Maaseros 5:5-6

Maasros 5:5

“Syria” refers to lands annexed to Israel by King David. When it comes to agricultural laws, these lands are treated more stringently than lands outside of Israel but not as stringently as Israel itself. If one buys a field of vegetables in Syria before the time to take tithes, he must tithe the produce when the time arrives. If he buys such a field after the time to take tithes, the produce need not be tithed and he may continue gathering as per usual. Rabbi Yehuda says that he may even hire workers to gather the produce. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that the rule about the field purchased before the time to take tithes requiring tithing only applies if he purchased the field in addition to the vegetables; if he did not also buy the field, then the vegetables are exempt from tithes. Rebbi says he must calculate what grew while the field was under his ownership and tithe that.

Maasros 5:6

If a person made wine from the grape remnants in the press by adding a certain volume of water, and he then discovered that the resultant wine was the same volume as the water had been (i.e., the wine is just the water, albeit flavored), it need not be tithed; Rabbi Yehuda says that it must be tithed. If the volume of the wine exceeds that of the water, he must separate tithes for that percentage from other untithed wine.