ליה כי אמינא לך אנא מעשר חרובין דרבנן ואת אמרת לי שביעית דאורייתא

11 - He made no answer.8

יב אלא אמר רבי אבא הכהן תמיהני אם השיבה ריש לקיש לתשובה זו אם השיבה הא אותבה אלא אימא אם קיבלה רבי יוחנן אם לא קיבלה:

12 Said R'Abba the priest to R'Jose: Why did he make no answer? He could have said to him, I give the view of R'Nehemiah, and you bring against me the view of the Rabbis! - [He could not have answered him thus], because Resh Lakish could have retorted: Do you abandon the Rabbis and follow R'Nehemiah? - But he could have said to him, I speak to you of the general custom, and you speak to me of a prohibition?9 - [He could not answer thus], because he could have said to him: Where a prohibition applies, even if there is a general custom, do we allow it? - But he could have said to him: I speak to you of the tithe of carobs, which is Rabbinical, and you speak to me of the Sabbatical year, which is Pentateuchal! - The truth is, said R'Abba the priest, I wonder whether Resh Lakish put this question. Whether he put this question? But we are distinctly told that he did so! - What R'Abba should say is, whether he [R'Johanan] admitted the difficulty or not.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e. , whether his silence was due to the fact that he had no answer, or to the fact that he thought it obvious that tithe of carobs, which is Rabbinical, could not be put on the same footing as produce of the Sabbatical year which is Pentateuchal.');">10

Previous Chapter Next Chapter