Q&A: The Tribe of Levi
The Tribe of Levi
Question
In Maimonides, at the end of the laws of the Sabbatical year and Jubilee, it is explained that the tribe of Levi lived in separate cities: the six cities of refuge and another forty-two cities.
So I didn’t understand how the matter of terumot and tithes worked.
(Because of the geographical distance.)
Answer
With God’s help, it seems that the fact that they have no inherited portion means that they are indeed forbidden to have one. Presumably they cannot buy land, but they can rent. And perhaps they can buy until the Jubilee year, though it still requires further clarification what exactly the prohibition is against taking an inherited portion—when and how one transgresses it. However, in halakhah 9 we see that if his maternal grandfather is from Israel, he can even inherit a portion in another tribe. Beyond that, they could bring the tithes in concentrated shipments, or the Levites would go around to receive their tithes among the threshing floors. That seems to be implied in several places in the Talmud.