Question (R. Yosi): (Continuing from the previous statement, that there are Kusi cities that refrain from tithing) If so, Kohanim in those places shouldn't need to be careful from making their Challah impure, but we see that the Rabbis are careful?

Answer (R. Yehuda ben Pazi): The reason that these places are exempt from Maaser is not because they are in Chutz LaAretz; rather it's because the land that they own isn't completely theirs as the king still has rights over it.

R. Yosi (a Kohen) heard that his mother was coming to Botzrah (which was in Chutz LaAretz in the Transjordan). He asked R. Yochanan if he was permitted to go there to greet her. R. Yochanan said, "If your intention is to go there to protect her from the dangerous roads, you may go. If it's in her honor, I don't know if it's permitted.

R. Yosi continued to question R. Yochanan until he told him, "If you've decided that you can go, come in peace!

(R. Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak): We still need R. Yochanan's input. (Don't assume that he permits it.) R. Yochanan was still unsure and that's why he replied in an unclear way (that if you've decided to go, come in peace).

R. Eliezer heard it but said that there was no greater permission given than the way R. Yochanan spoke.

Question (R. Shimon ben Lakish to R. Chanina): If one buys land in Amon and Moav, what's the law?

Answer (R. Chanina): I only heard from R. Chiya the Great that from Parshas Ashkelon and beyond is Chutz LaAretz.

Question: R. Shimon ben Lakish asked him about Amon and Moav in the east and R. Chanina answered him about Ashkelon in the south?!

Answer: Since R. Chanina would only relate things that he heard from his Rav, (he couldn't answer about Amon and Moav) but since he didn't want to turn him away emptyhanded, he answered about a different case.

R. Shimon ben Lakish went to Botzrah (in Moav) and the townspeople came and told him, "Find us a Rav that can speak, act as a Dayan, act as a Sofer and service all of our needs''

R. Shimon recognized a certain Rabbi from Bavel who was suited to this. He told him, "I see that there's a place that is good for you (to provide you with a livelihood)''. The person went to ask R. Yochanan if he should take the job. R. Yochanan said, "What's the problem for you to go to Botzrah (in Chutz LaAretz) - you anyway live in Bavel?!''

(R. Yaakov bar Abba): This statement of R. Yochanan shows that one who buys land in Botzrah is not obligated to tithe.

Rebuttal: Tzur may be visited by Kohanim but one who buys there is exempt from a Torah obligation to tithe! (However, he is Rabbinically obligated; so it could be that Botzrah is also Rabbinically obligated.)

R. Yaakov bar Abba discovered a Baraisa that says that a way to remember the laws of Amon, Moav and Eretz Mitzrayim in Sheviis is - there are two lands - in one (Mitzrayim) - its fruits may be eaten (even after the time of Biur) and the land may be worked; and in the other (Amon and Moav) - their fruits may be eaten but they may not be worked.

R. Shimon ben Lakish thought that Botzrah is the same place as "Betzer in the Midbar'' (in Devarim 4:43 - which was one of the cities of refuge in the eastern Transjordan and was obligated in Terumos and Ma'asros). He asked R. Yochanan who told him that this wasn't correct.

R. Yitzchak bar Nachman related that R. Shimon ben Lakish asked R. Chanina - One who buys from Amon and Moav, do the laws of Sheviis apply to it? (See above (b), R. Chanina didn't give an answer to this question).

(R. Zeira): I asked this question to R. Yasa - Weren't Amon and Moav conquered by Moshe (in which case they are Eretz Yisrael)?

(R. Mana): I asked this to R. Chagai - Weren't Amon and Moav conquered by Moshe? (And if you'll say that perhaps R. Shimon ben Lakish was doubtful about the portion of Amon and Moav that wasn't conquered by Moshe), didn't R. Elazar ben Azaryah and his colleagues discuss this (in Maseches Yadayim and they concluded that it's Chutz LaAretz)?

Answer (R. Yosi bar Bun): The pasuk states (Bamidbar 21:26), "As Cheshbon was the city of Sichon, king of the Amorites (who waged war with the first king of Moav and captured the entire land from him until Arnon).'' A section of Sichon had been part of Moav and since Moshe was commanded not to conquer Moav until after Sichon had conquered it, R. Shimon therefore needed to rule whether or not it was no longer considered to be Moav (i.e. purified) and was considered an inheritance to Bnei Yisrael (and received the sancity of the Land). If you say that it was purified it became obligated in all land related Mitzvos; if you say that it wasn't purified, it is exempt.

Resolution (R. Tanchuma): The pasuk states (Devarim 2:31), "Begin (Hechel) to drive him out so that you may inherit his land'' - Hash-m said - I have made his land Chulin (purified from being called Amon and Moav and become obligated in the land related Mitzvos of Eretz Yisrael).

R. Chuna wished to permit working the land in Sheviis in Yavlona. He came to R. Mana with the document he had written to permit it. He asked R. Mana to also sign it, but R. Mana refused. The following day, R. Chiya bar Madya met R. Mana and told him, "You were right not to sign it, as your father R. Yona would say about Tavlona that the Caesar Antoninus gave Rebbi two luscious fields for sharecropping. Therefore, what grew there in Sheviis may be eaten after the time of Biur, but like Suria, it may not be worked. However, it is exempt from Ma'asros, like fields of gentiles.

(Rav Huna): (The Mishnah (see Chulin 19-1(a)) taught - the land conquered by those who came from Mitzrayim (at the time of Yehoshua), meaning from Keziv until (even) the river and until Amanah.) The Mishnah is referring to the area from Keziv until the river in the south and from Keziv until Amanah in the north. (Amanah is the same place a Hor HaHar, mentioned in Bamidbar 34:7, that is at the north western tip of Eretz Yisrael.)

Baraisa: Where is considered Eretz Yisrael and where is Chutz LaAretz (at its northern border)? All of the southern slope of Har Amanah is Eretz Yisrael; all of the northern slope is Chutz LaAretz, as the peak is the border.

(What's the status of) the islands in the sea? Draw an imaginary line from Har Amanah down to Nachal Mitzrayim (in the south west) - whatever is within the line is Eretz Yisrael; whatever is beyond the line is Chutz LaAretz.

(R. Yehuda): Whatever is in line with Eretz Yisrael to the west is Eretz Yisrael, as the pasuk states (Bamidbar 34:6), "And for the western border - it shall be for you the Great Sea for a border'' - the extra word 'for a border' teaches that anywhere to the west is part of Eretz Yisrael. Which islands that are beyond the northern and southern borders (that are not part of Eretz Yisrael)? A line should be drawn westwards from Kalefaria (on Har Amanah in the north, and also westwards from Nachal Mitzrayim in the south) - any islands that are between those two latitudinal lines are part of Eretz Yisrael.

(R. Yusta bar Shunam): When the exiles will return and reach Har Amanah, they will sing Shira, as the pasuk states, "'Teshuri' from the peak of Amanah'' (which is understood here to mean 'you shall sing').