Terumot
| Tractateof theTalmud | |
|---|---|
| English: | Priestly dues |
| Seder: | Zeraim |
| Number ofMishnahs: | 101 |
| Chapters: | 11 |
| Babylonian Talmudpages: | - |
| Jerusalem Talmudpages: | 59 |
| Toseftachapters: | 10 |
Terumot(Hebrew:תְּרוּמוֹת,lit. "Priestly dues" and often, "heave-offering" ) is the sixthtractateofSeder Zeraim( "Order of Seeds" ) of theMishnahand of theJerusalem Talmud.This tractate discusses the laws ofteruma,a gift of produce that an Israelite farmer was required to set aside and give to akohen(priest).There were two kinds ofterumotgiven to the priest: the regular heave-offering, known also as theterumah gedolah( "great heave-offering" ), which the Israelites were required to give to the priest from the produce of their fields; the other was theterumat ma'aser( "tithe of the heave-offering" ), namely, the gift that theLeviteswere required to put aside for the priests fromthe tithewhich ordinary Israelites had been required to give to them.
The laws detailed in this tractate are derived from theTorahinNumbers 18:8, 11–12andDeut 18:4–5,and forterumat ma'aserfromNumbers 18:25–32.
Themitzvah (commandment)applies only to produce grown in theLand of Israeland continues to be observed in the modern state ofIsrael.
This tractate comprises eleven chapters in the Mishna and ten in theToseftaand has fifty-nine folio pages ofGemarain theJerusalem Talmud.Like most tractates in the order ofZeraim,there is noBabylonian Talmudfor this tractate. Laws concerning terumah are also mentioned in the tractatesDemaiandMa'aserot.
Subject matter
[edit]The first-fruits of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever.
— Deuteronomy18:4-5
This tractate focuses on the laws of the gifts of produce that are to be given to akohen(priest) as mandated by theTorah.Terumah is the first gift that must be separated from the produce and given to the priest, as prescribed inNumbers(Num 18:8, 11–12andNumbers 18:25–32) andDeuteronomy(Deut 18:4–5).[1]
The Hebrew termterumahsignifies a contribution, an offering for a sacred purpose, and more literally, something lifted up (hence the antiquated English translation,heave offering).[note 1]In theTorah,thecommandmentapplied to grain, wine and oil; the Mishna extends the scope to include all produce. It also applied only in theLand of Israel,but certain lands bordering the Land of Israel, andBabyloniawere later included.[2][3]
Since the priests and Levites were not allocated land in of the Land of Israel, they were provided for in the form oftithes given to the Levitesand theterumotofferings given to the priestsby both the Levites and the ordinary Israelites. The Levites were required to separate and give the priest one-tenth of the tithe that they received from the Israelite farmers and this was calledterumat ma'aser( "offering of the tithe" ), orma’aser min hama’aser(tithe of the tithe). The Israelites, on the other hand, separated theterumah gedolahto be given to the priests before they separated a tenth of the produce to be given as tithe to the Levites. Both types of gifts come under the general term ofterumah,which forms the theme of this tractate, but theterumah gedolahof the Israelite farmers comprises the main subject of discussion.[1][2][3][4][5]
The Torah does not specify the amount ofterumahthat must be given, and theoretically, even one single kernel of grain could suffice; thus the Mishna in this tractate establishes an amount, from one-fortieth to one-sixtieth of the gross product, depending on the circumstances and generosity of the individual farmer, with one-fiftieth being regarded as the average gift. The generally accepted measure is therefore one-fiftieth, andthe Sagesfound an allusion to this amount in the termterumahas an acronym of theAramaicwordstrei mi-meah( "two from a hundred" ) or 2%.[1][3][6]
The tractate deals with the details of many circumstances which could arise with regards to theterumah.Thus, for example, before theterumahis separated, all the produce istevel(untithed) and forbidden to be eaten.Terumahis considered holy, and may be eaten by priests only, as prescribed in Leviticus 22:10, and must be guarded against becomingritually unclean,lost or wasted, as interpreted from Numbers 18:8. The Mishna also considers what to do in cases whereterumahbecame mixed with non-sacred food; if the ratio is less than one hundred times that ofterumah,it determines that all of it becomes forbidden to non-priests. However, it is not necessary to give the mixture to the priest, rather it is sold to a priest at the price ofterumah,which was fixed lower than ordinary produce, while deducting the value of theterumahmixed into it. If the ratio of non-sacred food exceeds one hundred-times than that of theterumah,a non-priest may eat it, after removing the quantity of theterumahthat had fallen into it and giving it to the priest.[1][3]
Structure and content
[edit]The tractate consists of eleven chapters and 101 paragraphs (mishnayot). It has aGemara– rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – of 59 double-sided pages in theJerusalem Talmud.There is aToseftaof ten chapters for this tractate.[2][4]
There is no Gemara in theBabylonian Talmudfor this tractate, or indeed for any of the tractates ofthis order of the Mishnah,other thanTractate Berakhot,as the laws related to agriculture and produce that are mostly discussed in this order generally have no practical application outside of theLand of Israel.
