1)

(a)In a case where someone is carrying his figs through his Chatzer to the place where he intends to make Ketzi'os, his wife and children are permitted to eat without taking Ma'asros. Chatzer only fixes the figs for Ma'asros - when it is Nigmerah Melachto, which is not the case here, since he is taking them to make Ketzi'os.

(b)The owner himself is forbidden to eat from them - because he is liable to change his mind at any time and decide to eat the figs as they are (see also Meleches Shlomoh).

(c)This reason does not extend to his wife and children however - because they themselves do not have the authority to change the situation, so they rely on his current actions.

2)

(a)The laborers who are transporting the figs together with him ...

1. ... are not allowed to eat automatically - because the work they are doing is not the G'mar Melachah (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

2. ... permitted to eat if he did not undertake to feed them - because when he then allows them to eat it is a gift, which does not fix for Ma'asros, as we explained earlier.

3. ... forbidden to eat if he did - because what they then eat during the work is a sale, which does (see Tiferes Yisrael).

(b)We do not say here (like we did earlier) that they rely on the owner - because a purchaser is always ready to eat his purchase immediately, in which case it is considered Nigm'rah Melachto (see Tos, Yom-Tov and Tiferes Yisrael).

3)

(a)The Mishnah discusses a case where laborers are taken out to the field (to work on something other than picking fruit), and the owner permits them to eat. They are permitted to eat from the fruit without having to Ma'aser it - provided the owner is not obligated to feed them.

(b)If he did undertake to feed them - they are only permitted to eat without Ma'asering if they eat one fruit at a time directly from the tree, but not from the basket, from the box or from the pile.

4)

(a)If someone hires a laborer to pick olives and stipulates that his wages constitute the olives that he ate - he is permitted to eat olives without Ma'asering them ...

(b)... whereas the Mishnah which restricts him to eating them one at a time is speaking - where he hires him to dig and weed among the trees (which is not G'mar Melachah), and not to pick the olives.

(c)The significance of eating the fruit one at a time is - that it is Achilas Arai (casual eating), and it is only Achilas K'va (such as picking a few and eating them) which the Torah forbids once they reach the stage of G'mar Melachah.

(d)The Tana issues basically the same ruling regarding a laborer who is hired to weed a vegetable garden - allowing him to pick one leaf at a time and eat it, but not a few.

5)

(a)The Mishnah permits taking Ketzitzos (or Ketzi'os [detached figs that have already been placed on reed-mats to dry] see also Tos. Yom-Tov) that one finds on a path running beside a field of fig-trees and eating them.

(b)There is no question of Gezel - because the owner has given up hope of retrieving them, and they are Hefker.

(c)The finder is - not Chayav to Ma'aser them first (because Hefker is also Patur from Ma'aser).

(d)This Din will even extend to a field of Ketzitzos.

6)

(a)The Tana rules that ...

1. ... figs that one finds underneath a fig-tree that is leaning over into the street - are permitted, like in the previous case.

2. ... olives and carobs that one finds under the same circumstances - are subject to Gezel and must be Ma'asered ...

(b)... because olives and carobs (unlike figs which become squashed and lose their identity when they fall on to the ground), are still recognizable, in which case people will be able to discern from which tree they fell, and the owner will not despair.

(c)The Tana obligates someone who finds dried figs to Ma'aser them before eating them - if most local residents have already 'trodden' their figs (as that is the G'mar Melachah of dried figs). Otherwise, he is Patur.

7)

(a)The Mishnah rules that someone who finds a piece broken off from a cake of figs - is Chayav to Ma'aser it (since it has definitely passed the stage of G'mar Melachah).

(b)We do not assume that the owner must have Ma'asered it - because in a case where one is definitely Chayav, we apply the principle 'Ein Safek Motzi mi'Yedei Vadai' (a Safek having Ma'asered cannot detract from a Vadai Chiyuv).

(c)Before taking one's carobs up on to the roof, the owner is allowed to eat them Arai - because placing them on the roof in a pile is their G'mar Melachah.

(d)The Tana ...

1. ... nevertheless forbids him to take carobs elsewhere and eat them (even Achilas Arai) - because even before the G'mar Melachah, one is only permitted to eat them in their place in the field (for fear that, since it cannot be seen that they have not yet reached the stage of G'mar Melachah, he will forget and eat them Achilas K'va).

2. ... nevertheless permits him to bring them to his animals to eat (even Achilas K'va) - because, to begin with, carobs are not animal food and (he will remember that they are still pre-G'mar Melachah) and what's more, whatever the animals leave will be returned to where the rest of the batch are drying in the field, an indication that what they ate was Arai (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

8)

(a)The Mishnah now discusses which type of Chatzer fixes for Ma'asros. According to Rebbi Yishmael, it is a Chatzer Tzuris (the type of Chatzer that they had in Tzur) - which had a guard (see Tiferes Yisrael).

(b)Rebbi Akiva precludes a Chatzer that is owned by two people from the Din of a Chatzer - if Reuven has the right to object to Shimon closing his gate.

(c)Rebbi Nechemyah requires people - not to be too ashamed to eat in the Chatzer for it to be considered a Chatzer in this regard.

