Bava Metzia 55: Five Cases Involving Perutot; Five Cases Involving Eating Tithes Improperly

A new Mishna reminds us that an ona'a is defined as at least four silver me'a from the twenty-four silver me'a that make up a sela, or one-sixth.  The smallest monetary court claim where a person can require an accused to take an oath is two silver me'a.  A person is required to go to court only if their wrongdoing was worth at least one peruta.

The MIshna continues, teaching us that there are five situations that involve perutot:

• when one admits to a claim, one must owe at least one peruta
• a woman is betrothed with something the value of at least one peruta
• when benefit has been derived from at least one peruta of consecrated property that was misused
• when a found item that is worth at least one peruta, it must be proclaimed
• when a person robs the worth of at least one peruta then takes an oath that he did not do so and repents, he must follow the owner even to Medea to return the property

The Gemara argues about whether or not there is an additional halacha regarding the measure of a peruta.  Specifically, that a wrong payment which qualifies as an ona'a must be worth at least one peruta. Examples are shared to demonstrate that this is not always the case.  What about when a coin has eroded?  What about when courts prosecute regarding claims about items worth less than a peruta?  The rabbis consider whether these cases of misuse of consecrated items falls into the same category as other types of prosecution.

Another Mishna is taught in today's daf.  Sharing the theme of the previous Mishna, it teaches that there are five cases where an additional one-fifth payment is made when redeeming an item or paying for an item.  All of thee laws regard someone benefiting from the priestly tithes:

• when one eats teruma, tithes given to the kohanim
• when one eats terumat ma'aser, second tithe given to the leviim
• when one eats ma'aser shel demai, tithes of doubtful origin (perhaps they were not given properly in the past)
• when one eats challa, the bread set aside for the kohanim
• when one eats bikkurim, the first fruits of the harvest which are brought to the Temple

The Gemara wonders whether demai, doubtful produce, should be in the same category as the other halachot which are Torah-given laws.  They are reminded of Rabbi Meir's ruling regarding divorce.  Laws regarding divorce were considered to be as important as Torah-derived laws.  Steinsaltz notes that there are many places in the Talmud that raise rabbinic rulings to the level of Torah law.  Steinsaltz also notes that this question may have come from the fear of demai: perhaps more people that they knew of were separating their tithes improperly.