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11 [1] It is forbidden to sell *demai* to a common person or to send *demai* [as a present to a common person], because one assists him in partaking of forbidden food. It can, however, be sold or sent to a Torah scholar, for a Torah scholar will not partake of it until he tithes it or until a trustworthy person tells him that it has been tithed. [2] All of those who add to the measure when they sell in large quantities, e.g., wholesalers and grain merchants are permitted to sell and send *demai* [as a present]. Since they add to the measure, our Sages ordained that the purchaser or the recipient be the one who separates the tithes from the *demai*. When, by contrast, people measure with a small measure, since the seller is the one who profits, he should make the separations. [Hence,] he should not sell or send [produce] unless the appropriate separations have been made. [3] What is meant by a large measure? With regard to dry measure, half a *se'ah*; with regard to liquid measure, something that holds a *dinar's* worth of the said liquid. [4] Even though a person sells baskets of olives and grapes or containers of vegetables by estimation, he is forbidden to sell them as *demai*. [5] If one of them, [either the seller or the buyer] - whether the sale is made with a small measure or a large measure - says: "Come let us make the separations for this produce," the seller should separate *terumat ma'aser* and the purchaser should separate the second tithe. This is an edict of the court. [6] When a *chavair* and a common person inherit [the estate] of their father who was a common person, [the *chavair*] may say: "Take the wheat in this-and-this place and I will take the wheat in this-and-that place. Take the wine in this-and-this place and I will take the wine in this-and-that place." He should not say: "Take wheat and I will take the barley. Take the produce that is fresh and I will take what is dry," for this is considered as selling *demai*. [7] When a person is carrying [a load of] vegetables, his load becomes heavy for him and he desires to cast some vegetables on the road to lessen his burden, he should not cast them away until he tithes them. [This is necessary] so that it shall not create a stumbling block for the common people who consume *demai*. [8] When a person purchases vegetables from the market and draws them into his possession, even though he did not weigh them, measure them, or pay for them, if he changes his mind and returns them to the owner of the store, he should not return them until he tithes them. [9] [The following laws apply when a person] discovers produce on the way. If the majority [of the local populace] bring the produce to their homes, he is not required to tithe it, for the obligation to tithe has not yet taken effect. If, however, the majority bring it to sell in the marketplace, it is considered as *demai*. If the ratio is half and half, it is considered as *demai*. [10] If a person took [the produce] with the intent of partaking of it and changed his mind [and decided to] store it, he should not keep it until he tithes it, so that it will not present a stumbling block to others. If he took it originally only so that it would not perish, he can store it until he desires to partake of it, send it [as a present], or sell it. At that point, he should tithe it as *demai*. [11] The extremities of vegetables that are found in a garden are exempt from [the laws of] *demai*. Those that belong to a homeowner and found in his home are obligated [to be tithed]. Those on a dung heap - wherever it is found - are permitted. [12] When a person gives [produce] to a female inn-keeper to cook or bake for him, he must tithe what he gives her - lest it present a stumbling block to others - and what he receives from her, for she is suspect to exchange produce belonging to one person for that belonging to another. He may, by contrast, give produce to his mother-in-law - whether her daughter is his *arusah* or his wife - or to his neighbor to cook or bake for him and he need not show concern, neither for tithes, nor for produce of the Sabbatical year, because [these individuals] are not suspect to exchange produce.
When does the above apply? When he [also] gave her yeast for a dough and spices for a cooked dish. If he did not, we must show concern because of the tithes and because of [produce of] the Sabbatical year. Therefore in the Sabbatical year, [the bread] is forbidden, for perhaps the yeast came from produce that grew in the Sabbatical year. [13] When a person brings wheat to a miller who is a common person, he may assume that their status is unchanged. He is not suspect to exchange it [for other wheat]. If he brought them to a gentile miller, they are *demai*; [we suspect] that he exchanged it for the wheat of a common person. Similarly, if one entrusts [produce] to a common person for safe-keeping, it is permitted. He is not suspect to exchange the produce entrusted to him. [14] When a common person is managing a store belonging to a *chavair*, it is permitted [to partake of the produce]. We do not suspect that he exchanged it. [This applies] even if the *chavair* [only] goes in and out [of the store from time to time]. [15] When produce was entrusted to a gentile for safekeeping, [the produce one receives is] considered as the gentile's produce, for we assume that he exchanged it for his own produce.
What are laws that govern it? If the tasks necessary to prepare the produce were not completed as of yet and they were completed by the Jew after he took back the produce he entrusted, he must separate the tithes as we explained. If the produce that he entrusted was *tevel* and the tasks necessary for its preparation were completed, he is obligated to separate the tithes, for perhaps the gentile did not exchange it. For this reason, it appears to me, that the status of the tithes he separates is doubtful.
If he entrusted ordinary produce from which the required separations were made, he is not obligated to separate anything, for even if the gentile exchanged [it for his own], it is exempt. As we explained in *Hilchot Terumot*, [the obligation to tithe] is on "your grain," and not the grain of a gentile.
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