Heave offering

A ''terumah'' ( he, תְּרוּמָה) or heave offering is a type of sacrifice in Judaism. The word is generally used for an offering to God, although it is also sometimes used as in ''ish teramot'', a "judge who loves gifts".

The word ''terumah'' refers to various types of offerings, but most commonly to ''terumah gedolah'' (תרומה גדולה, "great offering"), which must be separated from agricultural produce and given to kohen (priests), who must eat it in a state of ritual purity.

Etymology

The word ''terumah'' ("lifting up") comes from the verb stem, ''rum'' (רוּם, "high" or "to lift up"). The formation of ''terumah'' is parallel to the formation of ''tenufah'' ('תְּנוּפָה, wave offering) from the verb stem ''nuf'', "to wave," and both are found in the Hebrew Bible. English Bible versions such as the King James Version have in a few verses translated "heave offering," by analogy with "wave offering":

Hebrew Bible

The term occurs seventy-six times in the Biblical Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible; in the Greek Septuagint it was rendered ''afieroma'' (ἀφiαίρoμα), in the 1917 JPS Tanakh it is generally translated "offering"; while in the King James Version (1611) it is also generally translated "offering" but also sometimes "oblation" and four times "heave offering".

The word is used in various contexts throughout the Hebrew Bible, including one use in Proverbs denoting haughtiness or graft (Proverbs 29:4). In most contexts it refers to designating something for a higher purpose, or ''lifting apart'' of a quantity from a larger quantity), as in the gifts offered by the Israelites for the inauguration of the Tabernacle (''Mishkan'') in the Book of Exodus. In the Bible, there are numerous different varieties of gifts for which the term ''terumah'' was applied. In halakah (Jewish law), the word ''terumah'' by itself was associated with "great offering" (''terumah gedolah''), the first portion of produce that was required to be separated for consumption by a kohen (priest).

There were two groups of ''terumot'':
* Sacrifice/redemption of the first-born:
** '' Pidyon haben'', the redemption of first-born male children. (Note that ''pidyon haben'' redemption-monies are still given to Kohanim, and the Kohen (priest) still customarily lifts the redemption coins up as part of the contemporary ''pidyon haben'' ceremony, but the "heave" element is not a requirement for a valid ''pidyon haben'' to occur in the absence of a Temple in Jerusalem under contemporary Jewish law.)
** Tithe of Bikkurim (First-fruits) (Not done in the absence of a Temple in Jerusalem).
* General tithes:
** The general offering (''terumah'') or the "great offering" (''terumah gedolah'') was a portion of the finished grain, wine and oil separated for the Jewish priest prior to the " first tithe" (''maaser rishon'') separated for a Levite. Unlike the ''maaser rishon'', the Torah did not specify any minimum measure for a ''terumah'' offering; hence, even one grain of barley could satisfy the requirement to separate ''terumah''. A passage in the Book of Ezekiel suggests that the ''terumah gedolah'' should consist of 1/50 of the owner's grain, wine or oil.
** The Mitzvah of Challah (מצוות תרומת חלה ''mitzvat terumat challah'') Contemporary practice is to burn rather than give to the priest.
** Portion of gift offerings, of slaughter offerings, which were allocated to the priests.
** Portion of the ''terumat hamaaser'', the tithe of the tithes or Levite tithe, which applies only to produce grown in the Land of Israel.

''Terumah gedolah''

''Terumah gedolah'' must be given to the Jewish priest, and is considered one of the twenty-four kohanic gifts. The consumption of ''terumah'' (both ''terumah gedolah'' and ''terumat hamaaser'') is restricted by numerous Torah-based commandments, and could be eaten by priests, their families, and their servants. The ''terumah'' may be consumed only in a state of ritual purity.

According to Hezekiah ben Manoah, this ''terumah'' is called "great" (Hebrew ''gedolah'') because it 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.

The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Gemara include a tract entitled ''Terumot'' which deals with the laws regulating ''terumah''. 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 language: ''Beit ha-Peras''), and was uncertain if he had contracted corpse uncleanness.

According to Jewish law, the ''terumah gedolah'' could only be separated from the non-tithed produce (''tevel''), and ''terumat maaser'' only be separated from ''maaser rishon'' by its owner, or an authorized, legally permissible agent; minors, deaf-mutes, the mentally ill and non-Jews were not obligated to perform such separation (Terumot 1:1). However, while non-Jews could not act as agents for Jews to separate ''terumah,'' the ''terumah'' owned by and separated by non-Jews was considered valid and had the status and sanctity of ''terumah'' (Terumot 3:9).Simcha Fishbane ''Deviancy in early rabbinic literature'' p153 - 2007 "above laws that are intrinsic to the Land of Israel.34 Yet we find a Mishnah in Tractate Terumot (3:9) that states: "A gentile and a Samaritan, that which they separate is alidraised offering and that which they take as tithes is " Based in part on the measures described by Ezekiel, Jewish law set the minimum amounts of the great offering at 1/60 of the finished produce for a poor person, 1/50 for the average person, and 1/40 for the generous. The ''terumat maaser'' was always 10% of the ''maaser rishon''.

The Talmud opens with a discussion of when the Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") prayer should be recited. The Mishnah states that it should be recited when priests who were ''tamei'' (טָמֵא ritually impure) are able to enter the Temple to eat their ''terumah'' raised-offering ( Brachot 2a)

See also

* Numbers 31 § Fate of the 32 virgins
* Shlach - 37th weekly Torah portion (Numbers 15:17-21)
* ''Terumah (parashah)'' - the nineteenth weekly portion of the Torah. It primarily contains the instructions on how to create the Tabernacle.

Notes

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Jewish sacrificial law
Jewish agrarian laws
Land of Israel laws in Judaism
Priesthood (Judaism)
Positive Mitzvoth
Tithes in Judaism
Twenty-four kohanic gifts