Maseches Maasros, Chapter 1, Mishnah 5. In the introduction to the masechta we set out the two main stages in the laws of maasros. The first is onas hamaasros - the stage at which produce becomes liable to maaser, which was the subject of the previous three mishnayos: from when the food becomes fit to be eaten. Once the fruit has reached this stage, a person may tithe it if he wishes, and the tithing takes effect, since the fruit is already considered food; before onas hamaasros, however, it is still unripe, and is not considered food fit for eating.
Even so, it has already been mentioned that it is not proper to tithe at this stage. It is preferable to let the food reach full ripeness, and then, at the point of gemar melachah, meaning the completion of the processing, to tithe it. In practice the obligation does not stem from the completion of the processing itself (although there is a rabbinic mitzvah to separate Terumah as early as possible, right there in the field), but rather from the prohibition against eating before tithing: before gemar melachah a person may eat from his produce in a casual manner, an incidental eating which is permitted; once the produce has reached gemar melachah, he may no longer eat from it even casually, not even by way of nibbling, until he first tithes it.
It emerges that the previous three mishnayos dealt with onas hamaasros - the earliest point at which one may tithe, while our mishnah comes to define from when the processing of the fruit, the vegetable or the grain is considered gemar melachah. One must be careful to note that these are not precisely overlapping terms: onas hamaasros refers to a stage in the ripening of the produce, while gemar melachah refers to a stage in the processing of the food, regardless of how ripe it is - assuming that it has at least reached onas hamaasros and is fit to be eaten. The two terms therefore relate to different stages in the farmer's production of his crop.
The rule for defining gemar melachah:
Just as with onas hamaasros the rule is from when the fruit is considered fit to be eaten, so too in the coming mishnayos, which define gemar melachah for each of the various species, the rule is the moment at which a person says: I have finished my work in the field, and from now on the produce is ready to be taken to the house, to the market for sale, or to storage, as the case may be. That is the end of that processing, and the produce is ready to be moved from its place.
"Eizehu goran lamaasros?":
The mishnah opens with the question "Eizehu goran lamaasros?" - what is the goren for maasros? The choice of the word "goren" requires explanation. A goren is a place of storage, something like a grain silo, and the base - the goren - is the threshing floor in front of that silo which stores the grain. Since the final stage in the production of grain is bringing it into the silo, the mishnah borrows this term and uses it in the sense of gemar melachah. That is: what is the gemar melachah of each of the foods, from which point on a person must tithe before he eats from them, even a casual eating.
"Hakishu'im vehadilu'im - mishayefakesu" - cucumbers and gourds, from when they are smoothed. "Pikus" is a kind of fuzz on the outer surface of cucumbers and the like, and "lefakes" means to rub and scrape off that fuzz. Once the fuzz has been removed, that is the final stage. "Ve'im eino mefakes - mishaya'amid areimah" - if he does not intend to remove the fuzz, the gemar melachah is when he has stacked the produce into a pile.
"Avatiach - mishayeshalek" - melons and watermelons, from when one smooths them: removing the blossom at the end or the fuzz on them and smoothing their surface. "Ve'im eino meshalek - ad sheya'aseh muktzeh" - if he does not intend to smooth them, for example because they are smooth on their own, their gemar melachah is when he stacks them and sets them aside. The word "muktzeh" means setting apart and placing to the side, and the same verb is used for laying out figs on the roof to dry. Melons are not piled one on top of another, since they would be crushed, ruined and mashed; rather they are laid out in a single row, one melon high. Once they have been arranged this way and set aside and are ready to be brought in, that is gemar melachah.
"Yarak hane'egad - mishaye'aged" - a vegetable that is normally bound together, such as carrots, its gemar melachah is when it is bound. "Ve'im eino oged - ad sheyemaleh es hakeli" - if he does not intend to bind them, the gemar melachah is when he fills the vessel with those vegetables. "Ve'im eino memaleh es hakeli - ad sheyelaket kol tzorcho" - if he does not intend to fill vessels, the gemar melachah is once he has gathered all the vegetables he intends to gather, and he is ready to leave the field with them.
"Kalkalah - ad sheyechapeh" - where one places the produce in a basket, the gemar melachah is when he covers the basket. The idea is that they would place something like a palm frond over the basket of cabbage or whatever species was inside, so that it should not dry out in the sun; that, then, is the final stage. "Ve'im eino mechapeh - ad sheyemaleh es hakeli" - once the vessel is filled, that is gemar melachah. "Ve'im eino memaleh es hakeli - ad sheyelaket kol tzorcho" - once he has gathered everything he needs and he is ready to leave the field, the work of gathering is complete and that is gemar melachah.
"Bameh devarim amurim? Bemolich lashuk":
This is a very important point: all those final stages defined as gemar melachah, from which point on one no longer eats casually, are stated regarding someone who intends to take his produce from the field to the market. In that case he has completely finished his work, and all that remains from here until he reaches the market is selling the produce.
In fact there is nothing special about the market as far as selling the produce is concerned: the man is ready to sell his produce, and he presumably would even have preferred to sell it to a buyer who came out to him at the farm. Taking it to the market is not part of the gemar melachah at all, but merely marketing. Therefore, once he has finished arranging the pile or any of the other actions listed for the vegetables, their processing is over, and already at that stage it is considered gemar melachah.
But where a person is bringing his produce to his house, as long as the produce has not arrived home it is not considered to have reached its gemar melachah: "ochel meihem arai ad shehu magia leveiso" - he may still eat from them casually and nibble lightly, until he brings them home. Whether it is enough for them to reach the courtyard, or whether they must actually be brought into the house itself, inside the entrance door, is a matter of dispute among the Amoraim. In any event, once the produce has reached the house, one may no longer eat from it casually, which is not the case beforehand.
Summary: In this Mishnah we moved from the stage of the season of tithes to the stage of gemar melachah - the definition of the completion of processing, from which point even casual eating is forbidden before tithing. We learned the meaning of the word 'goransan' as a borrowed term for the completion of processing, and the definitions of gemar melachah for cucumbers and gourds (removing the fuzz or setting them up in a pile), for watermelons (removing the fuzz or setting them out in a drying place), for vegetables that are bundled (bundling them, filling the vessel, or gathering all that one needs), and for a basket (covering it, filling the vessel, or gathering all that one needs). We also noted the distinction that all of this was said regarding one who is bringing the produce to the market, whereas for one who is bringing it to his home, the permission to eat casually continues until he reaches the house.
In the coming Mishnayos we will continue to define the completion of processing for the remaining types of produce and at the various stages of preparation.