Chullin, Chapter 1, Mishnah 7. The two previous mishnayot placed two similar items side by side and showed that despite the resemblance, a law that governs one of them does not govern the other. Our mishnah moves in a different direction: it presents single items that pass through two distinct stages, and it shows how the halachah shifts as the item moves from the one stage to the next.
Temed before and after it ferments
The first case is temed. Temed was produced by soaking grape skins and pits (or the residue of pressed grapes) in water. The result was water that carried a wine flavor. Later, however, the mixture would ferment and turn into genuine wine, though of very low quality. Two stages, and therefore two sets of laws.
The mishnah's words: "Hatemed, ad shelo hechmitz, eino nikach bechesef ma'aser." Before fermentation sets in, coins of ma'aser sheni cannot be used to acquire temed. The background is this: someone whose ma'aser sheni produce cannot be brought up to Yerushalayim transfers its holiness onto money, brings those coins to the city, and there acquires food with them. Water, however, does not count as food for this purpose, and a person may not lay out such coins on it. Since temed that has not yet fermented is legally nothing more than water, it lies outside what that money can buy.
"Uposeil et hamikveh." For the very same reason, unfermented temed can invalidate a mikveh. A mikveh requires forty se'ah, and that water must be rainwater. If mayim she'uvim, drawn water that was gathered in a vessel, is added while the mikveh is still short of forty se'ah (say it holds thirty nine and a half se'ah), the entire mikveh is ruined, and it remains ruined no matter how much rainwater is later poured in. Any drawn water counted within that initial forty se'ah renders the whole mikveh pasul. Temed that was held in a vessel and then fell into such a mikveh is treated as drawn water and disqualifies it.
"Umishehechmitz", from the moment fermentation has taken place and the liquid counts as wine, "nikach bechesef ma'aser": the coins of ma'aser sheni may now be spent on it, for what stands before us is wine and not water. "Ve'eino poseil et hamikveh": neither does it ruin a mikveh should it fall in while the forty se'ah are still incomplete. Only drawn water inflicts that damage, and this liquid is wine.
Brothers who inherit: kalbon and ma'aser behemah
The mishnah turns to brothers who inherited their father's estate. Two situations are contrasted: brothers who have not yet divided the estate, and brothers who divided it and afterward pooled their portions back together.
"Ha'achim hashutafin, keshechayavin bakalbon peturin mima'aser behemah." A kalbon is a modest premium tacked onto the yearly machatzit hashekel that each man gives, added to cover the possibility that the coin he hands over holds a trifle less silver than the half shekel demands. This premium is charged only when a man pays from funds that belong to him. Brothers who inherited, split the estate between them, and afterward recombined their shares are drawing on money that is plainly their own, so each owes the kalbon. In that very same circumstance, though, no ma'aser behemah rests upon them. Ma'aser behemah is the tenth separated from the animals that one's herds and flocks of cattle, sheep, and goats produce over the year, and since these animals came into the world after the shares were pooled, the brothers hold them as a partnership; from the pesukim we learn that animals owned jointly are exempt from this tithe.
"Ukeshechayavin bema'aser behemah, peturin min hakalbon." Reverse the case: the brothers never divided the estate. Now they are not partners at all; the property still carries the status of their father's estate, and ma'aser behemah applies to it. And precisely because the machatzit hashekel is coming out of the father's estate, it is as though the father is paying on their behalf, and a pasuk teaches that when one person pays another's machatzit hashekel, the kalbon is not owed. So here they are obligated in ma'aser behemah and exempt from the kalbon.
The right of sale and the fine
The Torah grants the father of a ketanah the right to sell her as an amah ivriyah for a term of six years, and she goes free once she reaches the stage of na'arah, even if the six years have not elapsed.
"Kol makom sheyesh mecher, ein kenas." Wherever the father's right of sale exists, that is, while she is a ketanah, there is no fine imposed on a man who seduces her or forces her. The Torah obligates a payment of fifty shekel to the father in the case of a na'arah; it does not apply to a girl younger than that stage, nor to one who has passed it. "Vechol makom sheyesh kenas, ein mecher." Wherever the fine does apply, meaning she is already a na'arah, the right of sale has lapsed, since only a ketanah may be sold.
