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The Mishna (Maaser Sheni 3:2) rules that one should not buy Terumah with Maaser Sheni money since one thereby further limits who can eat the Maaser Sheni which could lead to it being wasted. The Gemara there extends this to buying Sheviit produce with Maaser Sheni money, and the Rambam rules this way as well (Maaser Sheni 7:13) since one has added the restriction of having to finish the produce before Biur Sheviit.

Now, Maaser Sheni is taken in years 1,2 and 4,5 of the Shemitta cycle. They must be consumed by Pesach of year 4 and 7 respectively (Maaser Sheni 5:6). Accordingly, during Shemitta one could only have Maaser Sheni money from a few years ago that must be consumed by Pesach.

Biur Sheviit takes place once the Shemitta year's crop of that species is no longer available naturally in the fields (Rambam Shemitta 7). Seemingly that usually occurs towards the end of the 7th year or even into the 8th year, but not commonly before Pesach of the 7th year.

Accordingly, what case is there where adding Sheviit restrictions to Maaser Sheni would end up with a greater restriction on consumption? The answer I came up with is using Maaser Sheni money taken from produce from the very beginning of the 8th year to buy leftover Sheviit produce that hasn't quite reached the time for Biur.

But I couldn't find anyone who says that nor anyone who says the prohibition on buying Sheviit produce with Maaser Sheni money doesn't apply to old money used before Pesach of year 7. Does anyone say that or offer a different resolution?

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  • The old money case could well be forbidden by a takana that stems only from worry about the new money case just so as to keep the takana simple ("lo plug").
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jun 12, 2019 at 13:56
  • @IsaacMoses That is possible, but a) somebody should note it, b) they are at least 6 months apart so people aren't so likely to confuse them, and c) there's not really any indication that this is a special formal gezera for sheviit and not that it's just forbidden anyway as part of a general rabbinic prohibition on adding restrictions to holy foods, which seems less likely to have a lo plug for some particular case
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 12, 2019 at 13:58
  • What about Ma'aser Sheni money from produce harvested in Bavel after pesach of the shemitah year? sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Gifts_to_the_Poor.6.5?lang=bi
    – Joel K
    Jun 12, 2019 at 14:07
  • @JoelK seems like an even more far-fetched reason for a lo plug
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 12, 2019 at 14:09
  • Kesef Mishna on the Rambam there says to look in the Yerushalmi. It's on Ma'aser Sheini 15a. Penei Moshe there points to Tosefta Shevi'it 7:1. Maybe the comparison in the ensuing statements in the Tosefta sheds some light.
    – Isaac Moses ♦
    Jun 12, 2019 at 14:11

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Maybe the issue is that not that you're adding sheviit restrictions to maaser, but that you're adding maaser restrictions to sheviit produce. The Rambam is ambiguous. He just says חיב לבער, which could mean either biur maaser or biur sheviit.

Note that אין מביאין קדשים לבית הפסול applies to sheviit as well, as the Rambam says in his commentary to Sheviit 8:7, which is another ambiguous case.

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  • The ambiguity in the Rambam is an important note, but Penei Moshe to the Yerushalmi says explicitly that מפני שהוא ממעט באכילת מעשר. The question still holds according to some opinions, even if you are correct about Rambam. He's even more explicit in the Mareh Panim that he doesn't see this as a two way issue, saying if the Rambam had cared about Miut Sheviit he should have put this in Hilkhot Shmita and mentioned the Miut of location. R Chaim Kanievsky's Biur there also is explicit that the issue is Miut Maaser
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 27, 2019 at 15:13
  • @DoubleAA but we know he cares about miut sheviit, as I linked (haven't checked R' Kapach's version though).
    – Heshy
    Jun 27, 2019 at 16:03
  • @doubleaa now I did check R Kapach's version and it's the same thing
    – Heshy
    Mar 18, 2021 at 20:57

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