In most editions of the Mishnah, this tractate is sixth in the order Zera'im.Maimonides,in hisCommentary on the Mishnah,states that this tractate followsShevi'itsinceterumahis the first gift which one separates from the produce.[1][4]
An overview of the topics of the chapters is as follows:[3][4]
- Chapter 1 discusses the categories of people who may not set asideterumahand the different cases in whichterumahis considered valid even if the method by which it was selected was generally not permissible.
- Chapter 2 deals with additional cases in which theterumahis valid, if the method of selecting it was unknowingly incorrect.
- Chapter 3 examines whenterumahhad to be given twice, the authority of an owner to delegate a servant to taketerumah,in what order various offerings, such asterumahandthe titheare to be given, and the procedure to be followed if someone makes a verbal error while selecting theterumahor during theconsecration of a sacrificeortaking of an oath.
- Chapter 4 deals with the amount of theterumah gedolahoffered by the Israelite and with theterumat ma’aserof the Levite, which must be given according to measure, and situations whereterumahhas been mixed with other produce.
- Chapter 5 continues the discussion of handling mixtures, in these cases ofritually clean and uncleanproduce forterumah.
- Chapter 6 deals with the compensation that must be made for improperly eating or deriving benefit fromterumah.
- Chapter 7 concerns further cases of mixtures and cases when both the value and an additional fifth of the value had to be repaid on eatingterumah.
- Chapter 8 continues the topic of mixtures and introduces the subject of the wine ofterumahthat had been left uncovered and the dangers of poisoning, and the prohibition against intentionally defiling theterumah,along with other situations of defilement.
- Chapter 9 defines the process to follow whenterumahhas been deliberately or unintentionally sown and rules concerning the handling of produce grown from the sowing ofterumahgrains or fruit.
- Chapter 10 enumerates the cases in which the flavor ofterumahmakes other foods forbidden and other rules about which permissible foods become forbidden through the flavor acquired from prohibited foods.
- Chapter 11 discusses the uses that may be made ofritually clean and uncleanterumahboth in solid and in liquid forms.
Historical context and influence
[edit]The commandment ofterumahapplies only to produce grown in theLand of Israeland continues to be observed in the modern state ofIsrael.There is debate amongJewish legal authoritiesas to whether the present-dayJewish religious lawsdetailed in this tractate are nowbiblically or rabbinically mandatedobligations.[7]
Mishna 8:12 of this tractate is a digression from the laws ofterumahbut is included in this tractate because it contains a similar case to the preceding mishna about pagans' intent to cause defilement – in the previous Mishna of a commodity and in this one, of a person. This Mishna has become a source of Jewish law for the general principle that it is not permitted to sacrifice one individual to save another. Tosefta 7:23 of this tractate, quoted in the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud,y.Terumot 47a) expands the ruling of the Mishna to a case where if one member of a group is not delivered to be killed, the entire group will be killed. The ruling is the same as in the Mishna, that all should die rather than sacrifice one to save the others. However, if one individual was specified by the persecutors, then other factors can be considered, such as whether that individual is already subject to capital punishment for a crime they have committed.[8]Many medieval and modernJewish legal scholarshave grappled with the practical applications of the cases mentioned in this tractate, often when facing situations involving persecution, in the Middle Agesduring the Crusades,theRintfleisch massacresor otheranti-Jewish violence,and in modern times duringthe Holocaust.[9][10][11]
Commentaries
[edit]Medieval commentarieson this tractate include the following:[7]
- Rambam,Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah
- Rash,a commentary by RabbiShimshon of Sens(c. 1150–1230), printed in theMutzal Me'eshedition of the Jerusalem Talmud, and in theVilna edition of the Talmudprinted in 1880[12]
- Chiddushei Ha'Ritvaby RabbiYom Tov AsevilliofSeville(c. 1260–1314), included in theVilna edition of the Talmud
- Rosh,the commentary ofRabbenu Asher(c.1250–1327), printed in theMutzal Me'eshedition of the Jerusalem Talmud.
