Mishnah Challah

1 Five species of grains are subject to the law of hallah: wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. These are subject to hallah, and doughs made from different types of these grains are counted together with one another as one quantity. And their “new” harvest is prohibited prior to Pesah, and they are subject to the prohibition of reaping prior to the Omer. If they took root prior to the Omer, the Omer permits them. If not, they are prohibited until the next Omer has come.

2 If one has eaten on Pesah an olive-size piece of matzah made from these five, he has fulfilled his obligation. If he ate on Pesah an olive-size piece of hametz made of these grains, he is liable for karet. If one of these grains, having become leavened, became mixed with any other species, one must remove it on Pesah. If one has vowed to abstain from consuming bread and tevuah, produce, he is prohibited from consuming these five species, the words of Rabbi Meir. The sages say: if one has vowed to abstain from consuming dagan, he is prohibited only from consuming these species. They are subject to hallah and tithes.

3 The following are subject to hallah, but exempt from tithes: gleanings, the forgotten sheaf, peah, ownerless produce, first tithe from which terumah has been removed, second tithe and consecrated produce that has been redeemed, what is left over from the Omer, and grain that has not grown one-third ripe. Rabbi Eliezer says: grain that has not grown one-third ripe is exempt also from hallah.

4 The following are liable for tithes, but exempt from hallah: rice, millet, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, pulse, and less than five-fourths of a kav of the five kinds of grain. Sponge cakes, honey cakes, dumplings, a cake cooked in a pan and medumma are exempt from hallah.

5 Dough that was originally intended for sponge cakes, and in the end is cooked as a sponge cake, is exempt from hallah. If it was originally ordinary dough, but in the end cooked as sponge cakes, or if it was originally intended for sponge cakes, but finally cooked as ordinary dough, it is subject to hallah. Similarly, bread crumbs, kenuvkaot, are subject to hallah.

6 Meisah: Bet Shammai exempts from hallah, and Bet Hillel makes liable for hallah. Halita: Bet Shammai makes liable, and Bet Hillel exempts. The loaves of the thanksgiving sacrifice and the wafers of a nazirite: if one made them for oneself, they are exempt from hallah. If one made them to sell in the market, they are subject to hallah.

7 If a baker made dough to divide it into pieces, it is subject to hallah. If women gave flour to a baker to make dough for them, and no one of them has a minimum measure, it is exempt from hallah.

8 Dough for dogs: if shepherds eat it, it is subject to hallah, and one may use it to make an eruv or a shittuf; and one should say the blessings over it, and one should make an invitation for Birkat Hamazon over it; and it may be made on a festival; and one fulfills his obligation with it on Pesah. But if shepherds do not eat it, it is not subject to hallah; and one may not use it to make an eruv or a shittuf; and one does not say the blessings over it, and one does not make an invitation for Birkat Hamazon over it; and it may not be made on a festival; and one does not fulfill his obligation with it on Pesah. In either case it is susceptible to ritual defilement affecting food.

9 In the case of hallah and terumah: one is liable for death for having eaten them intentionally, or to repay an added fifth if unwittingly; they are forbidden to non-priests; they are the property of the priest; they are nullified in a mixture of one hundred and one parts, the rest being non-sacred dough or produce; they require washing of one’s hands and waiting until the setting of the sun prior to eating them; and they may not be separated from pure produce for impure, but only from what is close by and from what is in a finished state. If one said: “All my threshing floor is terumah, or all my dough is hallah,” he has not said anything, unless he has left some of it.

1 Produce grown outside the land of Israel that came into the land is subject to hallah. If it went out from here to there: Rabbi Eliezer makes it liable, but Rabbi Akiva makes it exempt.

2 If earth from outside the land came to the land of Israel in a boat, the produce grown in it is subject to tithes and to the law relating to the seventh year. Rabbi Judah: when does this apply? When the boat touches the ground. Dough which has been kneaded with fruit juice is subject to hallah, and may be eaten with unclean hands.

3 A woman may sit and separate hallah while she is naked, since she can cover herself, but a man may not. If one is not able to make one’s dough in cleanness he should make it in separate kavs, rather than make it in uncleanness. But Rabbi Akiva says: let him make it in uncleanness rather than make it in separate kavs, for just as he names the clean, so he names the unclean: this one he calls hallah with the Name, and the other he also calls hallah with the Name, but separate kavs have no portion devoted to the Name.

