Rosh Hashanah 15

מאן שמעת ליה דאזיל בתר לקיטה רבן גמליאל וקתני שבט

The Gemara clarifies this ruling: Whom did you hear that said the tithe year of an etrog follows the time of the picking of its fruit? It was Rabban Gamliel. And yet this baraita is teaching that the new year for tithing an etrog is the fifteenth of Shevat, against the opinion of Rabba bar Rav Huna, who says that according to Rabban Gamliel it is the first of Tishrei.

אלא אי אתמר הכי אתמר אמר רבה בר רב הונא אף על גב דאמר רבן גמליאל אתרוג אחר לקיטה כירק ראש השנה שלו שבט

Rather, if this was said, it was said as follows: Rabba bar Rav Huna said: Even though Rabban Gamliel said that the tithe year of an etrog follows the time of the picking of its fruit, like a vegetable, its new year is in Shevat, like a tree.

מאי שנא התם דקתני אם היתה שניה נכנסת לשלישית ומאי שנא הכא דקתני אם היתה שלישית נכנסת לרביעית

The Gemara asks: What is different there, in the baraita with regard to one who picked vegetables on the eve of Rosh HaShana, such that it teaches the case when it was the second year of the Sabbatical cycle going into the third year, and what is different here, in the baraita dealing with one who was picking the fruit of an etrog tree on the eve of the fifteenth of Shevat, such that it teaches the case when it was the third year going into the fourth year? Why is the same example not brought in both cases?

מילתא אגב אורחיה קא משמע לן דאתרוג קשיא ליה ידא ואיידי דממשמשי ביה כולי עלמא בשביעית לא טעין פרי עד תלת שנין

The Gemara answers: It teaches us a matter in passing, that it is damaging for an etrog when the tree is handled, and since everyone handles it in the Sabbatical Year, as all the orchards are declared ownerless and everyone is permitted to enter and pick produce, the tree does not bear fruit that is fit for eating for another three years.

בעא מיניה רבי יוחנן מרבי ינאי אתרוג ראש השנה שלו אימתי אמר ליה שבט שבט דחדשים או שבט דתקופה אמר ליה דחדשים

Rabbi Yoḥanan inquired of Rabbi Yannai: With regard to an etrog, when is its new year? Rabbi Yannai said to him: It is in Shevat. Rabbi Yoḥanan asked again: Are you referring to the lunar month of Shevat or to the Shevat of the solar season, which begins thirty days after the winter solstice, but on a different date each year? Rabbi Yannai said to him: I am referring to the lunar month of Shevat.

בעא מיניה רבא מרב נחמן ואמרי לה רבי יוחנן מרבי ינאי היתה שנה מעוברת מהו אמר ליה הלך אחר רוב שנים

Rava inquired of Rav Naḥman, and some say that it was Rabbi Yoḥanan who inquired of Rabbi Yannai: If it was a leap year, what is the halakha? Does the new year for trees then move to the First Adar, which is the penultimate month in a leap year? He said to him: Follow the majority of years. Even in a leap year the new year for trees is in Shevat.

אמר רבה אתרוג בת ששית שנכנסה לשביעית פטורה מן המעשר ופטורה מן הביעור ובת שביעית שנכנסה לשמינית פטורה במעשר וחייבת בביעור

Rabba said: An etrog from the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle that entered into, and was picked in, the Sabbatical Year is exempt from tithes, like the produce of the Sabbatical Year, and is also exempt from the mitzva of elimination of Sabbatical Year produce from one’s house after produce of that particular species is no longer found in the field. A Sabbatical Year etrog that entered into, and was picked in, the eighth year is exempt from tithes but is subject to the mitzva of elimination of Sabbatical Year produce from one’s house.

אמר ליה אביי בשלמא סיפא לחומרא אלא רישא פטורה מן הביעור אמאי דאמרינן זיל בתר חנטה אי הכי תיחייב במעשר

Abaye said to him: Granted, in the latter clause the halakha follows the more stringent approach, as it follows the time of the formation of the fruit, which was in the Sabbatical Year, and therefore the etrog is subject to the mitzva of elimination. But in the first clause, which states that the etrog is exempt from the mitzva of elimination, why is this so? It must be that we say to follow the time of the formation of the fruit, which was in the sixth year. But if so, it should be subject to tithes.

