Siman - Chagigah Daf 25
- Why those in the Galil do not bring kodesh wine or oil to the Beis HaMikdash
The Mishnah on Daf 24b, which deals with chumros of terumah over kodesh, begins: חומר בתרומה שביהודה נאמנין על טהרת יין ושמן כל ימות השנה – A stringency of terumah, is that in Yehudah, the amei ha’aretz are trusted regarding the taharah of kodesh wine and oil throughout the year, ובשעת הגיתות והבדים אף על התרומה – and during the wine-pressing season and olive-pressing season, they are also believed regarding the taharah of terumah. The Gemara on this Daf notes that they are believed in Yehudah, but not in the Galil, and asks what the reason is for the distinction. Reish Lakish said: מפני שרצועה של כותים מפסקת ביניהן – because a strip of Kusi land separates between Yehudah and Galil. Rashi explains that the people in the Galil would not be able to bring their wine and oil to the Beis Hamikdash that is in Yehudah, for the Rabbanon were gozeir on ארץ העמים – the land of the nations, that it imparts tumah to foods that are transported through it. This is because the nochrim did not always mark their graves, which were then liable to be plowed over, resulting in strewn bone fragments .
- What if a Kohen improperly accepted the terumah before the pressing season?
The Mishnah had taught that amei ha’aretz are believed about the taharah of terumah during the wine-pressing season and oil-pressing season. This is because during these times amei ha’aretz are careful to purify their keilim and themselves, to ensure the taharah of the new terumah. If the seasons have passed, the Kohen chaver is not permitted to accept a barrel of terumah wine or oil from them. However, the am ha’aretz may set it aside until the next season, and then give it to the Kohen then. Rav Sheishess was asked: עבר וקיבלה מהו שיניחנה לגת הבאה – If the Kohen accepted it from them, what is the din if the Kohen set it aside for the next pressing season? He answered that it was taught in a Mishnah in Demai that if a chaver and am ha’aretz inherited from their father who was an am ha’aretz, when it comes to splitting his possessions the chaver cannot say טול אתה לח ואני יבש – “You take the liquids (which are susceptible to tumah) and I’ll take the dry foods (which he knows have not become susceptible to tumah). And a Baraisa taught regarding this, that if there is terumah included, the chaver burns the liquid terumah and leaves the dry terumah. Rav Sheishess concluded that we see from here that the chaver is not permitted to leave it aside until the next pressing season. The Gemara rejects this proof, since perhaps the food has no pressing season, such as date-beer, and cannot keep until a chag.
- Checking a beis hapras in order to bring a pesach or terumah
The Gemara brings a Mishnah in Ohalos that states that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel agree that we check a beis hapras for bone chips for people on their way to offer the pesach, but we do not check it for those on their way to eat terumah. The Gemara explains that for those on their way to bring a pesach, לא העמידו דבריהן במקום כרת – the Rabbanon did not establish their decree in the case of a mitzvah that is punishable with kares. But for those on their way to eat terumah, they did maintain their decree where there is a concern of מיתה בידי שמים – death by heaven. Rashi explains that in the case of terumah, since there is no fixed time for it to be eaten, the person can wait seven days, and do haza’ah on the third and seventh day. The Gemara asked, if one checked the beis hapras in order to bring his pesach, may he then eat his terumah based on this checking, and answers that just as in our Mishnah we learned that if an am ha’aretz told a chaver that he separated a quarter-log of oil as kodesh, he is trusted regarding the taharah of all the oil in the barrel, so too here, since he is trusted regarding the pesach, he is trusted also regarding the terumah.