4 If one makes his dough in separate kavs and they touch one another, they are exempt from hallah unless they stick together. Rabbi Eliezer says: also if one takes out loaves from an oven and puts them into a basket, the basket joins them together for the purposes of hallah.

5 If one separates his hallah while it is still flour, it is not hallah, and in the hand of a priest it is considered stolen property. The dough is still subject to hallah, and the flour, if it has the minimum quantity, is also subject to hallah. And it is prohibited to non-priests, the words of Rabbi Joshua. They said to him: It once happened that a sage who was not a priest seized it for himself. He said to them: He did something damaging to himself, but he benefited others.

6 Five-fourths of a kav of flour are subject to hallah. If their leaven, their light bran and their coarse bran make up the five-fourths, they are subject. If their coarse bran had been removed from them and returned to them, they are exempt.

7 The minimum measure of hallah is one twenty-fourth part of the dough. If he makes dough for himself, or if he makes it for his son’s wedding banquet, it is one twenty-fourth. If a baker makes it to sell in the market, and so also if a woman makes it to sell in the market, it is one forty-eighth. If dough is made unclean either unwittingly or by an unforeseeable circumstance, it is one forty-eighth. If it was made unclean intentionally, it is one twenty-fourth, in order that a sinner should not profit.

8 Rabbi Eliezer says: Hallah may be taken from dough that is clean, in order to exempt that which is unclean. How may this be done? If one has clean dough and unclean dough, he takes sufficient hallah out of the clean dough whose hallah has not yet been taken, and puts dough less than the size of an egg in the middle, so that he may take the hallah from what is close together. But the sages prohibit.

1 One may snack from dough until it is rolled, in the case of wheat flour, or before it is made into a solid mass, in the case of barley flour. Once one has rolled it in the case of wheat flour, or made it into a solid mass, in the case of barley flour, one who eats it is liable for death at the hands of heaven. As soon as she puts in the water she should lift out the hallah, provided that there are not five-fourths of a kav of flour left there.

2 If dough became medumma before she had rolled it, it is exempt from hallah. If after she had rolled it, it is subject to hallah. If a case of doubtful uncleanness occurred to her before she had rolled it, it may be completed in uncleanness. If after she had rolled it, it should be completed in cleanness.

3 If she dedicated her dough to the Temple before rolling it, and then redeemed it, it is subject to hallah. If she dedicated it after rolling it, and redeemed it, it is subject to hallah. But if she dedicated it before rolling it, and the Temple treasurer rolled it, and after that she redeemed it, it is exempt, since at the time of its obligation it was exempt.

4 Similarly, if one dedicated his produce prior to the stage when they are subject to tithes and then redeemed them, they are liable to be tithed. If he dedicated them when they had already become subject to tithes and then redeemed them, they are liable to be tithed. If he dedicated them before they had ripened, and they became ripe while in the possession of the Temple treasurer, and he then redeemed them, they are exempt, since at the time when they would have been liable, they were exempt.

5 If a Gentile gave flour to an Israelite to make for him dough, it is exempt from hallah. If the Gentile gave it to him as a gift, before rolling it, he is liable. If after rolling it, he is exempt. If one makes dough together with a Gentile, then if the portion of the Israelite does not have the minimum measure subject to hallah, it is exempt from hallah.

6 A convert who had dough when he converted: if it was made before he became a convert, he is exempt from hallah. After he converted, he is liable. And if there is doubt, he is liable, but a non-priest who has unwittingly eaten of such hallah is not liable for the additional one-fifth. Rabbi Akiva said: it all depends on the time of the formation of the light crust in the oven.

7 If one makes dough from wheat flour and rice flour, and it has the taste of grain, it is subject to hallah, and one can fulfill one’s obligation with it on Pesah. But if it does not have the taste of grain, it is not subject to hallah, and one cannot fulfill one’s obligation with it on Pesah.

8 One who takes leaven out of dough from which hallah had not been taken and puts it into dough from which hallah had been taken: if he has a supply from another place, he can take out hallah in accordance with the precise amount. But if he does not, he takes out one portion of hallah for the whole dough.

9 Similarly, if olives of regular picking became mixed with olives left over for striking-off by the poor, or grapes of regular picking with grapes left over for gleaning by the poor: if he has a supply from another place, he can take out terumah and tithes in accordance with the precise amount. But if he does not, he takes out one terumah and terumat maaser for all of the grapes. And as for the rest, he takes out tithe and the second tithe in accordance with the precise amount.

