Maasros 1:1 - 1:2

כלל אמרו במעשרות כל שהוא אוכל – to exclude woad/a plant producing a deep blue dye, which they call “NEEL” in Arabic and madder/a plant used in dying red which they call ALETZPUR in Arabic for these do not consume. Even though they are eaten in distress, but they are not liable for tithes.

ונשמר – to exclude that which is ownerless, which have no owners to guard/watch it.

וגידולו מן הארץ – to exclude morils/a kind of mushroom, and truffles and all of these we derive from Scripture, as it is written (Deuteronomy 14:22): “You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all of the yield of your sowing,” – “all the yield”– similar to produce that he eats, - “your sowing” – that which is unique to you, excluding that which is ownerless that have no specific/special owners; “your seed” – that which you sow it and it grows, excluding morils and truffles which are not sown.

כל שתחלתו אוכל וסופו אוכל – such as vegetables that immediately when they grow are appropriate for food and we guard them until they grow and add food.

חייב קטן וגדול – for they are appropriate for food, whether for adults or minors.

וכל שאין תחלתו אוכל – such as kinds of fruits.

אינו חייב עד שיעשה אוכל – as it is written (Leviticus 27:30): “whether from the ground or fruit from the tree” until it grows and makes fruit.

מאימתי הפירות חייבין במעשרות – for at their beginning, they are not food and it is necessary to give a measurement for each fruit when its time arrives to be appropriate for eating.

שיבחינו – the beginning of their ripening is called “BOHAL”/a certain stage in the growth of the fig (intermediate between פנה / and צמל/the last stage in the growth of a fig – when its head becomes white, and an example of this is the beginning of the days of female puberty – [between childhood and full womanhood] in a woman is called “BOHAL”, and it explains in the Gemara (Talmud Niddah 47a) when their heads whiten is the beginning of their ripening.

האבשים (a species of inferior grapes) – a species from the kinds of bad grapes like (Isaiah 5:4): “Instead, it yielded wild grapes.”

משהבאישו – that they ripened so much that the pomace of kernels/shells of grapes that are inside can be seen from the outside from within the husk and a cluster that has within it one berry that reached this measurement, it is entirely joined to tithing.

והאוג (red berry of the Venus summachtree) – a tree whose fruits are red and they call them KORNEOLI in the foreign language.

והתותים (mulberries) – In Arabic it is TUT, and in the foreign language it is MORAS.

שימסו – when the eatable portion (core) can be mashed from under his hand and if even a single slice of pomegranate reached this measurement, it is liable for tithing.

משיטילו שאור – if it were to open like leaven which has in it fissures.

משיטילו גידים – when they begin to ripen, there appears in them a kind of red veins.

משיעשו מגורה – when they separate the food from the outer husk/skin, and the food would be like it is placed in store room/bin which is a storehouse.

מישיעשו קליפה – the lower husk nearest the food which is not made until the completion of the ripening of the fruit. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.