Terumos chapter 4, mishnah 11. This mishnah is a direct continuation of the previous one, and in it we see the principles illustrated in practice, through the dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua over the question: does location determine the matter when chullin and Terumah are combined together, with regard to the law of a Terumah mixture (medumah)?
A reminder of the two approaches:
Rabbi Yehoshua - the stringent view: if we know where the Terumah is located, chullin that could not possibly be included in that same location cannot be counted toward the hundred parts of chullin needed to nullify the Terumah and permit the mixture.
Rabbi Eliezer - the lenient view: location does not determine the matter. Even if we know that the Terumah is sitting on top by itself, the entire quantity of the chullin and the Terumah that lie one on top of the other joins together to complete the hundred, even though they are not genuinely mixed but merely combined.
The wording of the mishnah and the case:
"Se'ah Terumah shenaflah al pi megurah" - one se'ah, a single unit of Terumah, fell onto the mouth of the megurah. A megurah is the storage chamber in which grain is kept. The megurah is full of chullin grain, and onto it fell one bucket - a se'ah of Terumah grain.
"Vekafa'ah" - he skimmed off the top layer. Since we know that the Terumah is somewhere up above, we remove the entire upper layer that might contain Terumah grain. Understandably, in the end far more than a single se'ah is removed, since it is impossible to know exactly where the Terumah ends and the chullin begins at the top of the megurah, and therefore one takes off as much of the upper layer as is necessary.
After the skimming, we are left with two separate piles:
What remains in the megurah - pure chullin.
What was skimmed off the top of the megurah - a combination of Terumah and chullin.
The question is how to treat the Terumah: has it been nullified in the mixture of chullin? We are dealing with a case in which the megurah originally contained a hundred units of chullin or more. Once the se'ah of Terumah fell into them, we have one unit of Terumah against a hundred units of chullin, and in the end the mixture is permitted. But now the top layer has been identified and set apart - is that enough to change the ruling?
Rabbi Eliezer's approach:
Rabbi Eliezer says: "Im yesh bakafuy me'ah se'ah - ta'aleh be'echad ume'ah". In his view, as long as there were a hundred of chullin in the megurah before the se'ah of Terumah fell in, it makes no difference that one skimmed off the top and thereby created two portions - the one that we know with certainty contains no Terumah at all and remained in the megurah, and the one that is a combination of Terumah and chullin. For location does not determine the matter: the moment the se'ah of Terumah fell in, it was immediately nullified, and the entire mixture is permitted, provided that there were a hundred of chullin there at the time it fell. Skimming off the top changes nothing.
A look at the plain wording of the mishnah does not seem to bear this out. Translated literally: "Im yesh bakafuy me'ah se'ah" - if that upper layer that was skimmed off contains a hundred se'ah, "ta'aleh be'echad ume'ah". But the words are not to be understood literally, rather as explained above.
This is how the Bartenura explains it in the name of the Yerushalmi, that the Mishnah is saying as follows: "im yesh bakafui" - in that upper layer that was scooped off, "im mah shetachtav" - together with what remained beneath it in the storage bin, "echad u'meah" - a total of one hundred and one, meaning the one that fell in plus another hundred, "ta'aleh" - it is all considered nullified and the entire mixture is permitted. The novelty here is that even though the doubtful portion on top and the definitely unconsecrated portion below have been separated and defined, that does not determine the law. This is the position of Rabbi Eliezer.
The position of Rabbi Yehoshua:
Rabbi Yehoshua disagrees and rules stringently: location does determine the law, and since we know that the Terumah is on top, we may not combine what lies below - which is certainly not a mixture of unconsecrated produce and Terumah - in order to reach a hundred. Therefore, "se'ah Terumah shenaflah al pi megurah - yakpi'enah": one must scoop off the upper layer and make a calculation. If that upper layer contains one hundred and one se'ah, it too is permitted. But usually that is not the case, and then one scoops off everything that is in doubt and leaves the bottom layer. The bottom layer, which is pure unconsecrated produce, is certainly permitted; but the upper layer - assuming it does not contain a hundred parts of unconsecrated produce against the one part of Terumah, that is, that the scooped portion does not amount to one hundred and one se'ah - that entire mixture is medumah, and none of it may be eaten at all.
It emerges according to Rabbi Yehoshua that one is obligated to scoop off the upper layer and may not rely on the lenient assumption. One must scoop off as much as possible and treat all of it as a medumah mixture, even though, had he not scooped, there might have been a hundred parts of unconsecrated produce within the whole mixture against the se'ah that fell in. One may not do so and may not rely on that.
Here too the language of the Mishnah does not flow smoothly: from Rabbi Yehoshua's words "lo ta'aleh" it emerges that the se'ah that fell in is not nullified by the hundred beneath it, while the continuation appears to be a sentence standing on its own. The Bartenura, however, explains that this too is part of Rabbi Yehoshua's statement: when a single se'ah falls in, one is obligated to scoop off the upper portion, even though this creates a mixture that is definitely medumah out of what was scooped, since that was the situation in any case.
And if this is the law, a question arises: the well known rule is that one that fell into a hundred, that is, a se'ah of Terumah that fell into a hundred of unconsecrated produce, renders the mixture permitted. When, then, would this rule ever apply? If according to Rabbi Yehoshua one is obligated to scoop off the upper layer and remove everything included in the doubt, why do we state the rule that one that fell into a hundred is permitted? According to him it is not permitted, since there is an obligation to scoop and not to allow the problem to be resolved by way of nullification.
Rabbi Yehoshua answers that the rule was stated only where it is not known how the mixture came about or where that Terumah fell. In such a case all the unconsecrated produce in the mixture is included in the question mark, and there is nothing to scoop off - for it is impossible to scoop a particular layer off the mixture when it is not known where the original Terumah fell. But when it is known where the Terumah fell and it is known that it did not actually become intermingled, one is obligated to draw out everything that is included in the doubt.
And if that combination of Terumah and unconsecrated produce that was drawn out does not amount to one hundred and one times the quantity of Terumah that fell in - then what was drawn out is medumah and forbidden to eat, and it must be sold to a kohen at the price of unconsecrated produce, and it may not be credited against the Terumah that is owed to him. But what remains behind, the portion that certainly contains no Terumah, is entirely permitted to eat even at the outset, without any concern whatsoever. And this is the halachah, in accordance with Rabbi Yehoshua.
In summary: In this Mishnah, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua disagree about a se'ah of Terumah that fell onto the top of a storage bin and the upper layer was scooped off. According to Rabbi Eliezer, location does not determine the law, and it is enough that the bin contained a hundred of unconsecrated produce at the moment it fell in for everything to be nullified in one hundred and one. According to Rabbi Yehoshua, location does determine the law, and one is obligated to scoop off everything included in the doubt: what is scooped off is medumah - unless it itself contains one hundred and one se'ah - and what remains below is permitted unconsecrated produce. The rule of nullification in one hundred and one was stated only when it is not known where the Terumah fell, and the halachah follows Rabbi Yehoshua.