{{italic title}} {{Short description|Type of sacrifice in Judaism}} {{Redirect|Terumah}} {{Kehuna and Kohanim}} A '''''terumah''''' ({{langx|he|תְּרוּמָה}}), the '''priestly dues''' or '''heave offering''', is a type of offering in Judaism. The word is generally used for offerings to God, but can also refer to gifts to a human.<ref>As in ''ish terumot'', a "[judge] who loves gifts" ({{Bibleverse|Proverbs|29:4|HE}}; see [https://mg.alhatorah.org/Dictionary/8641 Concordance]).</ref>
The word ''terumah'' refers to various types of offerings, but most commonly to '''''terumah gedolah''''' ({{Lang|he|תרומה גדולה}}, "great offering"), which must be separated from agricultural produce and given to a kohen (a priest of Aaron's lineage), who must eat it in a state of ritual purity. Those separating the ''terumah'' unto the priests during the time when the Temple stood were required, as a rule, to do so also in a state of ritual purity, as being unclean could render the ''terumah'' unfit for consumption.<ref>Mishnah ''Tohorot'' 2:4 (commentaries).</ref> Today, the ''terumah'' is separated and either burnt or discarded.
==Etymology== The word ''terumah'' ("lifting up") comes from the verb stem, {{lang|he-Latn|rum}} ({{Lang|he|רוּם}}, "high" or "to lift up").<ref name=ja/> The formation of ''terumah'' is parallel to the formation of {{lang|he-Latn|tenufah}} ({{lang|he|'תְּנוּפָה}}, wave offering) from the verb stem {{lang|he-Latn|nuf}}, "to wave", and both are found in the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="ja">''Jewish antiquities: or, A course of lectures on the three first books'', p. 198. David Jennings, Philip Furneaux, Thomas Godwin – 1825 "This waving was of two kinds; one called ''terumah,'' from ''rum, elevatus est'', which, they say, was performed by waving it perpendicularly upward and downward; the other, ''tenuphah'', from ''nuph, agitare, movere''".</ref> In a few verses, English Bible translations (such as the King James Version) have translated "heave offering", by analogy with "wave offering": {{quote|And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:<ref>{{bibleref2|Exodus|29:27|KJV}}</ref>.}}
{{quote|Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land to which I bring you, 'then it will be, when you eat of the bread of the land, that you shall offer up a heave offering to the Lord.<ref>{{bibleref2|Numbers|15:18–19|NKJV}}</ref>.}}
==Hebrew Bible== The term occurs seventy-six times in the Biblical Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible;<ref>{{Cite web |title=MikraotGedolot – AlHaTorah.org |url=https://mg.alhatorah.org/Concordance/8641 |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=mg.alhatorah.org |language=he}}</ref> in the Greek Septuagint it was rendered ''aphieroma'' (ἀφιέρωμα), in the 1917 JPS Tanakh it is generally translated "offering";<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.studylight.org/info/copyright/bible/jps.html |title=JPS Bible 1917 |access-date=2011-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314104400/http://www.studylight.org/info/copyright/bible/jps.html |archive-date=2012-03-14 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rs|date=November 2021}} while in the King James Version (1611) it is also generally translated "offering" but also sometimes "oblation" and four times "heave offering".<ref>{{Cite web |title=H8641 – tᵊrûmâ – Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) |url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/1/1/s_1001 |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Blue Letter Bible |language=en}}</ref>
The word is used in various contexts throughout the Hebrew Bible, including one use in Proverbs which may denote haughtiness or graft.<ref>{{bibleverse|Proverbs|29:4|HE}}.</ref> In most contexts it refers to designating something for a higher purpose, or ''lifting apart'' of a quantity from a larger quantity).
The Bible refers to the following offerings, among others, using the term ''terumah'' or the verb ''leharim'': * The gifts offered by the Israelites for the inauguration of the Tabernacle (''Mishkan'')<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|25:2-3|HE}}, 35:5, 21, 24, 36:3, 6.</ref> * Portion of gift offerings, of slaughter offerings, which were allocated to the priests.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|29:27-28|HE}}; {{Bibleverse|Leviticus|7:14, 32, 34|HE}}, 10:14–15; {{Bibleverse|Numbers|6:20|HE}}.</ref> * The half-shekel Temple tax<ref>{{Bibleverse|Exodus|30:13-15|HE}}.</ref> * The dough offering (''challah'')<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|15:19-21|HE}}.</ref> * The meat of Israelites' sin- and guilt-offerings<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|18:8|HE}}.</ref> * Various priestly gifts: ''terumah gedolah'', Bikkurim (first-fruits), herem, bechor, pidyon haben<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|18:11-19|HE}}.</ref> * The first tithe<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|18:24|HE}}.</ref> * Terumat maaser<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|18:26-30|HE}}.</ref> * Spoils given to Eleazar after the war with Midian<ref>{{Bibleverse|Numbers|31:20, 41, 52|HE}}.</ref> * In Ezekiel's prophecy, gifts that were to be given to the ''nasi'' (prince or king)<ref>{{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|45:13-16|HE}}.</ref> * In Ezekiel's prophecy, land which was to be set aside for use of the Temple, priests, and Levites<ref>{{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|45:1, 6, 7|HE}},{{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|48:8-10, 12, 18, 20–21|HE}}.</ref>
==''Terumah gedolah''== In halakah (Jewish law), the word ''terumah'' by itself refers to the "great offering" (''terumah gedolah'').<ref>Kehati, introduction to tractate Terumot.</ref> According to Hizkuni, this ''terumah'' is called "great" 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.<ref>Chizkuni, Devarim 18.</ref> The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Gemara include a tract entitled ''Terumot'' which deals with the laws regulating ''terumah''.<ref>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."</ref>
