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36. Offerings to the Priest - Terumos
a) The Offerings and Tithes
Part of the crop (rabbinically, 1/60)
must be given to the priests, as it says "The first
of your grain, wine and oil... you shall give him".1
A tithe (a tenth) of the remainder is given to the Levites,
as it says "And to the children of Levi I have given
all tithes in Israel... for the tithe of the children
of Israel that they lift up to Ha-Shem as a heave-offering
I have given to the Levites".2 (The Levite
in turn gives a tithe of his tithe to the priests, as it
says "And you shall speak to the Levites and say to
them: When you take from the children of Israel the
tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance
you shall lift up from it a heave-offering to
Ha-Shem, a tithe of the tithe... and you shall give
it to... the priest"3; or an Israelite can give the
tithe of the tithe directly to the priest.)
A second tithe of the remainder is set aside to be eaten in
Jerusalem (or to be redeemed and the proceeds spent for
food to be eaten in Jerusalem), as it says "You shall
tithe all the produce
of your crops... and shall eat before Ha-Shem your
G-d in the place that he shall choose"4; and it says
"[And all the tithe of the land... is Ha-Shem's;] and
if a man redeems any of his tithe he shall add a fifth
to it".5 This is done in the first, second, fourth
and fifth years of the sabbatical cycle; in the third
and sixth years the second tithe is given to the poor
instead; while in the sabbatical year no heave-offerings
or tithes are set aside in the land of Israel. It is
forbidden to set aside these offerings in the wrong
order, as it says "You shall not delay your increase
or your flowing".6,a
The commandments regarding heave-offerings and
tithes apply only to the land of Israel, but the prophets
and the sages extended them to neighboring lands.b
They apply only to crops that have owners and are used for
human food; they also apply rabbinically to vegetables.c
Even priests and Levites must set aside the
offerings and tithes, as it says "So you too shall lift
up the heave-offering to Ha-Shem"3; but if they
themselves are entitled to them they need not give them
to others.d
b) Use of the Offerings
The offerings that are given to priests can be used only by
priests, their families and their property. They are
forbidden to non-priests even if they are employed by
priests, as it says "And no stranger shall eat a
sacred thing; a tenant or hired servant of a priest
shall not eat a sacred thing".7 If the daughter of
a priest marries a non-priest she may not eat the
offerings; but if she is widowed or divorced and
has no living descendant by the non-priest she may
eat them, as it says "And if the daughter of a priest
becomes [wife] to a strange man she shall not eat of
the sacred heave-offerings; but if the daughter of a
priest becomes a widow or a divorcee and has no child
and returns to her father's house as in her youth she
may eat of her father's bread".8 Conversely, the wife
of a priest may eat the offerings, and even if she is
widowed or divorced she may still eat them if she
has a living descendant by the priest even if this
descendant is not a priest. If a woman has forbidden
sexual relations she cannot eat the offerings. A
priest who is impure cannot eat the offerings,
as it says "If any man of the children of Aaron is
impure he shall not eat of the sacred things..."9; nor
can an uncircumcised priest eat them.e
If one who is forbidden to do so uses the offerings
he must pay 5/4 of their value, as it says "And if a
man eats a sacred thing in error he must add a fifth
to it and give the sacred thing to the priest".10
Even a priest may use the offerings only for eating,
drinking, or anointing (or if they are impure, for burning).
It is forbidden to make the offerings in the
land of Israel impure.f
Sources: |
| 1. Deut. 18:4
| a. Matnos Aniyim 6:2-6; 3:1-2,12,23
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| 2. Num. 18:21,24 |
b. 1:1 (and see 1:26) |
| 3. Num. 18:26,28 |
c. 2:1,6 |
| 4. Deut. 14:22-23 |
d. Maaser 1:3-4 |
| 5. Lev. 27:30-31 |
e. 6:1,3,5,7-8,10,12-14; 7:1,10 |
| 6. Ex. 22:28 |
f. 10:1; 11:1; 12:1; see 7:3. On the "fifth" see Shevuos, Note c. |
| 7. Lev. 22:10 |
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| 8. Lev.22:12-13 |
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| 9. Lev. 22:4-7 |
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| 10. Lev. 22:14 |
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