Terumot (, lit. "Priestly dues" and often, "heave-offering") is the sixth tractate of Seder Zeraim ("Order of Seeds") of the Mishnah and of the Jerusalem Talmud. This tractate discusses the laws of teruma, a gift of produce that an Israelite farmer was required to set aside and give to a kohen (priest). There were two kinds of terumot given to the priest: the regular heave-offering, known also as the terumah gedolah ("great heave-offering"), which the Israelites were required to give to the priest from the produce of their fields; the other was the terumat ma'aser ("tithe of the heave- offering"), namely, the gift that the Levites were required to put aside for the priests from the tithe which ordinary Israelites had been required to give to them.
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Omer is often rendered "sheaf" in English translations. The noun tenufah is formed from the verb nuf in the same way as terumah, the heave offering, is formed from rum "heave." Both types of offering occur together in Exodus 29:27 Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon and in Leviticus 7:30-34: from the sacrificed ram, the breast with its fat constituted a wave offering and the right thigh constituted a heave offering, both being given to the priests as kohanic gifts. In the Septuagint it was translated aphorisma (ἀφόρισμα).
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The consumption of terumah (heave-offering and heave-offering of the tithe) is restricted by numerous Torah-based rules and could be eaten by priests, their families, and their servants. The terumah may be consumed only in a state of ritual purity. This is also called the "great offering" (Hebrew terumah gedolah תרומה גדולה) which is, usually, a food item given to the Jewish priest, as a gift. The thirteenth-century French rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah explains the adjective "great" (Hebrew gedolah) to be because this terumah is the first of all tithes given on produce and thus is given from the "greatest quantity of produce" before any other gift is given.
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The conscientious never partook of demai without first separating the tithes due thereon. It was not necessary, however, to separate all the dues enumerated above, as no one was suspected with regard to the heave-offering, for two reasons: first, it was not burdensome, as the minimum quantity satisfied the Law,Hullin 137b and, secondly, the offense of neglecting it was considered very serious.Sanhedrin 83a It was therefore only necessary to mark out the first tithe and the second. Of the former, one-tenth was separated as "the heave-offering of the tithe," and the remaining nine-tenths were retained by the owner, as the Levite was unable to prove his claim.
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This tithe was limited to the traditional seven agricultural products (wheat, barley, grapes in the form of wine, figs, pomegranates, olives in the form of oil, and dates) grown in Israel.Singer, Isidore, ed. (1901) Jewish Encyclopedia (Funk and Wagnals) ASIN: B000B68W5S s.v. "Heave-Offering" This tithe, and the associated festival of Shavuot, is legislated by the Torah.
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Cf. Babylonian Talmud, Hullin 106a-b: "Our Rabbis have taught: 'The sanctification of the hands in the Temple precincts is unto the wrist, [but] for non-consecrated foods unto the joints [of the fingers]; for heave- offering, unto the wrist.'" All that is needed, therefore, is for him to wash his hands in water, and he removes thereby all uncleanness.
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The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Gemara, include a tract entitled Terumot ("Offerings"), which deals with the laws regulating "heave offerings" (terumah).Joel Gereboff Rabbi Tarfon, the tradition, the man, and early Rabbinic Judaism 1979 "K. This [the opinion that an Israelite betrothed to a kohen may eat heave-offering prior to her nissu'in, is the] first mishnah. "Jacob Neusner The modern study of the Mishnah p240 - 1973 "one may assume that in the case of one who gives heave-offering for oil instead of for crushed " The rabbis of the late Second Temple period added certain strictures to its consumption, requiring that the terumah be burnt (and not consumed) if a priest or Israelite who touched the terumah suspected that he had passed in close proximity to a grave (Hebrew: Beit ha-Peras), and was uncertain if he had contracted corpse uncleanness.
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Hezekiah the son of Rabbi Parnak said in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan that the laws of the woman accused of being unfaithful in follow immediately on laws dealing with the heave offering (, terumah) and tithes to teach that if one has a heave offering or a tithe and does not give it to the priest, in the end he will require the priest's services to deal with his wife. For says, "Every man's hallowed things shall be his," and immediately afterwards says, "If any man's wife go aside," and thereafter says, "the man shall bring his wife to the priest." Even more, in the end, such a person would need the tithe for the poor, as says, "Every man's hallowed things shall be his" (in the form of a tithe for the poor). In contrast, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak taught that if he does give, he will eventually become rich.
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The priests were to officiate at many offerings under the Law of Moses, including the passover sacrifice, sin offering, guilt offering, release of the scapegoat, burnt offering, peace offering, heave offering, meal offering, dough offering, drink offering, incense offering, thank offering, etc., throughout the liturgical year. As well, they would engage in many different rituals, such as the priestly blessing, the red heifer, the redemption of the firstborn, and various purification rituals.