- The Bartenuracommentary on the Mishnah by Rabbi Ovadiah ben Abraham ofBertinoro(c. 1445–1515), included in theVilna edition of the Talmud
- Rash Sirilio,the comprehensive commentary on a large portion of the Jerusalem Talmud by RabbiSolomon Sirilio(1485–1554), appears in theMutzal Mi’Eishedition of the Jerusalem Talmud. His commentary is cited regularly byMelekhet Shlomo.
Commentaries bylater scholarsinclude the following:[7]
- Tosefet Yom Tov,by RabbiYom-Tov Lipmann Heller,published between 1614 and 1617, and printed theVilna edition of the Talmud
- Mahara Fulda,the commentaries of RabbiElijah of Fuldaon the Jerusalem Talmud, published inAmsterdamin 1710
- Lechem Shamayimby RabbiJacob Emden(1697–1776)
- Shoshanim LeDavidby RabbiDavid Pardo of Venice,first published in 1752
- Tiferes Yisraelby RabbiIsrael LipschitzofDanzig(1782-1860), printed in theVilna edition of the Talmud
- Mishnas Rabbi Nathanby RabbiNathan Adler,first published inFrankfurt,1862
Notes
[edit]- ^The same term,terumah,was also used with regards to thehalf-shekelcontributions made to theTemple fundfor sacred needs (terumat ha-lishkah). Thisterumahis not dealt with in this tractate.[2]
References
[edit]- ^abcdeKehati, Pinchas(1994). Tomaschoff, Avner (ed.).Seder Zera'im: Terumot.The Mishna: A New Translation with Commentary. Vol. 2. Fisch, Rafael (translator). Jerusalem, Israel: Maor Wallach Press. pp. 1–2.
- ^abcdBirnbaum, Philip (1975). "Terumah".A Book of Jewish Concepts.New York, NY: Hebrew Publishing Company. p.668–669.ISBN088482876X.
- ^abcdeLehrman, S. M.,ed. (1948). "Terumoth: Translated into English with Notes".The Babylonian Talmud.Vol. 2. Singer, M.H. (translator). London: The Soncino Press. pp. 197–198.
- ^abcd
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Singer, Isidore;et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Terumot".The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ^"Terumot".JewishEncyclopedia.Retrieved2019-09-09.
- ^Lipman, Eugene (1970). "Terumot—Heave-Offerings".The Mishna: Oral Teachings of Judaism.New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 58–59.
- ^abcScherman, Nosson; Zlotowitz, Meir, eds. (2002).The Mishna Artscroll Series, Seder Zeraim, Tractate Terumos, Vol IV(a).New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. pp. 9–11.
- ^Scherman, Nosson; Zlotowitz, Meir, eds. (2002).The Mishna Artscroll Series, Seder Zeraim, Tractate Terumos, Vol IV(a).New York: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. pp. 363–364.
- ^Lipman, Eugene (1970).The Mishna: Oral Teachings of Judaism.New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 60–61.
- ^Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Aaron (1991). "Surrendering Jews to the Nazis in the light of the Halakhah".Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought.25(3): 35–45.JSTOR23260641.
- ^Westreich, Melech (2000)."One Life for Another in the Holocaust: A Singularity for Jewish Law?".Theoretical Inquiries into Law.1(2). Tel Aviv University: 360.Retrieved4 March2020.
- ^"Rash MiShantz on Mishnah Terumot".Sefaria: A living Library of Jewish Texts(in Hebrew). New York, NY: Sefaria, Inc.Retrieved2020-03-08.
External links
[edit]- Full text of the Mishnah for tractate TerumotonSefaria(Hebrew and English)