Q&A: Terumot and Ma’asrot: Level of Precision
Terumot and Ma’asrot: Level of Precision
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I bought vegetables in a place where the owner said that terumot and ma’asrot had been separated, but I was not shown any certificate confirming this. Therefore I plan to separate terumot and ma’asrot myself — without a blessing.
I looked at what Peninei Halakha writes on the subject of estimating terumot and ma’asrot,
https://ph.yhb.org.il/17-09-04/#_te01ftn9_6
but I found statements that seem, at first glance, to contradict one another regarding the level of precision required. I intend to separate based on visual estimation, a little more than the required percentage — for example around two percent — in order to make sure I fulfill my obligation.
Is it enough to estimate by eye and round slightly upward, or must one be extra exacting and calculate precisely one percent of every fruit and vegetable separately (for example, counting every grape or cherry tomato)?
Answer
One separates by estimation. Strictly speaking, one grain of wheat exempts the whole pile.
Discussion on Answer
If you have a scale, then be precise. What’s the problem?
In general, this applies only to terumah gedolah, and that is specifically separated by estimation. As for terumat ma’aser, there is a dispute whether it may be separated by estimation or not. Ma’aser is not given nowadays to a Levite, so that is a different matter.
That’s it.
In the standard formula, one is actually fully precise anyway (assuming one removes more than one percent), because the terumah is defined in accordance with what was removed (one part out of a hundred as terumat ma’aser, and the rest as terumah gedolah). I am ignoring the small inaccuracy involved in the fact that terumat ma’aser is supposed to be one part out of a hundred of what remains after separating terumah gedolah.
Thank you for the reply.
I found a scale at home — is there any reason to be more precise if I can do so relatively easily?
Here is what Peninei Halakha wrote; as I understand it, estimation is only after the fact.
For this purpose, produce that is ordinarily measured by volume should be measured, produce that is ordinarily counted should be counted, and best of all is to calculate by weight, which is the most precise method (Maimonides, Terumot 3:11; Ma’aser 1:14). After the fact, when it is not possible to weigh, measure, or count the produce, one should separate the tithes by estimation. And even if he errs significantly, so long as he intended to separate the proper amount and erred in the way people sometimes err, he has fulfilled his commandment. However, from the outset the Sages instructed (Avot 1:16): “Do not frequently tithe by estimates.”[6]