Siman - Pesachim Daf 34
- Decree to prevent non-Kohanim from converting terumah into chullin through replanting
While Abaye bar Avin and Rav Chananya bar Avin were learning Masechta Terumos in the academy of Rabbah, Rava bar Masnah asked them the following question from the ninth perek. It says in the Mishnah, שתילי תרומות שנטמאו ושתלן – Terumah plants that became tamei and then were replanted, טהורים מלטמא ואסורין מלאכול – they are tahor with regard to being metamei other things but they are prohibited to eat. He asked that if they are tahor with regard to being metamei other things, why are they prohibited for a Kohen to eat?
Abaye and Rav Chananya said to him that Rabbah explained that אסורין מלאכול does not mean to kohanim, but rather that they are אסורין לזרים – prohibited to non-Kohanim, since they retain their status as terumah. (Rashi explains later that this a d’Rabbanon that was decreed to prevent non-Kohanim from depriving Kohanim of their terumah by converting it into chullin through replanting.) Rava bar Masnah challenged them when he demonstrated that the Mishnah does not need to teach this since it is learned from another Mishnah.
- היסח הדעת
Rava bar Masnah said that Rav Sheishess answered his original difficulty (brought above) by explaining that “they are prohibited to eat”, was referring to being prohibited to the Kohanim, הואיל ואיפסלו להו בהיסח הדעת – since they became invalid through inattention. This is derived from the passuk regarding terumah that states, משמרת תרומתי, which means that the Kohanim have been given the responsibility to safeguard terumah, and kodashim as well, from becoming tamei, and this requires one not to allow his attention to lapse from this guarding. Since these plants became tamei, it can be assumed that the Kohen stopped guarding them against further exposure to tumah, and therefore they became rendered invalid. Therefore, even though the tumah is removed through the replanting, they remain invalid to eat.
The Gemara brings a machlokes about hesech hadaas. Rebbe Yochanan says, פסול טומאה הוי – It is a pesul caused by the possibility of tumah. If, therefore, Eliyahu would come and pronounce that the terumah never became tamei, it will be permitted to eat it. Reish Lakish said it is, פסול הגוף הוי – It is a pesul of the terumah itself. Therefore, even if Eliyahu would come and say that the terumah never became tamei, it would still be forbidden to eat it since the terumah is invalid regardless of whether it acquired tumah. Rav Sheishess’s answer only works according to Reish Lakish, because according to Rebbe Yochanon, the terumah becomes muttar to eat once the tumah is removed after planting it.
- Water for the chag that became tamei
Rebbe Yirmiyah rejected Rav Sheishess’s teaching (brought above ) and explained that water for the chag that became tamei, only becomes tahor if השיקן ואחר כך הקדישן – one first brought it into contact with a mikvah and only afterwards was makdish it. The water being brought into contact with the water is a form of “planting” which removes its tumah status. Yet, the Rabbanon were stringent and said that it is not effective for water of kodshim. Here too, regarding plants of terumah, we should say that אין זריעה לתרומה – planting in the ground is not effective in removing the tumah of terumah, since the Rabbanon imposed a greater stringency on terumah.
