משנה: אֶתְרוֹג שָׁוֶה לָאִילָן בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה דְרָכִים וְלַיָּרָק בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶחָד. שָׁוֶה לָאִילָן בָּעָרְלָה וּבָֽרְבָעִי וּבַשְּׁבִיעִית. וְלַיָּרָק שֶׁבִּשְׁעַת לְקִיטָתוֹ אִישּׂוּרוֹ דִּבְרֵי רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל. רִבִּי לִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר שָׁוֶה לָאִילָן בְּכָל־דָּבָר. MISHNAH: A citron130The fruit of the tree Citrus medica var. cedrata. In Mishnah Ma‘serot 1:4 (Note 86), citron is enumerated among vegetables, showing that the position of Rabban Gamliel is accepted as practice. The problem is that the fruit may stay on the tree for several years; therefore, the time of the budding of the fruit should not determine its status as required for fruits of a tree, whether it is subject to second tithe (in years 1,2,4,5 of the Sabbatical cycle) or to tithe of the poor (in years 3,6). R. Eliezer requires the owner of the orchard to collect fruits from different years in separate batches. The Mishnah is also discussed in Kiddushin.2b">Babli Qiddušin 2b, Sukkah.29b">Sukkah 29b, Roš Haššanah 14b. follows the rules of trees in three aspects and those of vegetables in one. It follows the rules of trees in ‘orlah, the fourth year, and the Sabbatical, and those for vegetables in that the moment it is harvested determines its tithe, the words of Rabban Gamliel. Rebbi Eliezer says, it follows the rules of trees in all respects.
הלכה: אִם לָאִילָן לָמָּה לַיָּרָק. אִם לַיָּרָק לָמָּה לָאִילָן. תַּמָּן אָֽמְרִין נִכְנַס מִשִּׁשִּׁית לַשְּׁבִיעִית הֲרֵי הוּא לַבְּעָלִין כְּאִילָן וּפָטוּר מִמַּעְשְׂרוֹת כְּיָרָק. אָמַר לוֹן רַב הַמְנוּנָא. אָֽמְרִין דְּבַתְרָהּ. נִכְנַס מִשְּׁבִיעִית לַשְּׁמִינִית הֲרֵי הֶבְקֵר כְּאִילָן. וְחַייָב בְּמַעְשְׂרוֹת כְּיָרָק. וְהֶבְקֵר חַייָב בְּמַעְשְׂרוֹת. HALAKHAH: If a tree why a vegetable, if a vegetable, why a tree? There131In Babylonia, they read the Mishnah as permitting two contradictory leniencies., they say that if it grows from the sixth [year] into the Sabbatical [year] it belongs to the owners as if from a tree and is free from tithes as if a vegetable. Rav Hamnuna told them, look at the following [year]! If it grows from the Sabbatical to the eighth year, it should be ownerless as if from a tree and subject to tithes as if a vegetable. Is anything ownerless subject to tithes132Cf. Peah 1:4. Since in this case one of the leniencies becomes an impossible stringency, the original statement cannot be true.?
אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן בִּשְׁאָר שְׁנֵי שָׁבוּעַ אַתְּ מְהַלֵּךְ בּוֹ כְּיָרָק. וּבַשְּׁבִיעִית אַתְּ מְהַלֵּךְ בּוֹ כְּאִילָן. הֵיךְ עֲבִידָא. מֵחֲמִישִּׁית לְשִׁשִּׁית שִׁשִּׁית. מִשִּׁשִּׁית לַשְּׁבִיעִית שִׁשִּׁית. נִכְנַס מֵחֲמִישִּׁית לַשִּׁשִּׁית לַשְּׁבִיעִית. לְקָטָן בַּשְּׁבִיעִית שִׁשִּׁית. לְקָטָן מֵשִׁשִּׁית חֲמִישִּׁית. נִכְנַס מִשִּׁשִּׁית לַשְּׁבִיעִית לַשְּׁמִינִית. לְקָטוֹ בַּשְּׁמִינִית שְּׁמִינִית. רַבּוֹתֵינוּ חָֽזְרוּ וְנִמְנוּ אֶתְרוֹג בִּשְׁעַת לְקִיטָתוֹ עִיישּׂוּרוֹ לְמַעְשְׂרוֹת וְלַשְּׁבִיעִית. Rebbi Joḥanan said, in the remaining years of the Sabbatical cycle you treat it as a vegetable but in the Sabbatical as a tree. How is that? From the fifth to the sixth, sixth. From the sixth to the Sabbatical, sixth. If it stayed from the fifth to the sixth to the Sabbatical, if he harvested it in the Sabbatical [it is tithed for the] sixth; if he harvested it in the sixth [it is tithed for the] fifth. If it stayed from the sixth to the Sabbatical to the eighth, if he harvested it in the eighth [it is tithed for the] eighth. “Our teachers took the problem up a second time and voted that for a citron the moment it is harvested determines its tithe and Sabbatical status.133According to the version of the Tosephta (Ševi‘it 4:21) quoted in the Babli (Roš Haššanah 10a, Sukkah.40a">Sukkah 40a) this happened at Usha in Galilee where the Synhedrion was reconstituted after the end of the persecutions following the war of Bar Kokhba. The same sources note that this rule was propagated in Babylonia by Rav Hamnuna.”
