Q&A: Question about Terumot and Ma'asrot
Question about Terumot and Ma'asrot
Question
Hello,
I live in a rented house with a clementine tree whose fruit is now ripe.
I’ve never separated terumot and ma'asrot before, and I thought it would be simple.
Then I went online to check how to do it, and I saw that there are all kinds of formulas, definitions, and different details.
I spent about an hour or two trying to understand all the concepts in the formula that is recited and what actually happens when I say it.
So my question is: if I now say the formula, is everything fine and I can eat the fruit, or do I need to really understand in depth
all the concepts, everything that happens during the formula, etc.? Because I feel that I understood it more or less, but
not really in a deep and complete way, and maybe I also didn’t really understand some things correctly.
I’m also a kohen, if that makes any difference.
Thank you very much
Answer
You’ve done more than the average Jew does. If you understand that you are separating them, everything is fine. Pay attention to the perutah chamurah for second tithe. That is the main factor that can prevent a private individual’s separation from being valid. You can sign up with various tithing funds that keep a perutah chamurah on your behalf. https://din.org.il/2013/01/22/%D7%9E%D7%94%D7%99-%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%98%D7%94-%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94/
(Though with a perutah chamurah it doesn’t specifically have to be second tithe of Torah-level status. Anything more stringent than what you are doing is sufficient. a0
Discussion on Answer
Hello,
Thank you for the answer.
I didn’t understand something.
Suppose I have exactly 100 clementines of the same weight.
So I take one clementine and one segment and say:
“Whatever is more than one hundredth of everything that is here, it is hereby terumah gedolah on its north side.”
So now the segment is terumah gedolah.
Now it remains to separate the rest of the terumot and ma'asrot.
So I don’t understand the next sentence —
“And the one hundredth that remains here”
Why is what I have in my hand “one hundredth”? After all, once I separated off part for terumah gedolah, the total amount of fruit changed, and what I have in my hand is a little more than one hundredth.
And the continuation of the sentence — “together with nine parts like it, on the upper side of these fruits, they are hereby first tithe”
First tithe is supposed to be 10 percent of the total that remains after terumah gedolah, but according to the formula I’m saying 10 percent of the total that existed before separating terumah gedolah.
I’d be glad if this could be explained.
Thank you very much
I don’t see what’s unclear. Maybe your formula is inaccurate. See here: https://bhl.org.il/%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%97-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%AA-%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/?gclid=CjwKCAiA1-6sBhAoEiwArqlGPg96UekyVzxh1d5N4kBBKxJsnBcft6RRoSMhVpuE_wW341oslEQDNxoCpFEQAvD_BwE
After terumah gedolah (which is the amount more than one hundredth, meaning the excess beyond one hundredth), you are left with one hundredth.
Shaul, I sent a link with a slightly different formula, but look at this video:
You’re talking about minute 3:34.
Your question is at minute 3:38
And also at minute 4:14
The term “the one hundredth that remains here” is what it says there (at 4:14): “the hundredth that I mentioned.”
———
As for the percentages, the explanation seems simple to me.
At the beginning, you create a framework of “a pile of one hundred pieces.” Anything beyond those hundred pieces you say is terumah gedolah.
So as not to get tangled up with eating terumah or terumat ma'aser,
you are basically arranging things in advance so that there will be a pile of 99 equal pieces, plus one piece and a bit off to the side.
That extra bit is terumah gedolah.
So once you separated terumah gedolah from that extra bit, what remains at your side is one piece. And with nine more pieces like it “in the pile” (for a total of 10%).
Afterward that single piece will be terumat ma'aser (one piece out of the ten pieces total of the first tithe, aside from the excess in that piece which is already defined as terumah, so you’ve effectively set that part aside already).
—
Maybe what’s also confusing you is that first tithe is 10% of all the fruits and vegetables that remain (after separating the terumah), not of what was there before.
Sometimes there are pictures that do a decent job of explaining the formula:
I didn’t really find one right now, but from what I saw briefly:
http://www.zolsefer.co.il/%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%96%D7%95%D7%9F-%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%94%D7%A8%D7%91-%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%95%D7%99%D7%90.html