Commento su Numeri 15:21

מראשית ערסתיכם OF THE FIRST OF YOUR DOUGH [YE SHALL GIVE UNTO THE LORD A HEAVE OFFERING] — Why is this stated at all? (What does it add to the command in v. 20)? Because it states there ראשית ערסתכם, I might understand this to mean that only the first amongst several doughs which you are kneading at the same time shall you set aside entirely as a heave-offering and all the other doughs are exempt! It therefore states here מראשית “of (some of) the first of the dough”, implying part of it but not all of it (not an entire dough) (Sifrei Bamidbar 110:2).

The first of the loaves. Meaning that if one had ten portions of dough then one would have to give the entire first portion for the challah-offering, “the Torah therefore teaches…” You might ask: If so, why does it say (v. 20) “ראשית (the first portion) of your doughs”? The answer is that if the Torah had only stated “מראשית (of the first portion) of your doughs” one would have said that if one had twelve portions of dough, one would have to give a portion of the first, but that the others were exempt. Therefore it wrote “the first portion of your dough” to teach that one must give a part of the entire dough. Re’m raises a difficulty: Here we learn from the word מראשית (of the first portion) that one gives “part of it but not all of it.” However, concerning the first-fruits we learn from the word מראשית that one gives some of the first [fruits] but not all of them — that not all fruits are liable for the first-fruits offering, only the seven species, as is explained by Rambam and Rashi in Parshas Ki Savo (Devarim 26:2). Consequently, why do we not say, like here, that the fruit that ripens first are not all liable for the first-fruit offering, only one grape-cluster or one grape? He leaves this as a question both according to Rambam and Rashi. It appears to me that in the case of challah there is another qualification. The Torah writes, (v. 19) “when you eat from the bread of the land…” There is a difficulty as to why it had to say “the land” given that above (v. 18) it wrote “at your coming to the land.” Rather, it must come to teach that one is only liable for challah with produce for which the Land of Israel is praised — the five species of grain. If so, the word מראשית is left superfluous in order to expound that not all of the dough is liable, only part. However this would not be the case there where there is no superfluous wording.

V. 21. מראשית ערסתיכם. Im vorigen Verse fehlt das Pluralzeichen י, es vergegenwärtigt nur den Begriff עריסה im allgemeinen. Hier aber werden die verschiedenen möglichen Teigarten in ihrer Pluralität vergegenwärtigt, um durch die Auswahlpartikel מראשית die Beschränkung der Challapflicht auf die zu V. 1 erwähnten fünf Getreidearten, חמשת מיני דגן, anzudeuten (ספרי).