Twenty-four priestly gifts

Last updated

In Judaism, the twenty-four priestly gifts are an enumeration of the various gifts which halakha requires to be given to Jewish priests (kohanim). [1]

Contents

These gifts were considered compensation for their service in the Temple in Jerusalem. The majority of these gifts were food items. Of these twenty-four gifts, ten gifts were given to the priests in the Temple, four were to be consumed by the priests in Jerusalem, and ten were to be given to the priests outside the land of Israel.

Most of the gifts are not given today, because there is no Temple. For example, most practicing Jews today do not give first-born of their animals to modern Kohanim. Other practices may be followed, such as selling the mother animal to a non-Jew before it gives birth to the firstborn, and then buying back both the mother and the firstborn. [2]

Gifts

According to the Tosefta, [3] ten 'gifts' which were to be given to the Kohanim within the Temple area were portions of:

1. an animal brought as a sin offering
2. guilt offering
3. sacrifices of the communal peace offering
4. a bird brought as a sin offering
5. the suspensive guilt offering (asham talui) [4]
6. the olive oil offering of a metzora [5]
7. the two loaves of bread (shtei halechem) brought on Shavuot
8. the showbread
9. the left-over portion of the meal offering
10. the left-over portion of grain from the omer offering

Four further gifts to be given (or to be consumed) within the confines of the walls of Jerusalem were:

11. firstborn of any domestic kosher animal
12. Bikkurim (First-fruits)
13. the inner organs of certain offerings, that which is removed from the Nazirite offering
14. the skins of certain offerings

Ten gifts which might be given (or consumed) outside of Jerusalem were:

15. Terumah gedolah
16. Terumat hamaaser – a tithe of the Levite's tithe
17. Challah (Dough offering)
18. the first shearing of the sheep
19. foreleg, cheeks and maw of all non-sanctified, ritually slaughtered domestic animals
20. Money given to redeem a firstborn son (Pidyon haben)
21. Money (or a sheep or goat) redeemed in place of a firstborn donkey (Petter chamor)
22. Property declared herem (dedicated to the Temple) without specifying to which use it is to be given
23. Inherited fields that were dedicated to the Temple and not reclaimed in the Jubilee year
24. Recovered property, which was stolen from a convert who then died without leaving heirs

Females, who did not serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple, were permitted to consume and/or benefit from some of the twenty-four priestly gifts. But if a priest's daughter married a non-priest, she was no longer permitted to benefit from the priestly gifts. [6] Conversely, the daughter of a non-priest who married a priest took on the same rights as an unmarried daughter of a priest.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omer offering</span> Jewish Temple offering performed on Passover

The omer offering, or the sheaf offering, was an offering (korban) made by the Jewish priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. The offering consisted of one omer of freshly harvested grain, and was waved in the Temple. It was offered on Passover, and signaled the beginning of the 49-day counting of the Omer, as well as permission to consume chadash.

Kohen is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed and halakhically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron, brother of Moses, and thus belong to the Tribe of Levi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kodashim</span> Fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud

Kodashim is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

In Judaism, the korban, also spelled qorban or corban, is any of a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Torah. The plural form is korbanot, korbanoth, or korbanos.

Showbread, in the King James Version: shewbread, in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread, since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God.

A terumah, the priestly dues or heave offering, is a type of offering in Judaism. The word is generally used for offerings to God, but can also refer to gifts to a human.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bemidbar (parashah)</span>

Bemidbar, BeMidbar, B'midbar, Bamidbar, or Bamidbor, is the 34th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Numbers. The parashah tells of the census and the priests' duties. It constitutes Numbers 1:1–4:20. The parashah is made up of 7,393 Hebrew letters, 1,823 Hebrew words, 159 verses, and 263 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in May or early June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korach (parashah)</span> Portion of the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading

Korach or Korah is the 38th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Numbers. It tells of Korach's failed attempt to overthrow Moses.

The second tithe is a tithe mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and practised within Orthodox Judaism. It is distinguished from the first tithe, the third or poor tithe, and the terumat hamaaser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnt offering (Judaism)</span> A burnt offering in the Hebrew Bible

A burnt offering in Judaism is a form of sacrifice first described in the Hebrew Bible. As a tribute to God, a burnt offering was entirely burnt on the altar. This is in contrast to other forms of sacrifice, which was partly burnt and most of it eaten in communion at a sacrificial meal.

