Kiddushin 46: First Dates & Betrothals; Terumah Errors

What if a minor girl is betrothed without her father's consent?  What if she is seduced (convinced by a man that she should have intercourse with him when they are not married or betrothed) or raped (where she gives no consent and yet a man has intercourse with her)?  Seduction and rape both assume that the perpetrator will marry his victim and that the perpetrator must pay fines.  In all of these cases, both the victim and/or her father is able to nullify her betrothal.

A new Mishna suggests a far fetched case.  If a man betroths a woman with a date, as long as it is worth at least one peruta they are betrothed.  If he betroths her with many small dates, as long as they equal one peruta they are betrothed.  If she eats each of the dates as he gives them to her, as long as one of those dates is worth at least one peruta, they are betrothed.

The Gemara wonders whether he might be offering her a loan.  If he is giving small parts of a larger offering, is this not like a loan?  Or perhaps this is a gift.  Can a gift that will not be used be kept?  Or must it be returned?  The rabbis offer an example of a forbidden betrothal: if a brother gives a gift to his sister as a promise of betrothal, must it be returned?  The betrothal is not valid.  But a gift is a gift...

The Gemara then considers a priest who separates challa incorrectly, from the flour, rather than from the dough.  Some rules of tithing are reiterated here: a priest should not have to separate tithes in case he does this incorrectly.  Tithes are taken from produce that is considered to be attached to the ground.  Thus if it is prepared in a perforated pot, it is considered to be connected to the ground and must be tithed.  An unperforated pot separates the produce from the ground and it need not be tithed.

The rabbis note that if a person separates terumah that is rotten, the terumah is invalid -- it is not even called 'terumah', and s/he needs to separate terumah again.  If a person did not know that their offering was rotten, the terumah is still terumah, but terumah must be separated again.  Terumah from poor-quality terumah cannot be used as offerings for superior-quality produce.