Bkvod Harav
In baba metziah Daf 89a a dairy worker cannot eat milk, butter, and cheese card they are working because it is not considered gedulei karka.
However, when someone brings Maaser Sheini money to yerushalayim one is allowed to buy dairy products because it is like gedulei karka?
Why the distinction?
Thank you.
Kol Tuv
Daniel Sheinfil
Shalom R' Sheinfil,
Excellent point! As you wrote, a laborer is only allowed to eat what grows out of the ground, so that excludes dairy products. Regarding Maaser Sheni, on the other hand, one may use the Kadosh money to purchase even items that are derivatives from what grew out of the ground. In fact, the Torah itself gives sheep and cattle as examples of food that one may purchase using Maaser Sheni money (Devarim 14:26). It is understood that these animals do not literally grow out of the ground, but they are nourished from vegetation which came from the ground. That is why they are valid, since they are "Gidulei Gidulin" from the Karka. So, too, the dairy products made from animal milk is valid for the same reason.
For more about this, please see the Rambam's ruling and explanation in Hilchos Maaser Sheni 7:5. Also see the discussion in Tosfos (Shabbat 73b DH Mefarek; Kesuvos 60a DH Mefarek; Bava Kama 54b DH Pri) concerning the same basic question as it relates to other areas of Halachah, such as the Melachah of threshing on Shabbos and Haanakah of a freed slave.
Warmest regards,
Yishai Rasowsky