In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: ) is a

mitzvah In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

(biblical requirement) for the recipient

Levite Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...

to give to the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

a tenth (10%) of the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

of produce that the former received from the

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stel ...

s. It applies only to agricultural produce grown in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isr ...

. This "tithe of the tithes" is a derivative of the tithe offering (Hebrew: ) – a rabbinical Hebrew term based on the

commandment Commandment may refer to: * The Ten Commandments * One of the 613 mitzvot of Judaism * The Great Commandment * The New Commandment The New Commandment is a term used in Christianity to describe Jesus's commandment to "love one another" which, ac ...

in the Hebrew Bible to give a tithe of 10% to the Levites. The first term, terumah, means offering. The term ''tithe offering'', , is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible text under the words "a tithe (tenth) of the tithe" ().

Hebrew Bible

The term ''tithe'' (Hebrew: ) occurs ten times in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

Greek: ) which occurs once only in Nehemiah .http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=tithe&t=KJV Strong's Concordance ''maaser'' This offering is to be distinguished from the "offering tribute" (Hebrew: ) which Moses gave to God in Numbers .

Rabbinical interpretation

The gift of was generally not given by the Israelite directly to the priest. But it was given to a

, as the recipient of ''

maaser rishon The first tithe (Hebrew: ''ma'aser rishon'' מעשר ראשון) is a positive commandment in the Torah requiring the giving of one tenth of agricultural produce to charity, after the giving of the standard '' terumah,'' to the Levite (or Kohen). ...

'' ('first tithe'; Hebrew: ), and then the Levite gave of ten percent of his gift directly to the ''kohen''. After the edict of

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe ('' sofer'') and priest ('' kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρ ...

, which directed to be given to the priest, it became the Kohen's responsibility to give one tenth of his gift to another priest of his choice. In the Hebrew Bible, the ('offering') was regarded as a kind of sacred ''

korban In Judaism, the korban ( ''qorbān''), also spelled ''qorban'' or ''corban'', is any of a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah. The plural form is korbanot, korbanoth or korbans. The term Korban primarily re ...

'' (also 'offering'). It could be eaten only by

Jewish priests Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and their families, had to be ritually pure, had to be eaten while in a state of ritual purity, and could not be taken out of the

In modern times

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses o ...

requires taking from produce grown in Israel, although in the absence of a Temple it is no longer given to the priests. In contemporary practice, most of the Terumah and various other biblical tithes (including

first tithe The first tithe (Hebrew: ''ma'aser rishon'' מעשר ראשון) is a positive commandment in the Torah requiring the giving of one tenth of agricultural produce to charity, after the giving of the standard ''terumah,'' to the Levite (or Kohen) ...

and second tithe are first set aside. The 'second tithe' () is then redeemed upon a coin of nominal value (not generally equal to the value of the produce). The coin and the unredeemable portion of the produce are then discarded in a manner that prevents their use. The reason for discarding in such a manner is that taking these tithes are sacred and must be preserved in a state of "purity" (Hebrew: ) and eaten by a priest in a state of purity. In contemporary times, all people are considered to be defiled by a type of "impurity" (Hebrew: ) which can only be purified through the ritual of the red heifer (Hebrew: ). It has not been possible to perform this sacrifice since the destruction of the

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

. Since it is forbidden to defile '','' the produce must be discarded in a manner commensurate with its holiness.

References

External links

Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim website
{{Authority control Jewish agrarian laws Jewish sacrificial law Land of Israel laws in Judaism Positive Mitzvoth Tithes in Judaism Twenty-four kohanic gifts Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

Rabbinical interpretation

In modern times

See also

References

External links