In Judaism, the presumption of priestly descent is the presumption that a Jewish man is a priest (kohen), based not on genealogical records of descent from Aaron or on Jewish court rulings, but rather by observation of his priestly behavior as recognized by his peers and community. Such an individual is called a kohen muhzak.

The firstborn or firstborn son is an important concept in Judaism. The role of firstborn son carries significance in the redemption of the first-born son, in the allocation of a double portion of the inheritance, and in the prophetic application of "firstborn" to the nation of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dough offering</span> Biblical injunction to separate a tithe from bread

In Judaism, the dough offering is an assertive command requiring the owner of bread dough to give a part of the kneaded dough to a kohen. The obligation to separate the dough offering from the dough begins the moment the dough is kneaded, but may also be separated after the loaves are baked. This commandment is one of the twenty-four kohanic gifts, and, by a biblical injunction, is only obligatory in the Land of Israel, but from a rabbinic injunction applies also to breadstuffs made outside the Land of Israel.

According to Judaism, the priestly covenant is the biblical covenant that God gave to Aaron and his descendants, the kohanim. This covenant consisted of their exclusive right to serve in the Temple, and to consume sacrificial offerings and receive other priestly gifts.

A bat-kohen or bat kohen is the daughter of a kohen, who holds a special status in the Hebrew Bible and rabbinical texts. She is entitled to a number of rights and is encouraged to abide by specified requirements, for example, entitlement to consume some of the priestly gifts, and an increased value for her ketubah.

The Sons of Zadok are a family of priests (kohanim), descended from Zadok, described in the prophecies of Ezekiel.

In Judaism, the priestly court was a court of Jewish law, composed of priests descended from Aaron, which operated at the Temple in Jerusalem and oversaw matters related to the priesthood and Temple rituals.

In the Tanakh, the term herem is used, among other meanings, for an object or real property to be devoted to God, with God authorizing a kohen to be its receiving agent.

The priesthood of ancient Israel was the class of male individuals, who, according to the Hebrew Bible, were patrilineal descendants from Aaron, who served in the Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple and Second Temple until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Their temple role included animal sacrifice. The priests are viewed as continuing in the Kohen families of rabbinical Judaism.

Zevachim is the first tractate of Seder Kodashim of the Mishnah, the Talmud and the Tosefta. This tractate discusses the topics related to the sacrificial system of the Temple in Jerusalem, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus. The tractate has fourteen chapters divided into 101 mishnayot, or paragraphs. There is a Gemara – rabbinical commentary and analysis – for this tractate in the Babylonian Talmud, and no Gemara in the Jerusalem Talmud.

References

  1. Talmud Bavli: the Gemara: the classic Vilna edition Hersh Goldwurm – 2007. "A bechor is one of twenty-four "gifts" that the Torah awards to Kohanim (Rashi ; for a complete list of the twenty-four Kohanic gifts, see Gemara below, 110b)."
  2. Zeʾev Grinvald (2001). Shaarei Halachah: A Summary of Laws for Jewish Living. p. 384. Firstborn male animals are one of the twenty-four gifts which were given to Kohanim. Many halachos apply to firstborn animals (e.g. one may not slaughter them, eat their meat, etc.). Today, when there is no Temple, first-born animals are not given to Kohanim, but it is customary to sell the mother cow, sheep, or goat to a non-Jew before she gives birth to her firstborn, and then buy back the mother and the firstborn.
  3. Tosefta Challah 2:8, brought also in Talmud Bavli Bava Kamma 110b, Chulin 133b.
  4. Neusner, The Comparative Hermeneutics of Rabbinic Judaism: Why this, not that? p. 115.
  5. Jacob Neusner, Texts Without Boundaries: Sifra and Sifré to Numbers, 2002 D. The sin offering, guilt offering, sacrifices of peace offerings of the community, the hide of the burnt offering, the excess of the log of oil presented by the metzora, the excess of the sheaf of first barley, the two loaves and...
  6. Leviticus 22:12.