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Please note that the introduction to Damai is found at the bottom of this email for ease of reference of some of the terms used.

Demai Perek 6, Mishna 10 - It is biblically forbidden to derive benefit from an idol. If one sells/trades the idol, the money/item
becomes forbidden too. o The same law applies to any offerings made to the idol for example wine poured before it, is also forbidden. This is called Yayain Nesech. o The Rabbis forbade all wine of a non-Jew; even it was not known to have been used as an offering, since it perhaps might have been. This is known as Stam Yaynam. A convert to Judaism is considered to be like a new born child in that all links to his past are severed and he begins life anew. o On a biblical level therefore he does not inherit his biological fathers estate because he has no legal connection to him anymore. o The Rabbis however instituted that he may still inherit his father since otherwise he may attempt to revert back to idolatry in order to obtain the estate. Normally upon a mans death, his sons automatically become joint owners of the estate even before anything has been divided. In the case of a convert, he does not automatically become an owner of the estate, rather when the brothers divide it up at that point he becomes the owner of anything he receives. Unlike the last Mishnah which dealt with dividing up an estate through the mechanism of Breirah, this mishnah will revert back to the other way of dividing up property which was used in Mishnah 7. father, an idolaters [estate]: [The convert] may say: i. You take the idols and I [will take] the money. .1 , , .i , . .ii

1. [If two brothers, one] a convert and [one] an idolater, inherited their

ii. You [take] the wine and I [will take] the produce. Ordinarily when brothers divide up an estate (of items not
attached to the ground) they each gift the other the agreed upon items. Both the above cases should be forbidden, since the Jew is trading his rights to the idols/wine with wine/produce, which should become forbidden to benefit from. However since the convert did not assume automatic rights to the estate upon the death of his father, he chooses the desired items and only afterwards upon taking physical possession of them, becomes the owner. 2. However, if [the idols and wine] have already come into the possession of the convert, It is forbidden. '

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Demai Perek 6, Mishna 11 -

Surya is an area in modern Syria which was conquered by King David as part of greater Israel. However since he carried out this conquest before the rest of Israel was fully under Israelite control; the land was never sanctified and therefore its produce need not be Biblically tithed. The Rabbis however did require all produce from Jewish owned land to be tithed. As we will see in this mishnah even the laws of Damai applied there. 1. [If an am haaretz] sells fruits in Surya and says: , .1 i. .i , o o They are from the Land of Israel, , One is obligated to tithe [them like any damai produce.] , o o [They are from the Land of Israel and] they are tithed, , He is believed, Because the [very] mouth that has [potentially] . forbidden, is the mouth that has permitted. Had the am haaretz seller not said anything, there would not have been any obligation to tithe his produce. This is because most of the produce sold in Surya was from outside the Land of Israel. Usually an am haaretz is not believed to say that his produce is tithed, his word alone is not able to remove a known tithing obligation of damai. However in this case the obligation to tithe only came into being because he said so, had he said that the produce is from Surya he would have been believed. Since the obligation to tithe the produce came from his declaration, he is able to remove it with another declaration, namely that he tithed them. ii. .ii , o o They are from my property, , One is obligated to tithe [them.] Since damai applies to the land of an am haaretz in Surya. , o o [They are from my property and] they are tithed, , He is believed, Because the [very] mouth that has forbidden is . the mouth that has permitted. If, [however], it is known that he has [at least] one field in , Surya, : One is obligated to tithe [the fruits.] Ordinary produce on sale in Surya is assumed to come from outside the land of Israel. However a landowner usually exclusively sells the produce of his land. In this case one does not need to rely on the claim of the am haaretz that the produce comes from his land, because it can be assumed that it does. Therefore there existed an obligation to tithe his produce as damai before he made any claims about where it came from. Any claim that the produce has been tithed can therefore not be believed. '

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