Berakhot 131

1:
Grace after meals (Birkat ha-Mazon – actually, Birkhat ha-Mazon, but no one seems to take this rule of Hebrew Grammar seriously) is different from almost all other berakhot in that we are commanded to recite it by the Torah itself [Deuteronomy, 8:7-10]. (We have seen in our study of previous chapters that virtually all the other berakhot are of rabbinic origin.) The mitzvah of reciting Birkat ha-Mazon is, of course, a duty that falls on all adult Jews. Our mishnah adds to the requirement of the Torah an additional requirement: that three people who have dined as a company must issue a formal invitation to recite Birkat ha-Mazon together. This formal invitation serves to indicate that the individuals have coalesced into one group – very much as the recitation of Barekhu before reciting the Shema indicates that that invitation has caused the ten individuals to coalesce into one group. Moreover, it is preferable to create this company in order to recite Birkat ha-Mazon together, rather than remaining three (or more) separate individuals – just as it is preferable for ten individuals to pray as a group. Our mishnah seeks to establish the parameters of who may and who may not be included in the company.

2:
First of all, our mishnah details whether or not people who have eaten certain kinds of produce as part of the meal may be included in the company of three.

3:
Certain 'levies' ['matanot] on agricultural produce grown in Eretz-Israel must be paid by the physical removal from the produce of certain amounts to be given to certain people. There were basically two kinds of levy: Matnot Aniyyim and Matnot Kehunah (levies to be given to the destitute and levies to be given to the priesthood). For the sake of completeness I shall enumerate them all here, even though our mishnah does not refer to all of them.

4:
A. Levies to be given to the Destitute:

1. Pe'ah: one corner of each field had to be left unharvested by the owner. It was the privilege of the destitute to enter the field when it had been harvested and to harvest for themselves what had been left in the Pe'ah [corner]. The Torah itself leaves the amount to be left up to the generosity of the owner, but the sages set the average at around 2 percent of the whole. The poor did their own harvesting of the Pe'ah to avoid the impression that what they got from the field was the result of the farmer's personal generosity: it is their privilege granted them by God, who is the real owner of the field – and not the gift of the farmer.
2. Shikheĥah: after the produce had been bundled into sheaves and so forth it was loaded onto carts for transportation to the granary. Any sheaves or bundles that on account of an error were not loaded, could not later be reclaimed by the owner: the forgotten bundles [shikheĥah] had become the privilege of the destitute.
3. Leket (called in the vineyard and olive orchard Peret): the destitute had the right to follow after the harvesters and pick up anything that accidentally fell from their hand. (This was what the biblical Ruth did in the field of Boaz.)
4. Olelot: underdeveloped grapes that were harvested in error became the privilege of the destitute.
5. Ma'aser Ani: In every seven-year cycle [Shemittah] there was a levy of ten percent of what remained of the produce (after all the above 'deductions') in the third and sixth years of the cycle. This produce had to be given to the destitute person of the owner's choice.

B. Levies given to the Priests and Levites

After all the above levies had been removed the following additional levies were made:

6. Terumah: this was a levy of two percent (of the remaining produce) and it belonged to the Kohen [Priest] of the owner's choice.
7. First Tithe [Ma'aser Rishon]: ten percent of what produce remained belonged to the Levite of the owner's choice.
8. Terumat Ma'aser: the Levite receiving this First Tithe had to give out of it a levy of ten percent to the Kohen [Priest] of his choice.
9. Second Tithe [Ma'aser Sheni]: in the first, second, fourth and fifth years of the Shemittah cycle, in place of the Ma'aser Ani (#5 above), a levy of ten percent of what remained of the produce (after #7 above) had to be taken and consumed in Jerusalem or – as was more usual – it had to be 'redeemed' and its value taken and spent on food and drink in Jerusalem. (Thus the Second Tithe was geared up to boosting the economy of the Capital.)

To be continued.