אמר ליה יד הכל ממשמשין בה ואת אמרת תיחייב במעשר

Rabba said to him: Everyone’s hand is touching it, as all are permitted to enter the orchards and touch all the fruit, and so the etrog is regarded as ownerless, and yet you wish to say that it should be subject to tithes? Even if it is not exempt as fruit of the Sabbatical Year, it is exempt from tithes because it is now ownerless.

ורב המנונא אמר בת ששית שנכנסת לשביעית לעולם ששית ובת שביעית הנכנסת לשמינית לעולם שביעית

Rav Hamnuna argued and said: An etrog from the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle that entered into, and was picked in, the Sabbatical Year is always and for all purposes considered sixth-year produce. And an etrog from the Sabbatical Year that entered into, and was picked in, the eighth year is always and for all purposes considered produce of the Sabbatical Year.

מיתיבי רבי שמעון בן יהודה אומר משום רבי שמעון אתרוג בת ששית שנכנסת לשביעית פטורה מן המעשר ופטורה מן הביעור שאין לך דבר שחייב במעשר אלא אם כן גדל בחיוב ונלקט בחיוב ובת שביעית שנכנסת לשמינית פטורה מן המעשר ופטורה מן הביעור שאין לך דבר שחייב בביעור אלא אם כן גדל בשביעית ונלקט בשביעית

The Gemara raises an objection from the following baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Shimon: An etrog from the sixth year that entered into, and was picked in, the Sabbatical Year is exempt from tithes, and it is also exempt from the mitzva of elimination of Sabbatical Year produce from one’s house, as there is nothing that is subject to tithes unless it both grew at a time of obligation in tithes and was also picked at a time of obligation. Likewise, an etrog from the Sabbatical Year that entered into, and was picked in, the eighth year is exempt from tithes, and it is also exempt from the mitzva of elimination, as nothing is subject to the mitzva of elimination unless it both grew in the Sabbatical Year and was also picked in the Sabbatical Year.

רישא קשיא לרב המנונא סיפא קשיא בין לרבה בין לרב המנונא

The Gemara notes: The first clause of this baraita poses a difficulty with regard to the opinion of Rav Hamnuna, who says that a sixth-year etrog that was picked in the Sabbatical Year is subject to tithes. And the latter clause of the baraita poses a difficulty with regard to the opinions of both Rabba and Rav Hamnuna, as they both say that a Sabbatical-Year etrog that was picked in the eighth year is subject to the mitzva of elimination.

תנאי היא דתניא אמר רבי יוסי אבטולמוס העיד משום חמשה זקנים אתרוג אחר לקיטתו למעשר ורבותינו נמנו באושא ואמרו אחר לקיטתו בין למעשר בין לשביעית

The Gemara answers: The matter is a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yosei said: Avtolemos testified in the name of five Elders: An etrog follows the time of its picking in the matter of tithes. But our Sages voted in Usha and said that an etrog follows the time of its picking, both in the matter of tithes and in the matter of the Sabbatical Year.

שביעית מאן דכר שמיה

The Gemara raises a question about this baraita: Who mentioned anything about the Sabbatical Year? The subject of the discussion was tithes.

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

The Gemara answers: The baraita is incomplete and is teaching the following: Avtolemos testified in the name of five Elders: An etrog follows the time of its picking in the matter of tithes and it follows the time of the formation of its fruit in the matter of the Sabbatical Year. But our Sages voted in Usha and decided that an etrog follows the time of its picking, both in the matter of tithes and in the matter of the Sabbatical Year.

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

It was stated that the amora’im of Eretz Yisrael discussed this issue: Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both say: An etrog from the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle that entered into, and was picked in, the Sabbatical Year is always and for all purposes considered as sixth-year produce. When Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: A sixth-year etrog that entered into, and was picked in, the Sabbatical Year, although at the beginning of the Sabbatical Year it was only the size of an olive-bulk and during the Sabbatical Year it grew to the size of a loaf of bread, is considered sixth-year produce that is subject to tithing, and if one eats it without tithing, he is liable for eating untithed produce.