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Jerusalem Talmud, Ma'aser Sheni 5:5, Commentary of Solomon Sirilio; Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 48a) The Sages of Israel have mentioned certain fruits as being mostly exempt from tithing as Demai produce, owing to their nature of being taken generally from trees that grow in the wild, such as wild figs (Ficus carica), jujubes (Ziziphus spina-christi), hawthorns (Crataegus aronia), sycamore figs (Ficus sycomorus), windfall dates, capers (Capparis spinosa), and, in Judea, the sumach (Rhus coriaria).Mishnah (Demai 1:1) The tribe of Levi, having been excluded from participating in the division of the land, obtained as compensation a share in its produce. As the tribe included two elements, priests and Levites, the compensation was given in two forms: "terumah" (heave-offering) for the priests and "ma'aser" (tithes) for the Levites; and the Levites gave the tenth part of the tithe to the priests as "terumat ma'aser" (heave-offering of the tithe). In addition, a second tithe had to be separated from the produce in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the shemitah cycle.
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A heave offering, or terumah (), plural terumot, is a kind of offering. The word is generally used in the positive sense of an offering to God, although sometimes it is also used in a negative sense, such as the ish teramot, a "[dishonest] judge who loves gifts".Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon entry for terumah, citing Proverbs 29:4 "The king by judgment establisheth the land, but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it." In Chazalic literature it is listed as one of the twenty-four priestly gifts.
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6 (or one-fortieth, if he were a man of generosity; and one-sixtieth if he were stingy) and to give the same to a Kohen, a priest of Aaron's lineage, who, in turn, would eat such fruits in a state of ritual cleanness, in accordance with a biblical command, "...and let him not eat of the holy things, until he bathes his flesh in water. And when the sun goes down, he will be clean, and shall afterward eat of the holy things because it is his food" (). The tractate Terumot of the Mishnah and of the Jerusalem Talmud formulates the Jewish religious law for this gift, specifying two kinds of terumot given to the priest: the regular offering, known also as the terumah gedolah ("great heave-offering"), which the Israelites were required to give to the priest from the produce of their fields, and the terumat ma'aser ("tithe of the heave-offering"), the gift that the Levites were required to put aside for the priests from the tithe which ordinary Israelites had been required to give to them. This obligation was contingent upon the fact that such fruits grew in the Land of Israel.
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The Torah stipulates specific birthrights and unique responsibilities of the daughter of the Jewish priest (kohen). In the Hebrew Bible she is granted the privilege of consuming specified parts of the sacrifice as well as heave offering, both being perishables that carry numerous rules and requirements of purity (tohorot) for their consumption. This right is specified in Numbers; . The types of sacrifices the Bat-Kohen is afforded include the breast and thigh of the peace offering, the four loaves of the thank offering the foreleg of the Nazirite's ram offering.
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Niddah 13b The Talmud also described procedures in case a man emitted semen (permissibly or otherwise). It states that one who experienced an emission of semen is required by the Torah to immerse in water in order to be allowed to consume from a heave offering or sacrifice. It also states that Ezra decreed that one should also immerse in order to be allowed to recite words of Torah, but that Ezra's decree no longer applies nowadays. Later on, the Rishonim debated whether Ezra's decree still applies in regard to prayer.
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The heave offering of the tithe, though mentioned by the Priestly code is not mentioned in the Deuteronomic code; critical scholars believe that this is because the Deuteronomist regarded all Levites as being able to become priests, and not just Aaron's descendants, hence this tithe of a tithe would be meaningless. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia article (1907) this assumes that the Book of Deuteronomy was written before the books of Leviticus and Numbers, and also requires the assumption of an unrecorded and previously unknown revolution in the Jewish world.
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This tractate focuses on the laws of the gifts of produce that are to be given to a kohen (priest) as mandated by the Torah. Terumah is the first gift that must be separated from the produce and given to the priest, as prescribed in Numbers ( and ) and Deuteronomy (). The Hebrew term terumah signifies a contribution, an offering for a sacred purpose, and more literally, something lifted up (hence the antiquated English translation, heave offering). In the Torah, the commandment applied to grain, wine and oil; the Mishna extends the scope to include all produce.
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1, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1963, s.v. Demai 1:1, p. 79. The laws pertaining to Demai-produce only apply to produce grown in the Land of Israel, and to adjacent territories immediately outside the Land of Israel where produce grown in Israel was thought to have been taken. The law of separating the Demai-tithe was enacted by John Hyrcanus, in whose days the commoners of the people of Israel were considered faithful in separating the Terumah (heave-offering) from all agricultural produce, but were thought to have neglected the First tithe and the Second tithe.
