Ask A Question about the Daf

Previous daf

Rosh Hashanah 15

15b

QUESTION: The Gemara states that in order to know to which year the fruits of a tree belong with regard to Ma'aser and Shevi'is, we follow Chanatah, or when the fruits blossomed. Rebbi Nechemyah says that this applies only to a tree that produces fruit which is picked at different times. It is not possible to follow the Lekitah, the time of the picking of the fruit, because the fruit is picked at different times and will belong to different years. Since the Chanatah of the fruit of such trees occurs at one time, the Chachamim established the time of Chanatah as the determining factor for Ma'aser. According to Rebbi Nechemyah, we follow Lekitah (the year in which the fruit was picked), and not Chanatah, for trees that produce fruit that *is* picked all at once.

The examples that Rebbi Nechemyah gives of trees that produce fruit that is picked all at once (and therefore follow Lekitah) are olive trees (Zeisim) and carob trees (Charuvim).

How can olive trees be listed in the category of trees that follow Chanatah (according to the Rabanan) or Lekitah (according to Rebbi Nechemyah)? We learned earlier (13b) that for olive trees, we follow the time at which they grew a Shelish (a third)! As Rashi explained earlier (ibid.), since there is a Chiyuv d'Oraisa to separate Ma'aser for Zeisim, the Rabanan do not have the power to decide to choose a different time.

ANSWERS:

(a) TOSFOS (DH Kegon) says that the word "Zeisim" in our Gemara is "Lav Davka" (not perfectly accurate). Both Rebbi Nechemyah and the Rabanan would agree that the year of olives is determined by the time at which they grew a Shelish, and not by the time of Chanatah (or of Lekitah, if picked in a year other than the year in which they ripened one third).

(b) The PISKEI HA'RID also writes that Rebbi Nechemyah and the Rabanan both agree that the year of olives is determined by the time at which they grew a Shelish of their size. However, he adds that this is actually what Rebbi Nechemyah refers to as their time of Lekitah. The year of Lekitah means the year during which it grew a Shelish, after which it is *ripe enough to be picked*. (See Tosfos 13b, DH Achar, who writes that Lekitah does not mean the time when the fruit is actually picked, but rather it means Gemar Pri, the time when the fruit becomes ripe and fit to be picked.)

(b) Like Tosfos, the TOSFOS YESHANIM explains that according to the Rabanan olive trees follow Shelish and not Chanatah. However, *Rebbi Nechemyah* does indeed maintain that olive trees can follow Lekitah, at least under certain circumstances. When one picks the olives for their oil, one picks them one at a time. In such a case, we follow Shelish even according to Rebbi Nechemyah. If one picks them to eat, though, then one picks them all at once, and that is where Rebbi Nechemyah says that we follow Lekitah.

(c) The RITVA (13b) says the opposite of Tosfos. The Ritva writes that when the Gemara (13b) says that the time of Ma'aser for olive trees is when they grow a Shelish, it is Lav Davka. Rather, olive trees are like all other fruits and we follow the time of Chanatah (or Lekitah according to Rebbi Nechemyah), and not a Shelish. When the Gemara (13b) quotes a Mishnah that says explicitly that for Zeisim we follow the time of Shelish, it means that when it has grown a Shelish it is considered ripe enough to be *obligated in Ma'aseros* if one eats it, and it is not discussing the year of Ma'asros at all. With regard to which year it is considered to have grown in as far as Ma'aser or Shevi'is is concerned, it follows Chanatah (or Lekitah).