- ברותחין קלקלו וברותחין נידונו
Continuing with the discussion regarding when the mabul occurred, the Gemara says that all is well according to Rebbe Yehoshua היינו דשינה – for this, referring to the bringing up of Kimah by day, and the strengthening of the subterranean fountains, is what is meant when the Baraisa states that Hashem altered the works of creation, but according to Rebbe Eliezer, what did Hashem alter? The constellation Kimah always comes up in the daytime during the month of Marcheshvan, and the subterranean fountains are always strengthened during that month? The Gemara answers that this can be understood according to Rav Chisda, who said: ברותחין קלקלו וברותחין נידונו – With a boiling substance, (semen) they acted corruptly, and therefore, with boiling (water) they were punished. This may be derived as follows: It is written concerning the end of the mabul, "וישכו המים" – and the waters subsided, and it is written in Megillas Esther, "וחמת המלך שככה" – and the anger of the king cooled down. Since the word שככה means “cools down,” this implies that during the mabul as well, the waters were boiling hot and later cooled down. This is the change in nature that Rebbe Eliezer referred to.
- אחד בתשרי ראש השנה לירקות
The Mishnah stated that the first of Tishrei is the Rosh Hashanah for ירקות – vegetables. The Gemara here brings a related Baraisa, that taught that the first of Tishrei is the Rosh Hashanah לירקות ולמעשרות ולנדרים – for vegetables, maasros, and vows. The Gemara asks, that since it is presumed that לירקות means that it begins the year for מעשר ירק – the vegetable tithe, why was it necessary to mention it? היינו מעשרות – That is the same things as saying that it begins the year for maasros. The Gemara answers that they are not synonymous. The Baraisa first teaches that Tishrei begins the new year for the d’Rabbanon chiyuv of tithing vegetables, and then it teaches that it also begins the d’Oraysa chiyuv of tithing grain. When the Gemara questions why the Baraisa did not list the d’Oraysa chiyuv first and then the lesser chiyuv of tithing vegetables second, it answers, איידי דחביבא ליה אקדמיה – Since the vegetable tithe is d’Rabbanon it is especially dear to the Tanna, and so he mentions it first. The Tanna of our Mishnah only mentioned the d’Rabbanon, וכל שכן דאורייתא – and relied on our own reasoning that certainly the same applies to grain, whose tithing is a d’Oraysa.
- Source that there is no chiyuv of maaser sheini in the third and sixth year
The Gemara digresses to inquire after the source of the rule that in the third and sixth year of the shemittah cycle there is no obligation to tithe maaser sheini. Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi said: The Torah says: "כי תכלה לעשר את כל מעשר תבואתך בשנה השלישית שנת המעשר" – When you have finished tithing every tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe. The use of the singular “tithe” in this last phrase indicates that this is שנה שאין בה אלא מעשר אחד – a year that is subject to only one tithe of the two, referring to maaser rishon and maaser sheini, which are required in other years. How is that? It is subject to maaser rishon and maaser ani, and maaser sheini is batel. Or perhaps maaser rishon should also be batel, leaving only maaser ani? The Torah therefore states elsewhere regarding maaser rishon: “And to the Leviim shall you speak, and you shall say to them: When you take from bnei Yisroel that maaser” אשר נתתי לכם מאתם בנחלתכם – that I have given to you from them as your inheritance. The Torah makes a hekesh of maaser rishon to inheritance. מה נחלה אין לה הפסק אף מעשר ראשון אין לו הפסק – Just as inheritance has no interruption, so too maaser rishon has no interruption, but is received by the Levi every year in the shemittah cycle.