3,471. A Person Who Is Suspected

Hilchos Maaser 12:16

All of the preceding halachos apply to an unlearned person who is not particularly suspected of not taking tithes but who is also not considered trustworthy in these matters. If someone is actually suspected of selling terumah as secular produce, then one may not buy from him anything that would need to be tithed – not even fish innards because of the oil that’s mixed into them. However, it’s only prohibited to buy the produce that’s being sold by that person at the time; one may buy from his warehouse because he won’t mix terumah into his inventory. This is because if such a thing should be discovered, his business would be wiped out. It is likewise prohibited to buy anything that requires tithing from someone who is suspected of selling second tithe as secular produce. All this is a rabbinically instituted penalty.

Hilchos Maaser 12:17

If someone who is suspected regarding tithes vouches for someone else’s produce, he is believed because we don’t assume that someone will lie with no potential benefit. If this applies to one who is suspect, it certainly applies to one who is merely unlearned. Therefore, if an unlearned person identifies produce as tevel, terumah, untithed or demai, he is believed, even regarding his own produce. If he says that the necessary portions have been taken from produce, he is believed regarding other people’s produce so long as it doesn’t appear that the parties are in cahoots, as has already been discussed.