(d)According to Rebbi Yossi, a Chatzer where a stranger is able to walk around without being challenged does not fix for Ma'asros. Rebbi Yehudah rules that where there is a Chatzer within a Chatzer - the inner one is Chayav Ma'asros, whereas the outer one is Patur (see Tiferes Yisrael) - because, since the inner one must pass through the outer section of the Chatzer, it is not properly guarded.

(e)We rule like all the Tana'im Lehachmir (see Tiferes Yisrael).

9)

(a)The Mishnah rules that ...

1. ... a roof does not have the status of a Chatzer, and is therefore Patur from Ma'asros).

2. ... the gate, portico, or porch of a Chatzer has the same status as the Chatzer itself.

10)

(a)The Mishnah rules that fruit which the owner places in a Tz'rif (a hut in the shape of a tent) - does not become fixed for Ma'asros.

(b)And the same applies to fruit that he places in a Burgan, an Alketi'a or a Succas Ginusar (see Tiferes Yisrael note 45). Alketi'os are summer huts ...

1. ... Burganin - a type of dove-cot in a field where food is stored (see also Tiferes Yisrael), and ...

2. ... Succos Ginusar - huts near the Sea of Kineret, where people stay throughout the summer season, in order to enjoy the luscious fruit that grow in that region.

(c)We would have thought that the latter might fix the fruit for Ma'asros - because the Tana is speaking even where there is a mill and chickens (see Tiferes Yisrael).

11)

(a)Succas ha'Yotzrim (a potter's hut) actually comprises two huts - the inner one where the potter lives and stacks his pots, the outer one where he works and sells his pots.

(b)The inner one fixes for Ma'asros - the outer one does not.

(c)Based on his own principle - that whatever is not inhabited summer and winter is Patur, Rebbi Yossi disagrees with the previous ruling.

(d)Consequently, he holds - that the inner hut does not fix for Ma'asros either.

12)

(a)According to Rebbi Yehudah, a Succah on Succos fixes fruit for Ma'asros - because he requires the Succah to be a permanent dwelling (and even requires a Mezuzah) ...

(b)... whereas the Rabbanan require it to be a temporary one - in which case it does not fix for Ma'asros..

13)

(a)The Tana Kama permits eating from a fig-tree that is growing in a Chatzer one at a time only (see Tos. R. Akiva Eiger) - because Chatzer fixes for Ma'asros.

(b)Rebbi Shimon, who is more lenient - permits even three, one in his right hand, one in his left and one in his mouth.

(c)The Tana permits a laborer picking figs at the top of the tree - to 'fill his lap with figs' and to eat them.

14)

(a)Regarding fruit-trees growing in a Chatzer, Rebbi Akiva permits a laborer only to eat one grape, one pomegranate pit or one sliver at a time (like we learned in the second Perek with regard to a sale)whilst - Rebbi Tarfon permits him to pick a bunch of grapes, an entire pomegranate or the whole watermelon, and to eat from it (see Tos. Yom-Tov).

(b)If a coriander plant is growing in a Chatzer - Rebbi Akiva permits the laborer to pick only one leaf at a time and eat it (see Tiferes Yisrael).

(c)The Mishnah rules that the plants Sa'ah (rosemary), Eizov (hyssop) and Kurnis, all of which tend to grow wild - are Patur from Ma'asros, unless they are growing in a field which is guarded.

15)

(a)The Mishnah rules that a laborer ...

1. ... is permitted to eat from the branch of a fig-tree which protrudes into the garden, even though the trunk grows in the Chatzer.

2. ... is forbidden to eat from the branch of a fig-tree which protrudes into the Chatzer, even though the trunk grows in the garden.

3. ... Chutz la'Aretz, but whose trunk grows in Eretz Yisrael, or vice-versa - we always go after the trunk to determine whether the tree is subject to Ma'asros or not ...

(b)... because the tree's Kedushah is determined by where it nurtures from.

(c)Similarly, the Tana rules that if the branch of a tree that grows over the wall of a walled city -- even though the tree is growing inside the city -- the branch follows the trunk, and the owner who sold it is permitted to redeem it only up to one year after the sale.

16)

(a)When the Tana states that regarding Arei Miklat, everything goes after the branch, he means - that if the 'murderer' reaches the trunk of a tree which is outside the wall, the Go'el ha'Dam is not permitted to kill him, because the branch of the tree is inside (and he can certainly not kill him once he reaches it).

(b)This does not mean that, in the reverse case, where the 'murderer' has reached the branch of the tree that is outside, the Go'el ha'Dam will be allowed to kill him, even though the trunk is inside - because, when the Tana says that we go after the branch, he means (not that we go after the branch exclusively, but) that we also go after the branch. But we certainly go after the trunk.

(c)Finally, the Tana says that if the branch of a tree that is growing inside Yerushalayim protrudes over the outer wall, or vice-versa - we go after the branch (which here too, means also after the branch), in connection with Ma'aser Sheini.

(d)The ramifications of this ruling with regard to a tree that grows ...

1. ... outside, but whose branch is inside are - that just as, once he reaches the branch he is no longer permitted to redeem it, so is the Din when he reaches the trunk.

2. ... inside, but whose branch is outside are - that just as, once he reaches the branch, he is not permitted to eat it because he is still considered to be outside, so too, is he forbidden to eat by the trunk, even though he is already inside the walls.