3,352. Two Vessels... But Which Is the Terumah?

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
English Synopsis Hebrew Text

Terumos 13:12

If terumah was planted next to secular produce and one can’t tell which is which, all of the produce is permitted, even if there are 100 rows of terumah and just one row of secular produce. This is the case when it comes to produce whose seeds disintegrate in the ground like wheat, barley, et al. When it comes to produce like garlic and onions, whose seeds don’t disintegrate, even if 100 rows are secular produce and only one row is terumah, the whole thing is meduma. If the entire crop is harvested, the terumah is nullified in the ratio of 100:1 but, optimally, the crop should not be harvested.

Terumos 13:13

Let’s say that there are two vessels containing produce – one of terumah and one of secular produce – and we don’t know which is which. If produce from one of these vessels falls into secular produce, the resulting mixture is not meduma. The same is true if terumah falls into one of two vessels (containing secular produce) and one doesn’t know which one, and then one of those vessels falls into secular produce. If one plants from one of the two unidentified vessels, what grows is considered secular produce in all regards. What’s left in the other vessel, however, is then treated as terumah. If the produce in the second vessel falls into other produce, the resulting mixture is not meduma and if someone else planted it, what grows is secular produce.

However, if both vessels fall into the same secular produce, the resulting mixture is meduma based upon the volume of produce in the smaller vessel. If one person planted the contents of both of vessels – and it’s a species whose seeds disintegrate – what grows is secular produce. If the seeds don’t disintegrate, then what grows is meduma. This is the case when one plants the second vessel before the produce of the first vessel is harvested. However, if he harvested the first produce before planting the second, what grows is secular produce even if it’s a species whose seed doesn’t disintegrate. This is because produce that was harvested and produce that’s still attached don’t tell us anything about one another.