''Terumah gedolah'' must be given to the Jewish priest and is considered one of the twenty-four priestly 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. Israelites would separate this ''terumah'' from their finished grain, wine, and oil prior to separating maaser rishon for Levites. Unlike the ''maaser rishon'', the Torah did not specify any minimum measure for ''terumah gedolah''; hence, even one grain of barley could satisfy the requirement to separate ''terumah''. However, based on {{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|45:13|HE}}, the rabbis conclude that an "average" offering would be 1/50 of the produce, a generous one 1/40, and a stingy one 1/60.<ref>Mishnah Terumot 4:3; Jerusalem Talmud Terumot 4:3.</ref>
''Terumah gedolah'' could only be separated from the non-tithed produce (''tevel''), and ''terumat maaser'' could 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.<ref>Terumot 1:1.</ref> 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.''<ref>Terumot 3:9.</ref><ref>Simcha Fishbane, ''Deviancy in early rabbinic literature,'' p. 153 – 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 [valid] raised offering and that which they take as tithes is".</ref>
Produce designated for the poor (''peah, leket, shichecha'') and unowned crops were not subjected to (and could not be used as) ''terumah''.<ref>Mishnah Challah 1:3; Talmud Shabbat 68a.</ref> Each type of produce had to be individually tithed.<ref>Mishnah Terumot 2:4, 6.</ref> A small whole fruit was preferably given rather than part of a larger fruit.<ref>Mishnah Terumot 2:5.</ref> ''Terumah'' had to include the best produce if a kohen (priest) lived nearby.<ref>Mishnah Terumot 2:4.</ref>
===Purity=== ''Terumah'' is designated for the priests, who must be separated in a state of ritual purity.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Leviticus|22:2-3|HE}}; Mishneh Torah, Terumot 7:1.</ref><ref name="Meiri2016">{{cite book |author-last=Meiri |author-link=Menachem Meiri |title=Sefer Chidushei ha-Meiri|volume=5 |page=546 (Makkot 14b) |publisher=ha-Makhon le-hotsaʼat sefarim ṿe-khitve yad shele-yad ha-Merkaz le-ḥinukh Torani |date=2016 |location=Zikhron Yaʻaḳov|language=he|oclc=49017353 |quote=A priest (Cohen) who is ritually unclean is prohibited from eating the 'terumah'... A defiled person who touches the hallowed thing has committed an offense, since it is forbidden for him to defile the hallowed things or to bring upon them impurity, seeing that that would invalidate them... and even the 'terumah' it is forbidden to defile.}}</ref> The phenomenon of priests purifying themselves to eat ''terumah'' was so well-known that nightfall (when their pure status would take effect after immersion in a mikveh) was described as "the hour when priests enter to eat their ''terumah''".<ref>Mishnah Brachot 1:1.</ref>
In addition, it is forbidden to intentionally cause ''terumah'' to become impure.<ref name="Meiri2016"/> Israelites who separate the ''terumah'' for the priests may still do so in a state of ritual impurity, so long as the fruits touched by them have not come in contact with water after being picked from the tree or uprooted from the ground, or such as with one of the seven liquids that make the fruits susceptible to uncleanness (wine, blood, oil, milk, dew, bees' honey, and water{{efn|According to the Mishnah (''Makshirin'' 6:5): "Under water is included any liquid that comes forth from the eye, ear, nose, or mouth; liquid excrement and urine, whether it issues intentionally or unintentionally."}}).<ref>Mishnah ''Makhshirin'' 1:1, Commentary of Maimonides</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Mishnah |editor-last=Danby|editor-first=H. |editor-link=Herbert Danby |publisher=Oxford University Press |place=Oxford |year=1977|pages=[https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/758/mode/1up 758 (note 1)], [https://archive.org/details/DanbyMishnah/page/765/mode/1up 765–766] |isbn=0-19-815402-X |title-link=Mishnah }}, s.v. ''Makshirin'' 1:1 (note 1); ''ibid''. 6:4</ref> If the fruits were made wet by one of these liquids and a person who was ritually unclean had then touched them, the fruits become defiled.
All people nowadays are presumed to be impure due to corpse uncleanness{{Citation Needed|date=April 2026}}, so ''terumah'' cannot currently be eaten by priests. Impure ''terumah'' generally must be burnt,<ref>Mishnah (''Taharot'' 4:5); Nathan ben Abraham's Mishnah commentary (ibid.).</ref> but can also be eaten by the priest's livestock. Thus, in modern Israel, it is common for priests to be made partial owners of zoos and similar institutions so that ''terumah'' separated from commercial produce can be donated to them and not wasted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=כילוי יבול תרומה במגזר הציבורי {{!}} מכון התורה והארץ-'למעשה' אקטואליה הלכתית |url=https://www.toraland.org.il/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%A5-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%94/%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%94%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%94/%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%99-%D7%99%D7%91%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%96%D7%A8-%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=www.toraland.org.il}}</ref> Similarly, ''terumah'' from olive oil may be used by priests to light lamps, and is known as ''shemen s'reifah'' ({{langx|he|שמן שריפה}}).<ref>Mishnah (''Hallah'' 4:9; ''Terumah'' 11:10); Babylonian Talmud (''Shabbat'' 23b), commentaries.</ref>
==See also== * ''Terumah (parashah)'' – the nineteenth weekly portion of the Torah. It primarily contains the instructions on how to create the Tabernacle.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
{{Halakha}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Jewish sacrificial law Category:Jewish agrarian laws Category:Land of Israel laws in Judaism Category:Priesthood (Judaism) Category:Positive Mitzvoth Category:Tithes in Judaism Category:Twenty-four priestly gifts