Yerushalmi Maaser Sheni 5:4 ירושלמי מעשר שני ה׳:ד׳

MISHNAH: Rebbi Jehudah said, in earlier times they sent to the rural farmers, speed up your produce before the time of removal, until Rebbi Aqiba came and taught that any produce which did not reach the time of tithing is exempt from removal¹¹⁰If it is exempt from removal, the fact that the farmer has untithed produce does not prevent him from reading the declaration of tithes (Deut. 26:13–15). The fact that R. Aqiba had to rule on the matter supports Maimonides (Ma‘aser Šeni 7:4) that the declaration should be made even if there is no Temple..
If somebody’s produce was far from him¹¹¹At the time of removal he has to tithe and transfer ownership of his tithes in order to be able to make the declaration., he has to give it a name. It happened that Rabban Gamliel was on a ship with the elders when Rabban Gamliel said, a tenth which I shall measure in the future is given to Joshua and its place is rented to him¹¹²Real estate can be rented in the way it is acquired, by contract, payment, or taking actual possession. If real estate is acquired, movables on it can be acquired with it. Therefore, the future tithe is acquired by payment of the rent. Cf. Babli Qiddušin 26b/27a, Baba Meẓi‘ai 11a, and Rashi’s commentary there.; another tenth which I shall measure in the future is given to Aqiba¹¹³He was overseer of charities and as such could receive the tithe of the poor due at the time of removal.; he should distribute it to the poor, and its place is rented to him. Rebbi Joshua said, a tenth¹¹⁴The heave of the tithe given by the Levite to the Cohen. which I shall measure in the future is given to Eleazar ben Azariah and its place is rented to him. They paid the rent to each other¹¹⁵R. Eleazar ben Azariah to R. Joshua, RR. Joshua and Aqiba to Rabban Gamliel..

HALAKHAH: ¹¹⁹This is the discussion of Mishnah 8. Since the declaration reads: “I removed the holy produce from the house”, meaning heave and tithes as well as fourth-year growth, why should untithed produce be subject to removal and hinder the declaration? Is it not ṭevel? Rebbi Hila in the name of Samuel: This implies that ṭevel is called holy¹²⁰R. Aqiba agrees that ṭevel must be brought in order but he counsels not to bring new produce to the state of ṭevel..

¹²¹The text of the letters is also in Sanhedrin 1:2 (fol. 18d), Tosephta Sanhedrin 2:6, Babli Sanhedrin 11b. The best text is preserved (although in Hebrew) from Midrash Tannaïm in Midrash Haggadol Deut. (² ed. S. Fisch, Jerusalem 1975), pp. 597–598. There is an Introduction, a discussion between R. Neḥonia bar Haqanah and R. Joshua, whether the expression “I removed the holy produce from the house” implies that potentially titheable produce outside the house does not preclude the recitation of the declaration. R. Joshua replies that he never heard anything about it but he remembered Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel (I, later the president of the revolutionary government in the first war against the Romans) and Rabban Joḥanan ben Zakkai writing the letters in which they required tithing of unfinished produce, in accordance with R. Jehudah’s description of the earlier practice. Rebbi Jehudah said, it happened that Rabban Gamliel¹²²While this is the text in both Talmudim and the Tosephta, and the Babli explicitly identifies this Rabban Gamliel with the head of the Synhedrion at Jabneh, for historical reasons the only acceptable reading is that of Midrash Tannaïm. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel I (ben Simeon ben Hillel). and the elders were sitting on the steps of the Hall on the Temple Mount and Joḥanan, the Cohen, their scribe, was sitting before them. They said to him, go and write:

To our brothers of Upper and Lower Galilee, may you have much peace. We inform you that the time of removal is approaching; take out tithes from the ripening vats¹²³A vat in which olives were stored before pressing and where they softened. On the basis of Arabic عطن one might translate “soaking vat”. of olives. To our brothers of Upper and Lower South country, we inform you that the time of removal is approaching; take out tithes from the sheaves of grain¹²⁴Neither unthreshed grain nor unpressed oil olives are subject to heave and tithes in normal years. In Midrash Tannaïm, Rabban Simeon writes as excuse that he has to write because it is an old established practice.. To our brothers of the diasporas of Babylonia, Media, Greece, and all other diasporas of Israel, may you have much peace. I am informing you that the lambs are young and the young pigeons small¹²⁵In the parallel sources, “it does not look like spring”. This letter is not in Midrash Haggadol since its subject is not tithes., so it is good in my eyes and the eyes of my colleagues to add thirty days to this year.

¹²⁶Here starts the discussion of Mishnah 9. Why did Rabban Gamliel choose the complicated way of giving to the Levite, could he not have given everything to the Cohen who would not have had to rent space for his heave of the tithe? That means that one does not give tithe to Cohanim. There is a difference, since Rebbi Joshua ben Ḥananiah was there¹²⁷A poor Levite is preferable to a very rich Cohen under any circumstances.. Rebbi Ḥananiah said, it means that Rabban Gamliel had to transfer¹²⁸The Mishnah requires only “to give a name”. But Rabban Gamliel actually transferred property rights.. Rebbi Joshua¹²⁹An Amora whose identity cannot be determined. The editors of the Leyden ms. suggest to read צריך לזכות את רבי יהושע בפירות “he has to transfer the produce to R. Joshua (ben Ḥanania).” said, for produce standing on the ground¹³⁰It was not yet in orderly heaps.. Even if Rabban Gamliel’s box were standing in Rebbi Joshua’s house and he would say, he should acquire its tithe, would he have done anything if he did not label it¹³¹Goods in a vessel of the giver (or seller) in the house of the recipient (or buyer) cannot be acquired by proxy unless their place is exactly described. If Rabban Gamliel’s grain had been in orderly heaps, he could have said the Northernmost 10% are First Tithe, the Southernmost 10% tithe of the poor. But in the situation he was in, he could only rent out ground for future use. This remark leads to the consideration of right of acquisition.?

¹³²The text from here to the end of the Halakhah is also in Peah 4:6 and explained there, Notes 113–125. The question is about the power of a person to acquire property for a third party. Rebbi Redifa said, Rebbi Jeremiah and Rebbi Yose disagree. One says, he who may take may acquire; the other says, he who may give may acquire. He who says “he who may take” certainly includes him who may give. He who says “he who may give,” excludes him who may take.

The following Mishnah disagrees with him who says that he who may take may acquire, since we have stated: “Give this divorce document to my wife,” because he may receive the divorce document of his minor daughter. “And the document of manumission to my slave,” since he may receive his own document of manumission. But did we not state: “Receive this divorce document for my wife or bring this divorce document to my wife; if he wants to change his mind … he may do so.” Is a slave empowered to bring a divorce document? Explain it by different cases contained in the Mishnah.

A Mishnah disagrees with him who says that he who may take may acquire, since we have stated there: “One tithe that I will measure in the future is given to Aqiba ben Joseph that he should let the poor acquire it, and its place is rented to him.” But is Rebbi Aqiba entitled to take? Explain it, before he got rich. And even if you say, after he became rich, when he was an administrator, and the hand of the administrator is equal to the hand of the poor.

The word of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi is that he who may take may acquire, since Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said: They disagree about a rich owner. But in the case of a poor owner, since he has the right to take it, the other person acquired it.