Rosh Hashanah 13B

אל תקרי ״לשלש״, אלא ״לשליש״.

do not read it as “for 3 [lishelosh]” but as: For 1/3rd [lishelish]. And learn from here that the year for tithes is determined by the date on which the produce reaches 1/3rd of its growth.

והא מיבעי ליה לגופיה! כתיב קרא אחרינא: ״וזרעתם את השנה השמינית ואכלתם מן התבואה ישן עד השנה התשיעית״.

The Talmud raises a difficulty: But the phrase is necessary for the meaning of the verse itself, to teach that the 6th year will be blessed so that it yields 3 years’ worth of produce. The Talmud answers: It is written in another verse: “And you should sow the 8th year, and eat yet of old produce until the 9th year” (Leviticus 25:22), so that the latter verse teaches about the 3 years’ worth of produce, and the first verse is available to derive the halakha with regard to 1/3rd growth.

תנן התם: האורז והדוחן והפרגין והשומשמין שהשרישו לפני ראש השנה מתעשרין לשעבר, ומותרין בשביעית. ואם לאו ⁠— אסורין בשביעית, ומתעשרין לשנה הבאה.

§ We learned in a Mishnah there: Rice, millet, poppy, and sesame that took root before Rosh HaShana are tithed in accordance with the outgoing year, meaning that second tithe is set aside in the first, second, 4th, and fifth years of the Sabbatical cycle, and poor man’s tithe is set aside in the third and 6th years, and they are permitted even if the following year is a Sabbatical Year. If they did not take root before Rosh HaShana, they are prohibited if it is the Sabbatical Year, and in ordinary years they are tithed in accordance with the incoming year.

אמר רבה, אמור רבנן: אילן בתר חנטה, תבואה וזיתים בתר שליש, ירק בתר לקיטה. הני כמאן שוינהו רבנן?

Rabba said: Say that the rabbis said that the tithe year of a tree follows the time of the formation of its fruit, that of grain and olives follows the time that they reach 1/3rd of their growth, and that of vegetables follows the time of their picking. The question may therefore be raised: With regard to these crops, i.e., rice, millet, poppy, and sesame, to what did the rabbis equate them? Their tithe year is determined neither by their formation, nor by the time when they reach 1/3rd of their growth, nor by their picking.