רִבִּי יִרְמְיָה רִבִּי אִימִּי בְשֵׁם רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן. רִבִּי סִימוֹן בְּשֵׁם רִבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי. הַכֹּל מוֹדִין שֶׁרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה שֶׁלֹּוֹ בְּט̇וֹ בִּשְׁבָט. רִבִּי יוֹחָנָן שָׁאַל לְרִבִּי יוֹנָתָן. כְּסִדְרָן שֶׁלְּשָׁנִים אוֹ כְסִדְרָן שֶׁלִּתְקוּפוֹת. אָמַר לֵיהּ כְּסִדְרָן שֶׁלְּשָׁנִים וַאֲפִילוּ שָׁנָה מְעוּבֶּרֶת. Rebbi Jeremiah, Rebbi Ammi, in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan. Rebbi Simon in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: Everybody agrees that its New Year is the 15th of Šebaṭ134One cannot tithe the produce of one year for that of a different year. Even though the moment of its harvest determines its status for tithes, the year does not start on the first of Tishre as for vegetables but on the 15th of S̄ebaṭ as for trees (according to the House of Shammai, the 1st of Šebaṭ); cf. Rosh Hashanah 1:1:1-16" href="/Jerusalem_Talmud_Rosh_Hashanah.1.1.1-16">Mishnah Roš Haššanah 1:1.. Rebbi Joḥanan asked Rebbi Jonathan: According to years or according to seasons135Since the lunar year may deviate from the solar seasons by close to thirty days, does “the 15th of S̄ebaṭ” mean just what it says or is it a stand-in for “32 days after the winter solstice” which was its average position relative to the Julianic year in talmudic times?? He said to him, according to years and even in an intercalary year136When the 15th of S̄ebaṭ is approximately 25 days after the winter solstice..
מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרִבִּי עֲקִיבָה שֶׁלָּקַט אֶתְרוֹג וְנָהַג עָלָיו חוּמְרֵי בֵית שַׁמַּי וְחוּמְרֵי בֵית הִלֵּל. לָמָּה לִי [אֶתְרוֹג] אֲפִילוּ שְׁאָר כָּל־הָאִילָן. תַּנֵּי כְּחוּמְרֵי רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וּכְחוּמְרֵי רִבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר. וְרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְרִבִּי לִיעֶזֶר לֹא מִן בֵּית הִלֵּל אִינּוּן הֲווֹ. אָמַר רִבִּי יוֹסֵי בֵּי רִבִּי בּוּן. תִּיפְתָּר בְּשֶׁחָנַט קוֹדֶם לְט̇וֹ בִּשְׁבָט שֶׁלַּשְּׁנִייָה וְנִכְנְסָה שְׁלִישִׁית. עַל דַּעְתֵּיהּ דְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל עִישּׂוּרוֹ עָנִי. עַל דַּעְתֵּיהּ דְּרִבִּי לִיעֶזֶר עִישּׂוּרוֹ שֵׁינִי. מַה עָשָׂה לוֹ. קָרָא שֵׁם לְמַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁינִי שֶׁבּוֹ וּפְדָייוֹ וְנוֹתְנוֹ לֶעָנִי. 137Almost the same text is in Roš Haššanah 1:1, fol. 57a.“It happened that Rebbi Aqiba picked a citron and observed for it the stringencies of the House of Shammai and those of the House of Hillel.138Tosephta Ševi‘it 4:21; quoted in Babli Roš Haššanah 14a, Eruvin.7a">Erubin 7a, Yevamot.15a">Yebamot 15a. In these sources, the citron was taken on the 1st of Šebaṭ.” Why about a citron139Word missing here, supplied from the text in Roš Haššanah. and not about any tree? It was stated140In the Tosephta this is the tradition of R. Yose ben R. Jehudah. He will not read “on the first of Šebaṭ.” “the stringencies of Rabban Gamliel and those of Rebbi Eliezer.” But are Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Eliezer not from the House of Hillel141After the destruction of the Temple, the authorities who developed rabbinic Judaism were all students of Rabban Joḥanan ben Zakkai of the House of Hillel, irrespective of their prior affiliations. The wholehearted support both of Rabban Gamliel and of R. Eliezer for the doctrines of the former House of Hillel is doubtful. The Roš Haššanah text: “Do not Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Eliezer refer to the House of Hillel?” makes better sense.? Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, explain it that it budded before the 15th of Šebaṭ of the second year and the third year came. In the opinion of Rabban Gamliel it is subject to tithe of the poor142The tithe of the third year of the Sabbatical cycle. The statement “it budded before the 15th of Šebaṭ” seems to be irrelevant here.; in the opinion of Rebbi Eliezer it is subject to second tithe. How did he handle this? He gave a name to the second tithe in it, redeemed it, and gave it to the poor.