10 One who takes leaven from a dough of wheat flour and puts it into dough of rice flour, then if it has the taste of grain, it is subject to hallah, but if not, it is exempt. If so, why did they say: “Untithed produce of any amount renders food prohibited”? That is with regard to a mixture of a species with its own species, but with regard to a mixture of a species not with its own species, only when it imparts taste.

1 Two women who made separate doughs from two separate kavs, and these doughs touched one another, even if they are of the same species, they are exempt from hallah. When they belong to one woman: if one species comes into contact with the same species, they are subject to hallah. If different species, they are exempt.

2 What counts as a species with its same species? Wheat is not counted together with any species other than with spelt. Barley is counted together with all species except wheat. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri says: the rest of the species are counted together with one another.

3 If there are two doughs from two separate kavs, and a kav of rice dough or a kav of terumah dough lying between, they are not counted together. If there was dough from which hallah had already been taken lying between, they are counted together, since it had once been subject to hallah.

4 A kav of dough made from new grain and a kav of dough from old grain that are stuck together, Rabbi Ishmael says: let him take hallah from the middle, but the sages prohibit it. If one has taken hallah from dough made out of one kav, Rabbi Akiva says: it is hallah, but the sages say: it is not hallah.

5 Two separate kavs of dough, this one had its hallah removed on its own, and this one had its hallah removed on its own, and then he went back and made of them one dough: Rabbi Akiva exempts it, but the sages make it liable. It turns out that the stringency of his first ruling leads to the leniency of his other ruling.

6 A man may take the requisite amount for hallah out of clean dough from which hallah has not previously been removed in order to remove it in a state of cleanness in order to go on separating hallah from it for unclean demai, until it becomes putrid, since hallah for demai may be taken from clean dough for unclean dough, and from one dough for another dough which is not in close proximity.

7 An Israelite who was a tenant of a non-Jew in Syria: Rabbi Eliezer makes their produce liable to tithes and to the law of the sabbatical year, but Rabban Gamaliel makes it exempt. Rabban Gamaliel says: one is to give two hallah-portions in Syria, but Rabbi Eliezer says: only one hallah-portion. They adopted the lenient ruling of Rabban Gamaliel and the lenient ruling of Rabbi Eliezer. Eventually they went back and acted in accordance with Rabban Gamaliel in both respects.

8 Rabban Gamaliel says: there are three territories with regard to liability to hallah: from the land of Israel to Chezib: one hallah-portion. From Chezib to the river and to Amanah: two hallah-portions. One for the fire and one for the priest. The one for the fire has a minimum measure, and the one for the priest does not have a minimum measure. From the river and from Amanah and inward: two hallah-portions. One for the fire and one for the priest. The one for the fire has no minimum measure, and the one for the priest has a minimum measure. And a priest who has immersed himself during the day and has not waited till sunset for his purification to be complete may eat it. Rabbi Yose says: he does not require immersion. But it is forbidden to zavim and zavot, to menstruants, and to women after childbirth. It may be eaten with a non-priest at the same table, and it may be given to any priest.

9 These may be given to any priest: devoted things, haramim; firstlings; the redemption of the firstborn; the lamb substituted as ransom for the firstling of a donkey; the shoulder, the two cheeks and the maw; the first of the fleece; oil fit only for burning; consecrated food which must be eaten within the Temple; and bikkurim. Rabbi Judah prohibits bikkurim. Vetches of terumah: Rabbi Akiva permits, but the sages prohibit.

10 Nittai of Tekoa brought hallah-portions from Be-Yitur, but they did not accept from him. The people of Alexandria brought hallah, but they did not accept from them. The people from Mount Zevoim brought bikkurim prior to Atzeret, Shavuot, but they did not accept from them, for it is written in the Torah: “And the festival of the harvest, the firstfruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field”Exodus 23:16.

11 Ben Antigonus brought up firstlings from Babylon, but they did not accept from him. Joseph the priest brought first fruits of wine and oil, but they did not accept from him. He also brought up his sons and members of his household to celebrate Pesah katan in Jerusalem, but they turned him back, so that the thing should not become firmly fixed as an obligation. Ariston brought his first fruits from Apamea and they accepted from him, because they said, one who buys a field in Syria is as one who buys a field in the outskirts of Jerusalem.