Mi'un and chalitzah
The Torah empowers a father to give his daughter in marriage during her years as a ketanah, and such a kiddushin takes full effect; once made, it comes to an end only if the husband hands her a get or if one of the spouses dies. Should the father no longer be alive, neither her mother nor her brothers hold any Torah level power to marry her off. To see to the needs of such a girl, the Chachamim established a marriage that operates on the rabbinic plane, and they gave her the ability to walk out of it herself by announcing that this husband is not wanted. That announcement is mi'un, refusal. The marriage terminates on the spot, and no get enters the picture. The tool belongs to a ketanah alone, however: from the moment she is a na'arah, only a get will end the marriage.
Chalitzah arises where a man passes away without leaving children. The Torah's mitzvah is that a surviving brother take the widow as his wife and raise up offspring through her, and that union is yibum; until the matter is settled she may not marry outside the family. Should the brothers prefer not to carry out yibum, one of them frees her through chalitzah.
The mishnah declares: "Kol makom sheyesh mi'un", wherever refusal is an option, that is, throughout her years as a ketanah, "ein chalitzah", chalitzah cannot be done, because the woman who removes the shoe must have reached at least the stage of na'arah. And in the opposite direction: "Vechol makom sheyesh chalitzah", once she has grown up and chalitzah is available, "ein mi'un", refusal no longer works, since that path is open to a ketanah alone.
The shofar blast and havdalah
Yom Tov is more lenient than Shabbat: cooking and the other melachot connected to preparing food, eating, and simchat Yom Tov are permitted. The mishnah now examines the seam between the two, when Yom Tov falls on a Friday or on a Sunday.
"Kol makom sheyesh teki'ah", wherever there is a shofar blast, "ein havdalah". The blowing spoken of here was a set of shofar soundings made as Friday afternoon wore on, notifying the town that work had to cease with Shabbat drawing near, followed by three further soundings at the moment Shabbat entered; the identical procedure preceded Yom Tov. In any situation calling for those soundings, havdalah is not recited. Havdalah is the berachah said as Shabbat or Yom Tov takes its leave, giving voice to the move from a day when melachot were off limits to weekdays when they are freely done. And the converse: "Vechol makom sheyesh havdalah", wherever havdalah has its place, "ein teki'ah".
The mishnah now lays out both halves. "Yom Tov shechal lihyot", a festival that comes out "be'erev Shabbat", on a Friday: "tok'in velo mavdilin." The shofar is sounded during that Friday afternoon, notifying the community that a new stage is arriving. Melachot connected with food had been open all day long and are about to be locked away, and the blasts publicize it. Yet when the festival exits on Friday evening we say no havdalah, because nothing that Yom Tov forbade turns permissible with the arrival of Shabbat. No restriction is being lifted, so there is no shift to declare. Havdalah accompanies a step down from stronger sanctity to weaker, never a step upward, and the kedushah of Shabbat outranks that of Yom Tov. The shofar, conversely, sounds precisely because more is being demanded of us: the license to cook is closing.
A side point worth noting: playing a musical instrument is ordinarily forbidden on Shabbat and Yom Tov by rabbinic decree, and the shofar is included in that prohibition. Yet in this specific case the Chachamim permitted blowing it on a Yom Tov that fell on Friday, in order to prevent people from carrying their food preparation into Shabbat itself. Having spent the whole festival day cooking, a person could easily slip into doing the same once Shabbat began.
"Uvemotza'ei Shabbat mavdilin velo tok'in." Take Yom Tov landing on a Sunday, so that Shabbat yields to the festival as Saturday night arrives: havdalah is recited, for the melachot of food preparation that Shabbat had barred now open up. The shofar, though, stays silent that Shabbat afternoon, since no activity Shabbat had allowed is heading toward prohibition. Those blasts exist as an alert, and in this direction there is nothing to alert anyone about.
The wording of that havdalah
"Keitzad mavdilin?" Having settled that a Shabbat running straight into Yom Tov calls for havdalah, the mishnah wants to know the wording. "Hamavdil bein kodesh lekodesh": who divides holiness from holiness. "Rabbi Dosa omer: bein kodesh chamur lekodesh hakal", in Rabbi Dosa's version we declare that He divides a heavier holiness from a lighter one. Sanctity comes in degrees even when both days are holy, and it is exactly those degrees that we articulate before Hashem.