One Fig at a Time
Maaseros 2:5
The case is…
You go to an orchard to buy figs. You say to the farmer, “Here, take this coin, and give me 5 figs.”
The question is…
Do you have to be mafrish terumos and maaseros before eating the figs?
The opinions are…
This is a machlokess. Rebbe Meir is machmir and says you cannot eat any of them without being mafrish. Rebbe Yehudah is makel and says you can eat one at a time without being mafrish.
The qualifications are…
Their machlokess is davka in a case where the farmer picked the figs and handed them to you one at a time. However, if you pick the figs yourself, Rebbe Meir agrees that you’re allowed to eat the figs one at a time without being mafrish. Alternatively, if the farmer picked several figs at once and handed them to you, then even Rebbe Yehudah agrees that you cannot eat before being mafrish.
The proof is…
In support of his machmir view, Rebbe Yehudah recounts that in the Jerusalem rose garden which didn’t allow shoppers to enter and pick for themselves, nobody ever was mafrish.
The conclusion is…
The halacha follows Rebbe Yehudah that one does not have to be mafrish.
