Deuteronómio 26:14 Comentario: Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Ramban & Rashbam

לא אכלתי באני ממנו I HAVE NOT EATEN THEREOF IN MY MOURNING — From here we may derive that it (partaking of sacred gifts) is forbidden to an אונן (a technical term for the near relatives of a deceased, from the period of death to burial) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 303:15; Mishnah Bikkurim 2:2).

I have not eaten it in my mourning as in “son of my mourning” [Genesis 35: 18] or “bread of mourners [Hosea 9: 4].” This word’s meaning (to which I alluded in my treatise on the Hebrew language) is the same as “while I was mourning” — to wit: I did not eat anything sanctified as the tithe, while I was in mourning.

I HAVE NOT EATEN THEREOF IN MY MOURNING. Even though the avowal¹⁹The “avowal was recited at the time of the Afternoon Offering on the last day of Passover, in the fourth and seventh years of the Sabbatical cycle. The avowal [recited in any language] could be made only by one who observed all laws affecting tithes and heave-offerings. See further “The Commandments,” Vol. I, p. 139. included all tithes, as the Rabbis interpreted:²⁰Maaseir Sheini 5:10. “I have also given it unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow²¹Verse 13. etc.,”²²“I have also given it to the Levite, this is the tithe of the Levite [i.e., the First Tithe]. I have ‘also’ given it, this is the terumah (the heave-offering), [given by the Israelite to the priest] and the heave-offering of the tithe [given by the Levite to the priest]. And unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, this refers to the Poorman’s Tithe, gleanings, the forgotten sheaf, and the corner of the field” (Maaseir Sheini 5:10). — the statement I have not eaten thereof in my mourning refers only to the hallowed things [mentioned at the beginning of the preceding Verse 13: I have put away ‘the hallowed things’ out of my house] which refers to the Second Tithe and fourth-year’s plantings which may not be eaten in mourning and in a state of impurity.²³The heave-offering on the other hand may be eaten by the priest in mourning, but not when he is impure. The First Tithe [after the heave-offering thereof has been removed], the Poorman’s Tithe, gleanings, etc. may be eaten in mourning as well as in impurity. The Second Tithe, eaten by the owner, his family and guests in Jerusalem, is thus the only tithe that may not be eaten in mourning. Like the heave-offering and the heave-offering of the tithe, the Second Tithe may not be eaten in impurity.

ולא בערתי ממנו בטמא NEITHER HAVE I CONSUMED ANY THEREOF UNCLEAN — i.e. whether I was unclean and it (the sacred gift) was clean, or I was clean and it unclean (Sifrei Devarim 303:16). But where has one been prohibited about this (that he declares that he has not infringed the command)? In the following passage: (Deuteronomy 12:17) “Thou mayest not eat within thy gates [the tithe of thy corn]” — this (the expression “within thy gates”) refers to eating sacred things in a state of uncleanness, just as is stated with reference to פסולי המקדשין (animals intended as sacrifices, but which have become unfit for that purpose) (Deuteronomy 15:22) “Thou mayest eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person [may eat it alike]”. These you may eat, states Scripture, — but this (the tithes of thy corn in a state of uncleanness) you must not eat in the manner which is termed “eating within thy gates” (“the unclean and the clean together”) of which there is mention in another passage (Yevamot 73b).