Yerushalmi Peah 8:2 ירושלמי פאה ח׳:ב׳

MISHNAH: They¹⁵The poor can be trusted that they received produce as one of the gifts to the poor and that everybody (including a rich person buying from a poor one) is able to eat them, without separating heave and heave of tithes, and not commit a sin. can be trusted about gleanings, forgotten sheaves, and peah at harvest time, and about the tithe of the poor its entire year¹⁶The third and sixth years of a Sabbatical cycle.; the Levite can always be trusted¹⁷Since he receives the First Tithe every year; even though he is required to separate from this 10% as heave of tithes, we do not suspect him of being derelict in his duty, even if he is unlearned in this matter.. But they can be trusted only about things that people are in the habit of doing¹⁸This is explained in the following two Mishnaiot..

HALAKHAH: How far²⁰If the poor person testifies that he collected the grain at a certain place, how far away may that place be so that we still may trust him.? Rebbi Ḥanina said, to a place where he usually²¹I. e., with his usual speed and endurance. goes and returns the same day. It happened that Rebbi trusted five brothers about five kor²²Each one of them returning with one kor, about 380 liter! of wheat. Is that not impossible? A little here and a little there adds up to a kor.

Rebbi Eleazer from the South²³A fifth generation Amora from the South, the region around Lod, student of the Galilean R. Yose. asked before Rebbi Yose: Does our Mishnah follow Rebbi Eliezer, since Rebbi Eliezer said²⁴The statement is in Tosephtah Maäser Šeni 3:16; it belongs to the topic of tractate Demai and is discussed in Demai 4:5: “If one was seen separating the Second Tithe, he is trustworthy also for the First Tithe, the words of R. Eliezer. But the Sages say, if he can be trusted for the First, he can be trusted for the Second, but if he can be trusted for the Second, he cannot yet be trusted for the First.” Eating First Tithe without separating its heave of the tithe is a deadly sin. Eating unredeemed Second Tithe is a transgression but no deadly sin. For the Sages, essentially everybody can be trusted in matters of the heave of the tithe but only people checked out for trustworthiness can give reliable information about the Second Tithe., if he can be trusted for the Second, he can be trusted for the First? Rebbi Yose said, it is everybody’s opinion. Here it is different since nobody fools around with deadly sins²⁵There is no question of minor transgression; eating food that is not a gift to the poor without separating out “great” heave and heave of the tithe is a deadly sin and people will not knowingly engage in it or lead others into a deadly sin.. Rebbi Eleazar in the name of Rebbi Hoshaia: Just as Jews are not suspected in matters of the great heave²⁶The first heave given from the harvest before tithes., so Levites are not suspected in matters of the heave of tithes. Rebbi Hoshaia said, our Mishnah says so: The Levite can always be trusted.

Rebbi Mana asked, can the Levite always be trusted, even in the Sabbatical year²⁷In the six years in which he receives the First Tithe, we understand that he is trustworthy because he will not lightly commit a mortal sin. But in the Sabbatical year, in which no tithes are given, there seems to be no reason to give the Levite a privileged position. The question is not answered.?

Rebbi Abun bar Ḥiyya said, the Levite may be trusted if he says, this is certainly tithe, to free it from Second Tithe. But if he says: It was given to me²⁹As a gift, not as obligatory tithe., or if he says that it is from his own crop³⁰Of which he is not entitled to take the gifts to the poor. The Levite may take his own First Tithe., they cannot be trusted. That is the Mishnah: But they can be trusted only about things that people are in the habit of doing. So is the Mishnah: But they can be trusted only about things that people are in the habit of giving³¹That means “the habit” does not refer to the Levite or the poor but to the farmer..