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4 [1] The obligation to tithe is not established for *tevel* according to Scriptural Law until one brings it into his home, as [implied by Deuteronomy 26:13]: "I removed the sacred produce from the home." [This applies] provided he brings the produce in through the gate, as [*ibid.*:12] states: "And you shall eat in your gates." If, however, he brought produce in from the roof or from the yard, he is exempt [from the obligation] to separate *terumah* and tithes. [2] It appears to me that lashes are not administered as required by Scriptural Law for eating *tevel* unless [the obligation to tithe] was established by bringing it into one's home as we explained according to the Oral Tradition. If, however, the obligation was established through one of the six ways that we mentioned, he is given only stripes for rebellious conduct as mandated by Rabbinic Law.
Similarly, a person who partakes of produce which he desires to bring to the market place after the tasks necessary to prepare it have been completed receives only stripes for rebellious conduct, as we explained. For a person who completes [the tasks necessary to prepare his produce] for sale is obligated to tithe only according to Rabbinic Law. [3] When a house is less than four cubits by four cubits in area, [bringing produce into it] does not establish an obligation. Similarly, [bringing produce onto] a roof does not establish an obligation even though [bringing it into] the house below would. If, however, the roof was not four cubits by four cubits in area, e.g., the house ascended on a slant, bringing [the produce] there does not absolve it from the obligation to tithe it. Instead, [the roof] is considered as part of the domain of the home. [4] Leantos, guardhouses, summer shelters - i.e., four pillars with a roof on top of them without walls, and *sukkot* built by workers who dwell in the vineyard and the gardens in the summer, even though they dwell in them throughout the summer and [the *sukkot*] contain mills and chickens do not establish an obligation to tithe. Similarly, the outer *sukkot* built by potters and the *sukkot* for the holiday [of Sukkot] during that festival do not establish an obligation. For none of these are permanent dwellings. [5] Leantos and guardhouses establish an obligation to tithe for their owners, even though they do not create such an obligation for all people. Similarly, [bringing produce into] a school or a house of study creates an obligation to tithe for a person who abides there and teaches, because they are comparable to his home. They do not create an obligation for others. [6] When a synagogue or a house of study have a dwelling, [bringing produce there] establishes [an obligation to tithe]. If not, no [such obligation] is established.
[Bringing produce to] stables and storehouses in the fields that are built to store produce does not establish an obligation to tithe. If [these structures] were also intended as dwellings, an obligation is established. [7] Just as [bringing produce into] a home establishes an obligation to tithe, so too, [bringing produce into] a courtyard establishes such an obligation. When produce is brought into a courtyard through the gate, an obligation is established even though it was not brought into the home. [8] [Into] which type of courtyard must [produce be brought] for an obligation [to tithe] to be established? Any one in which utensils are protected within, one in which a person will not be embarrassed to eat there, or one in which were a person to enter, he would be asked: "What are you looking for?" The above also applies to a courtyard which has two inhabitants or is owned by two partners when one opens it and enters and then the other comes and enters or leaves and locks it. Since they open it and lock it, [bringing produce into] it establishes an obligation to tithe. [9] A gatehouse to a courtyard, an *excedra*, and a porch are governed by the same laws as a courtyard. If [bringing produce into] a courtyard would establish an obligation to tithe, [bringing produce into these] establishes an obligation. If not, an obligation is not established in these instances as well. [10] When there are two courtyards, one inside the other, [bringing produce into] either of them establishes an obligation to tithe. When a potter has [two] *sukkot* one leading to the other, [bringing produce into] the inner *sukkah* establishes an obligation to tithe. [Bringing it into] the outer one does not. [Bringing produce into] a store establishes an obligation like a home does. [11] When a person transports his produce from one place to another, an obligation to tithe is not established even though he brings it into homes and courtyards while on his journey. He may snack from it until he reaches his ultimate destination. [These laws] also [apply] when he returns. [12] Traveling salesmen who journey through villages and pass from one courtyard to another may snack from their produce until they reach the home where they will spend the night. [13] When a person brings figs from a field to partake of them in a courtyard which is exempt from the obligation to tithe, but then he forgot and brought them into his home, he is permitted to take them out from the home and snack from them. Similarly, if he forget [and after taking them into his home], took them up to the roof, he may snack from them on the roof.
If he brought them to partake of them on his roof and brought them into a friend's courtyard, an obligation to tithe is established and he should not partake of them until he tithes them. [14] When a courtyard has been plowed, it is considered like a garden and one may snack in it. [This applies] provided he plowed the majority [of the courtyard]. If he sowed the majority of it, he may not snack in it. The same law applies if he planted trees in it. If he planted trees in the courtyard to make it attractive, since the field has been plowed, he may snack from those trees [without tithing]. [15] When a fig tree is growing in a courtyard, one may eat figs from it one by one while exempt [from tithing]. If he gathers them together, he is obligated to tithe.
When does the above apply? When he is standing on the ground. If, however, he climbs to the top of the fig tree, he may fill his bosom with them and eat them there. For the open space of a courtyard does not create an obligation to tithe. [16] [If a fruit tree] was standing in a courtyard and leaning into a garden, one may partake of the tree while standing in the garden in his ordinary manner, as if the tree was planted in the garden. If [the tree] was planted in a garden and leaning into a courtyard, it is considered as if it was planted in the courtyard and one may only partake of them one at a time. [17] When a vine is planted in a courtyard, one should not pick an entire cluster and partake of it. Instead, one should pick the grapes one by one. Similarly, with regard to pomegranates, one should not take the entire pomegranate, but instead should divide the pomegranate while it is on the tree and partake of the seeds from it. Similarly, with regard to a watermelon, one should bend it over to the ground and partake of it there.
If one was eating a cluster [of grapes] in a garden and brought it into a courtyard, one should not continue eating until he tithes even if he departs from the courtyard. [18] When coriander is planted in a courtyard, one may pick it leaf by leaf and partake of it. If one gathers them together, he is obligated to tithe. Similar laws apply in all analogous situations.
Version: Mishneh Torah, trans. by Eliyahu Touger. Jerusalem, Moznaim Pub. c1986-c2007
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH001020101/NLI
License: CC-BY-NC