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A terumah (Template:Lang-he or terumah gedolah (תרומה גדולה) is, usually, a food item given to the kohen, the Jewish priest, as a gift. It is listed as one of The twenty-four Kohanic gifts. The consumption of terumah is restricted by numerous Torah-based rules and could be eaten by kohanim, their families, and their servants. The terumah may be consumed only in a state of ritual purity.

The 13th C. French rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah explains the adjective "great" (Hebrew gedolah) to be due to the fact that this terumah is the first of all tithes given on produce and thus is given from the "greatest quantity of produce" (before any other gift is given).

==Etymology The noun terumah means (loosely translated) "a lifting", from the verb rum "to raise". Therefore the item is uplifted from mundane (chullin) and brought up to "holy" (kodesh)

See also

• Terumat hamaaser - a tithing obligation arising from the Terumah sacrifice still regarded as obligatory by Orthodox Judaism on produce
• Terumot - plural of Terumah, and a section of the Mishnah concerning tithing obligations.
• Terumah (parsha) - the nineteenth weekly portion of the Torah. It primarily contains the instructions on how to create the Tabernacle.

Description

The English term heave offering is really a misnomer. There is no exact word in English that conveys the meaning of the Hebrew word terumah. The term occurs 76 times in the Massoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible; in JPS Tanakh (1917) it is generally translated "offering"; while in the King James Version (1611) it is also generally translated "offering" but also sometimes "oblation" and four times "heave offering".

The word is used in various contexts throughout the Hebrew Bible, including one usage in Proverbs denoting haughtiness or graft. (Prov. 29:4). In most contexts it refers to designating something for a higher purpose, or lifting apart of a quantity from a larger quantity), as in the gifts offered by the Children of Israel for the inauguration of the Mishkan (as described in the Book of Exodus). In the Bible, there are numerous different varieties of gifts for which the term terumah was applied. In Jewish law, the word terumah by itself was associated with "great offering" (terumah gedolah), the first portion of produce that was required to be separated and kept pure for consumption by a kohen. There was no direct connection with the [[Jerusalem Temple or the Temple service.

There were two groups of terumot:

• Sacrifice/redemption of the firstborn:
  • Redemption of firstborn male children (Pidyon HaBen). (Note that Pidyon HaBen redemption-monies are still given to Kohanim, and the Kohen still customarily lifts the redemption coins up as part of the contemporary Pidyon Haben ceremony, but the "heave" element is not a requirement for a valid Pidyon HaBen to occur in the absence of a Temple in Jerusalem under contemporary Jewish law.)
  • Tithe of First fruits (Hebrew bikkurim בכורים) (Not done in the absence of a Temple in Jerusalem).
• General tithes:
  • Tithe of Finished Produce (terumah) The "great offering" (terumah gedolah) was a portion of the finished grain, wine and oil separated for the Jewish priest prior to the "first tithe" (maaser rishon) separated for a Levite . Unlike the "first tithe" (maaser rishon), the Torah did not specify any minimum measure for a terumah offering; hence, even one grain of barley could satisfy the requirement to separate terumah. A passage in the Book of Ezekiel suggests that the "great offering" (terumah gedolah) should consist of 1/50 of the owner's grain, wine or oil.
  • Tithe of dough ("dough bread", khallah חלה) Contemporary practice is to burn rather than give to the Jewish priest.
  • Portion of gift offerings, of slaughter offerings, which were allocated to the priests.
  • Portion of the terumat hamaaser, the Levite Tithe, which applies only to produce grown in the Land of Israel.

In the Talmud and rabbinic literature

The Mishnah, Tosefta, and Gemara, include a tract entitled Terumot ("Offerings"), which deals with the laws regulating heave offerings. According to Jewish Law, the "great offering" (terumah gedolah) could only be separated from the non-tithed produce (tevel), and "tithe offering" (terumat maaser) only be separated from "first tithe" (maaser rishon), by its owner, or an authorized, legally permissible agent; minors, deafmutes, the mentally ill and non-Jews were not obligated to perform such separation. However, while non-Jews could not act as agents for Jews to separate terumah, the terumah owned by and separated by non-Jews was considered valid and had the status and sanctity of terumah. Based in part on the measures described by the prophet Ezekiel, Jewish Law set the minimum amounts of the "great offering" at 1/60 of the finished produce for a poor person, 1/50 for the average person, and 1/40 for the generous. The "tithe offering" (terumat maaser) was always 10% of the "first tithe" (maaser rishon).

The Talmud opens with a discussion of when the Shema Yisrael ("Hear O Israel") prayer should be recited. The Mishnah states that it should be recited when kohanim (Jewish priests) who were "unclean" (tamei, טָמֵא ritually impure) are able to enter the Temple to eat their terumah heave-offering (Brachot 2a). This passage is one many which intimately connect the daily rituals of Orthodox Judaism with details of the rhythm of the life of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Biblical criticism perspectives

The heave offering of the tithe, though mentioned by the Priestly code is not mentioned in the Deuteronomic code; biblical criticism scholars believe that this is because the deuteronomist regarded all Levites as being able to become priests, and not just Aaronids, hence this tithe of a tithe would be meaningless. This assumes that the Book of Deuteronomy was written before the Books of Leviticus and Numbers. It also requires the assumption of an unrecorded and previously unknown revolution in the Jewish world. Not to mention that the Aaronid winners received less in terms of obligatory tithes than the losing Levites.

Notes

1. JPS Bible 1917
2. entry in Strong's Concordance
3. Terumot 1:1
4. Terumot 3:19
5. Jewish Encyclopedia 1907

• Hebrew words and phrases
• Jewish sacrificial law
• Kehuna
• Positive Mitzvoth