תנו רבנן אילן שחנטו פירותיו קודם חמשה עשר בשבט מתעשר לשנה שעברה אחר חמשה עשר בשבט מתעשר לשנה הבאה אמר רבי נחמיה במה דברים אמורים באילן שעושה שתי בריכות בשנה

The Sages taught in a baraita: A tree whose fruits were formed before the fifteenth of Shevat is tithed in accordance with the previous year, and if the fruits were formed after the fifteenth of Shevat it is tithed in accordance with the coming year. Rabbi Neḥemya said: In what case is this statement said? It is said with regard to a tree that produces two broods, two crops, in a single year.

שתי בריכות סלקא דעתך אלא אימא כעין שתי בריכות

The Gemara interrupts with a question about the wording of this baraita: Does it enter your mind to say two broods? Animals produce broods, but trees do not. Rather, say: Like two broods, i.e., two seasons’ worth of crops.

אבל אילן העושה בריכה אחת כגון דקלים וזיתים וחרובין אף על פי שחנטו פירותיהן קודם חמשה עשר בשבט מתעשרין לשנה הבאה

The baraita continues: But in the case of trees that produce only one brood of fruit, for example, palm trees, and olive trees, and carob trees, which yield fruit only once a year, although their fruit took form before the fifteenth of Shevat, they are tithed in accordance with the coming year, since they follow the time of their fruit’s picking. According to Rabbi Neḥemya, most fruit will be tithed according to the time that the fruit is picked, since only a minority of fruit trees produce two crops a year.

אמר רבי יוחנן נהגו העם בחרובין כרבי נחמיה

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The people were accustomed to act with regard to carobs in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, that their tithe year follows the time of the fruit’s picking.

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

Reish Lakish raised an objection to the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan from a mishna that teaches: In the case of white fig trees, the Sabbatical Year for them with regard to the halakhot of eating and elimination is in the second year of the Sabbatical cycle, due to the fact that their fruit grows for three years, and so the fruit that ripens in the second year of the Sabbatical cycle had already taken form in the previous Sabbatical Year. This indicates that the tithe follows the time of the formation of the fruit and not the time of picking.

אישתיק אמר ליה רבי אבא הכהן לרבי יוסי הכהן אמאי אישתיק לימא ליה אמינא לך אנא רבי נחמיה ואת אמרת לי רבנן

Rabbi Yoḥanan was silent and did not respond, as though he had no answer. Rabbi Abba the priest said to Rabbi Yosei the priest: Why was Rabbi Yoḥanan silent? He should have said to Reish Lakish as follows: I am speaking to you of the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, and you say to me the opinion of the Rabbis?

משום דאמר ליה שבקת רבנן ועבדת כרבי נחמיה

Rabbi Yosei the priest answered: He could not have made this argument, because Reish Lakish would then have said to him: Do you abandon the opinion of the Rabbis, who constitute the majority, and act in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, who express a sole dissenting opinion?

ולימא ליה קאמינא לך נהגו ואת אמרת לי איסורא דאמר ליה במקום איסורא כי נהגו שבקינן להו

Rabbi Abba the priest asked further: Rabbi Yoḥanan should have said to him: I am speaking to you only about how the people practice and that their custom follows the opinion of Rabbi Neḥemya, and you say to me that it is a prohibition? Rabbi Yosei the priest answered: He could not have said this, because Reish Lakish would then have said to him: Where there is a prohibition, even if they were accustomed to act in a particular manner, would we leave them to continue?

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

Rabbi Abba the priest asked further: Rabbi Yoḥanan should have said to Reish Lakish as follows: I am speaking to you about the tithe of carobs, which is only by rabbinic decree, as by Torah law all fruits apart from grapes and olives are exempt from tithing, and you speak to me about the Sabbatical Year, which is by Torah law? This being an irrefutable argument, the Gemara once again clarifies this matter.

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

Rather, Rabbi Abba the priest said: I wonder whether Reish Lakish actually raised this original objection to the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan, since it has such a clear refutation. The Gemara asks: Whether he asked it? But he did ask it, as is reported in the story. Rather, say: I wonder if Rabbi Yoḥanan accepted this question and was silent because he had nothing to answer, or he did not accept it but nevertheless remained silent because he thought the question was not worthy of an answer.