Q&A: Separating Tithes from a Small Amount
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Separating Tithes from a Small Amount
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Several questions on the same topic:
- Do you have to separate tithes from mint, wormwood, and the like?
- If the answer to the previous question is yes, what do you do if you pick one sprig of mint for a cup of tea? Do you separate a tiny bit of a leaf?
- Following that, what am I supposed to do about separating tithes when I pick one lemon from the tree?
- Do I need to pick a large enough quantity so that the separation will be more substantial?
- What would I do if we actually gave the tithe to a Levite? Give him a leaf? A lemon segment?
- Since in any case the fruits are left to rot, is it legitimate / reasonable to take a half-rotten fruit as the part that is separated?
Answer
- See here: ttps://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/423.
- Yes.
- Exactly what you do with a large quantity.
- No.
- In principle, yes. You can collect it and then give it. There are views that say less than a perutah’s worth is not considered giving, but even according to those views I don’t think the intention is that you can use it yourself or throw it in the trash. You need to give it to them.
- Yes, as long as it still has the status of fruit.