Introduction to Tractate Terumot

Introduction to Tractate Terumot The Tractate deals with the rules of Great Heave and heave of the tithe, as given in Num. 18:8-32. Great Heave is the gift of the farmer to the Cohen at the time the produce is ready for storage; this heave has no minimum prescribed by biblical law. Heave of the tithe is given to the Cohen by the Levite from his tithe; it must be exactly ten percent. The rules of the heaves are complicated since heaves are sacred food available to any Cohen anywhere and, therefore, in danger of being mixed up with profane or impure food. Heave, as a gift to the Cohen, must be designated as such. Chapter One, dealing with the rules of designation, contains a discussion of the definitions and legal status of persons incompetent to designate: minors, deaf-mutes who cannot communicate, and the insane. Chapter Two discusses the groupings of food which can substitute for one another in the designation of heave. Chapter Three gives detailed rules in many special cases. Chapter Four deals with minimal and maximal amounts to be given as heave by rabbinic decree and with the heave obligations of partnerships. Since heave, as sacred food, must be eaten in ritual purity, the rabbinic amounts as well as the rules dealing with pure heave became obsolete when it was no longer possible to observe the rules of purity (cf. Berakhot Chapter 1, Note 3). Chapter Five 2 INTRODUCTION TERUMOT deals with the case that pure and impure heave became mixed; how to save a maximum amount of pure heave. Chapter Six gives the rules for a non-Cohen who ate heave in error; Chapter Seven deals with the non- Cohen who ate heave intentionally, with the rules of competition of penalties, and with cases of doubt about the status of food. Chapter Nine spells out the rules of heave mixed with profane food, as well as heave used as seeds for a new crop. Chapter Eleven finally gives the rules of permitted use of heave, mainly the uses of impure heave available to non- Cohanim. Two chapters deal with subjects of general interest not otherwise discussed in the Yerushalmi in great detail: Chapter Eight, starting out with rules for dealing with worms in food, is devoted in the main to health regulations and, in the last Halakhah, to the rules of Jewish solidarity. Chapter Ten deals with the rules under which forbidden admixtures in otherwise permitted food may be disregarded. The discussion is important because it shows the development of the rules adopted by the Babli without discussion. For the interpretation, as always the main guides are Maimonides and R. Simson of Sens. Of the Eighteenth Century commentators, the most useful is R. Eliahu Fulda; the least useful are R. Moses Margalit (nwö '3D), R. Eliahu Wilna and, from the Twentieth Century, R. H. Kanievski, all of whom tend to emend away the difficult portions and the disagreements with Babylonian tradition. Similarly, the preliminary translation and explanation by Alan J. Avery-Peck and Martin S. Jaffee (Chicago, 1988) heavily depends on the emended Wilna text and a presumed but untenable identification of the Tosephta underlying the Yerushalmi with the Tosephta in our hands. The manuscript evidence, while meager, definitely INTRODUCTION TERUMOT 3 excludes most emendations. Of modern commentaries, that by R. Saul Lieberman (Tosefta ki-fshutah, New York, 1955) and R. Y. Qafeh's commented edition and translation of Maimonides's Commentary are most useful. Other sources are quoted by name when used. .

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