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A. Epstein believes that the commentary on the Sifra contained in the Munich MS. No. 59 is the work of this Baruch. He is the author also of the legal compendium, Sefer ha-Terumah (Book of the Heave- Offering, Venice, 1523; Zolkiev, 1811), written circa 1202, containing the ordinances concerning slaughtering, permitted and forbidden food, the Sabbath, tefillin, etc. The book is one of the most important German codes, and was highly valued by contemporaries and successors. It is noteworthy by reason of the author's attempt to facilitate its use by presenting a synopsis of its contents, the first attempt at making a practical ritual codex in Germany.
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Numerous details of the daily religious practice of an ordinary Jew are connected to keeping memory of the rhythm of the life of the Temple and its sacrifices. For example, the Mishna begins with a statement that the Shema Yisrael prayer is to be recited in the evening at the time when Kohanim who were tamei (ritually impure) are permitted to enter to eat their heave offering (a food-tithe given to priests) following purification. A detailed discussion of the obligations of tithing, ritual purity, and other elements central to the Temple and priesthood is required in order to determine the meaning of this contemporary daily Jewish obligation.
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In, e.g., The Mishnah: A New Translation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, pages 93–120. Tosefta Terumot 1:1–10:18. In, e.g., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction. Translated by Jacob Neusner, volume 1, pages 131–202. Jerusalem Talmud Terumot 1a–107a. In, e.g., Talmud Yerushalmi, elucidated by Abba Zvi Naiman, Zev Dickstein, Avrohom Neuberger, Mordechai Smilowitz, Mendy Wachsman, David Azar, Yehuda Jaffa, Menachem Goldberger, Gershon Hoffman; edited by Chaim Malinowitz, Mordechai Marcus, and Yisroel Simcha Schorr, volumes 7–8. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2010. In , God designated for Aaron and the priests “the heave offering (, terumat) of their gift.” The Mishnah taught that a generous person would give one part out of forty.
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In the Priestly Code it is stated that the ma'aser rishon existed as the source of sustenance for the Levites, since they had no territory, and hence nowhere to keep livestock or perform agriculture (Numbers ). but this seemingly neglects the existence of a number of scattered Levite cities;Peake's Commentary on the Bible scholars believe that the tithe (i.e. the tithe of which the ma'sar ani and ma'aser rishon are conflicting versions) actually arose as a generic heave offering, given to priests at the sanctuaries for their sustenance, and only became distinct when the Aaronids began to position themselves as the only Levites that could be legitimate priests. This view neglects the fact that cities are not agricultural centers and the tithing laws focus on agricultural produce.
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The Bat- Kohen is entitled to offer her employees to partake in her heave offering,Rambam, Hilchot Trumoth 6:1 and, by the Law, it is permitted to bypass her father (or husband) and initially give her tithe offering and dough offering but Menachem Meiri forbids this of concern that one may give these gifts in error to the wife of a Kohen who was initially the daughter of an Israelite post her divorce, such giving the gifts to a person who is no longer entitled to the gifts.Menachem Meiri on Yevamoth p. 314 The daughter of a priest is likewise permitted to consume the firstborn animal. Regarding the giving of the foreleg, cheeks and abomasum, there is a Tannaic dispute as to whether an Israelite performs his mitzvah by giving them to the Bat-Kohen.
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If he persisted in the same act, only then would he be excommunicated by the community.Babylonian Talmud, Mo'ed Ḳaṭan 17a The court at Usha also ruled that if a wife, during the life of her husband, conveyed any of her private possessions to another, her husband has got the first right of refusal and may recover such items from the hands of the purchaser.Babylonian Talmud, Baba Kama 88b The court, moreover, augmented the earlier rabbinic decrees concerning the defilement of foreign lands, making the air-space of foreign lands capable of disqualifying the Terumah (heave-offering eaten by the priests of Aaron's lineage), and that, if it had made contact with the earth from the same lands, required it to be burnt.Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 15b Likewise, the court passed a law making it unlawful for any person to be wasteful with his own money, goods or property, and that he is not to expend more than one-fifth (20%) in charitable or philanthropic causes.
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The heave-offerings, both terumah and terumat ma'aser, could not be eaten by non- priests; the second tithe, unless redeemed with "silver," which was to be spent on food in Jerusalem, could not be eaten outside that city; while the first tithe and the tithe for the poor were not subject to any restrictions. Conscientious Jews would not partake of the produce of the land unless they had first satisfied themselves that the heave-offering and tithes had been duly separated. The owners of land in the Land of Israel were divided into three classes; (1) non-Jews, to whom the Jewish laws about tithes did not apply; (2) the trustworthy Jews ("ne'emanim" or "chaberim"), who were sure to separate from the produce all that was due according to the Law; and (3) the am ha'aretz, who was suspected of neglecting these laws. Produce bought of any person of the first class was considered as unprepared—i.e.
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