Terumos, Chapter 11, Mishnah 3. In the previous mishnah we dealt with the law of fruit juices, and specifically with someone who presses dates in order to make date honey, apples in order to make apple juice, or grapes in order to make vinegar. In all of those cases we learned that the liquids themselves are considered, as a matter of practical halachah, like all other fruit juices - mere sweat, nothing more than moisture. Nevertheless, one should not do this at the outset, meaning that a Jew should not eat such foods.
Our mishnah teaches something new: at the outset it is even forbidden to extract these liquids, and there are two reasons for this:
Wasting Terumah produce: As we learned in the first mishnah of the chapter, we do not want produce to go to waste. This is Terumah produce, and when one presses dates in order to make honey from them, the pulp of the dates is lost.
Deviating from the normal manner of eating them: The usual way in which these fruits are meant to be eaten is as fruit, not as liquids.
The wording of the mishnah:
"Ein osin temarim devash" - one may not make date honey from dates.
"V'lo tapuchim yayin" - one may not make apple wine from apples.
"V'lo setavniyos chometz" - one may not make vinegar from late-ripening grapes.
Even though this was a common thing to do, it is considered a nullification of their normal use, and these are Terumah fruits that must be preserved and eaten in their usual manner.
The mishnah continues: "U'she'ar kol haperos ein meshanin osan mibrisan" - all other types of fruit may not be changed from their natural state, meaning by pressing them into liquids and the like. There are two reasons for this:
"BiTerumah" - because Terumah produce may not be wasted.
"Uv'maaser sheni" - because maaser sheni produce must be brought up to Jerusalem and eaten there. It has sanctity, and one may not ruin it by changing it from its natural state.
There are two exceptions to this rule: "Ela zeisim va'anavim bilvad". The reason is that with these two fruits, when a person plants an olive tree or a vine, his entire plan and the ultimate product of the plant is olive oil or grape juice and wine. For that reason it is entirely permitted to extract the olive oil and the grape juice and to turn it into wine.
The law of orlah:
The mishnah goes on to say: "Ein sofgin arba'im mishum orlah ela al hayotzei min hazeisim umin ha'anavim". Here we have a new halachah that has nothing to do with Terumah at all, but rather with ordinary fruit juices: someone who consumes the juice of orlah fruit - the product is indeed forbidden, but he is not lashed for actually eating orlah, because the liquids are considered mere sweat, moisture alone and not the fruit itself.
What is orlah? Orlah is the prohibition that applies to fruit that comes from fruit trees during the first three years of that tree's life. Any fruit it produces is forbidden as orlah. Therefore, someone who has a two-year-old apple tree and made apple juice from its fruit - the juice is forbidden, but there are no Torah-level lashes for drinking it, whereas one who eats the apple itself has eaten orlah and is liable to lashes.
The exceptions are the liquids that come from olives and grapes, that is, olive oil, grape juice and wine. One who drinks wine from a vine that is three years old or less has done exactly what one does when eating regular orlah, precisely as if he had eaten the grape itself, and he is liable to lashes.
Bikkurim:
The next section of the Mishnah deals with fruit juices in the context of bikkurim. Bikkurim are the first fruits that a person brings to the Beis HaMikdash in order to thank Hashem for his crop and for the fact that he is in Eretz Yisrael and owns land there. This obligation applies only to the seven species with which Eretz Yisrael is praised: wheat and barley, olives, dates, grapes, figs and pomegranates. When a person sees the first pomegranate beginning to grow on his tree, he ties a red string around it and marks it as one of the first pomegranates; and when they ripen, he gathers them, brings them to the Beis HaMikdash, waves them together with the kohen and gives them to him as bikkurim.
The question is what the law is regarding fruit juices: may one bring pomegranate juice instead of pomegranates as a gift and wave it as bikkurim? On this the Mishnah says: "Ein mevi'in bikkurim mashkin ela hayotz'in min hazeisim umin ha'anavim" - one may not bring bikkurim in liquid form, such as pomegranate juice. The exceptions are olive oil and wine, which may be brought, and are even the ideal offering.
Tumah of liquids:
The Mishnah then speaks about the tumah of liquids, as we discussed earlier: of all the liquids that come out of fruits, not one of them is susceptible to tumah, nor does it enable food to receive tumah. Here there are two exceptions: olive oil and grape juice, which are among the seven liquids - the mnemonic Yad Shachat Dam (wine, honey, oil, milk, dew, blood, water). These do become tamei, they transmit tumah, and they enable food to receive tumah.
On the altar:
And finally, there is no way for fruit juices to come onto the altar, and there is no way to bring them as an offering - pomegranate juice is simply not offered. And again, there are two exceptions: olive oil, which is mixed into many meal offerings and goes up on the altar, at least the kometz - whatever is offered is offered; and grapes, from which wine is produced, and wine is offered on the altar as libations that are poured out, accompanying shelamim and olos.