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Mishnah-Tosefta Demai Chapter Seven

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Mishnah-Tosefta Demai Chapter Seven MISHNAH-TOSEFTA DEMAI CHAPTER SEVEN The final chapter of our tractate carries forward Chapter Five's inter­ est in the details of the tithing procedure. We again deal with the two topics of that chapter, the proper formula to be recited when tithing, and the prohibition against separating tithes for produce that has not yet been tithed from produce that has been tithed. With regard to the first topic, we now are interested in the various formulae to be recited for conditionally designating tithes from dema'i or untithed produce, whether solid or liquid, when present circumstances prevent us from separating the tithes immediately, before eating the produce. The first unit of our chapter, M. 7: 1-5, gives us a series of stereotype formulae, each of which applies to a particular category of produce: a single item of produce that is dema'i (7:1); liquid that is dema'i (7:2); a group of dis­ crete, homogeneous items (such as figs) that are dema'i (7:3); liquid that is fully untithed (7:4); a group of discrete, homogenous items that are fully untithed, or dema'i (7:5). 1 Chapter Five's second theme, the prohibition against separating tithes for produce that is liable to tithing from produce that is exempt, now generates the rulings of three formally discrete pericopae which con­ clude Chapter Seven and the tractate as a whole (M. 7:6, 7, 8). 7:6, in its present setting, serves as a transition. It incorporates both the topic of 7:1-5 and the principle behind 7:7 and 8. The pericope gives us the formula to be recited when designating tithes from one item of produce for another, and distinguishes between proper and improper formulae for designating tithes for each of two items from the other. A formula is improper if it perforce causes us to separate tithes for produce that is liable to tithing from produce that is exempt. 7:7 details the procedure for separating terumah of the tithe from a mixture of tithed and untithed produce, or of first tithe and untithed produce. That procedure is made complicated by the need to avoid separating 1 M. 7:3 and 7:5 do not repeat the same formula, since 7:3, unlike the other mate­ rials in the unit, deals with a case in which we do separate tithes immediately and then eat the produce. See the explanation offered below, ad Joe. MISHNAH-TOSEFI'A DEMAI CHAPTER SEVEN 1059 tithe for the untithed produce from that portion of the mixture which already has been tithed. Finally, 7:8, a didactic exercise, tells us how to separate terumah of the tithe from a group of wine-jugs arranged in rows when first tithe has been designated as a particular row, but we do not know which row it is. The problem is similar to that of the previous pericope (mixtures), only now we know that the tithe is local­ ized in a particular place. Only one pericope in our chapter contains attributed materials. 7:3 assigns the same lemma to both Simeon b. Gamaliel and Y ose. A different rationale clause is associated with each name. T. 8:7 attrib­ utes M. 7:4 to Meir, who is opposed there by Judah, Yose, and Simeon. T. to our chapter begins with a series of citations and glosses of M. 7: l-5, following the exact order of M. After this comes a bloc of mate­ rials tangentially related to M. M. 7:6 and 7:7 also are glossed by T. Then T.'s materials conclude with a further group of items broadly related to M.'s themes. All attributed lemmae are assigned to Ushans. Judah glosses M. 7:1 (T. 8:5). Yose's lemma atM. 7:3 is expanded at T. 8:6. The stereotype phrase, tn'y byt dyn hw', attributed there (and elsewhere in M.-T.) to Yose recurs in his name at T. 8:12. The now­ familiar attributive pattern of Meir vs. Judah, Y ose, and Simeon recurs at T. 8:7, as we already have indicated. 7:1-5 A He who invites his friend to eat with him [on the Sabbath], B. and the [the friend] does not trust him [the host] in the matter of tithing- C. he [the friend] says [stipulates] on the eve of the Sabbath [that is, before the Sabbath begins], D. "That which I shall separate tomorrow [one hundredth part of the whole], E. "behold, it is [ made first] tithe, F. "and the remainder of the [first] tithe is adjacent to it. G. "That which I have made [first] tithe is [now] made terumah of the tithe for it [that is, for the remainder of the first tithe, nine hun­ dredths of the whole, adjacent to the specified hundredth part], H. "and second tithe is to the north of it, or to the south of it [of the designated remainder of the first tithe], and is redeemed with coins." M. 7:1 (cf. y. 4:1) I. They mixed for him a cup [of wine]­ ]. he says, K. "That which I shall leave at the bottom of the cup, L. "behold, it is [ made first] tithe, M. "and the remainder of the [first] tithe is adjacent to it. .
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