Q&A: Security-Classified Oranges — Do They Require Tithing?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Security-Classified Oranges — Do They Require Tithing?
Question
A security-classified site has hundreds of workers.
There is a courtyard with many fruit trees,
and anyone who wants can take as much as they like.
One religious person claimed that there is no need to separate tithes, because it is ownerless for anyone interested.
But in practice, only the workers or volunteers there can take, since only they can enter the compound.
Do they require tithing?
Answer
What happens to the fruit that is not picked there? Is there ownership over the area?
Discussion on Answer
If so, it seems to me that it is exempt from terumot and ma’asrot.
With the blessing: let thieves eat and be satisfied.
The area is owned by the Jewish state,
and the fruit that is not picked rots on the trees,
unless the gardening crew takes some home…