Study Bava Metzia folio 56A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מפני שאמרו: מחללין (אותו), כסף על נחשת, מדוחק, לא שיקיים כן, אלא שחוזר ומחללן על הכסף. קתני מיהת: מחללין מדוחק, מדוחק – אין, שלא מדוחק – לא.
The reason one must employ this procedure is due to the fact that the rabbis said: One desacralizes second-tithe silver coins upon copper coins under duress. And it is not that he will maintain them in that form; rather, it is that he again desacralizes them upon silver coins. In any event, the tanna teaches that one desacralizes second-tithe coins in this manner under duress, from which it may be inferred: Under duress, yes; not under duress, no. This is the halakha with regard to redemption of second-tithe coins by Torah law. By contrast, in the case of demai, which is by rabbinic law, R' Meir permits desacralizing it in this manner ab initio. Apparently, R' Meir is more lenient with regard to matters of rabbinic law than he is with regard to matters of Torah law.
אמר רב יוסף: אף על פי שמיקל רבי מאיר בפדיונו, מחמיר הוא באכילתו, דתניא: לא התירו למכור דמאי אלא לסיטון בלבד, ובעל הבית. בין כך ובין כך, צריך לעשר, דברי רבי מאיר.
Rav Yosef said: Although R' Meir is lenient with regard to redemption of second-tithe demai, he is stringent with regard to its consumption. This is as it is taught in a baraita: The rabbis permitted only a wholesaler to sell demai. Since a wholesaler acquires grain from numerous sources and sells large quantities, he would suffer significant loss if he were required to separate tithes each time. But in the case of a proprietor who purchased produce from an am ha’aretz, whether he purchased large quantities to sell in bulk or whether he purchased small quantities to sell little by little, he must tithe the produce; this is the statement of R' Meir.