{"id":12233,"date":"2026-07-12T00:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T21:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=12233"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:30:14","slug":"17-12-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/17-12-10\/","title":{"rendered":"10. \u1e24alla"},"content":{"rendered":"

One is obligated to separate \u1e25alla<\/em> in Eretz Yisrael by Torah law only when the majority of the Jewish people are in the Land. As the Torah states: \u201cWhen you come to the land to which I bring you, then it shall be, when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set aside a gift to the Lord\u201d (Bamidbar 15:18\u201319). The Sages derive from the phrase \u201cwhen you come\u201d that the Torah obligation applies only when the Jewish people enter the Land as a whole, not when only part of the nation enters (Ketubot<\/em> 25a). Therefore, in the days of Ezra, when only part of the nation returned to the Land, the obligation to separate \u1e25alla<\/em> did not apply by Torah law. Nevertheless, the Men of the Great Assembly, led by Ezra the Scribe, enacted that \u1e25alla<\/em> be separated even when the majority of the Jewish people are not in the Land (MT, Laws of First Fruits 5:5).<\/p>\n

The Sages went further and required \u1e25alla<\/em> to be separated throughout the world, so that the laws of \u1e25alla<\/em> would not be forgotten from the Jewish people (Bekhorot<\/em> 27a; MT, Laws of First Fruits 5:7). They enacted this specifically for \u1e25alla<\/em>, and not for terumot<\/em> and ma\u2019asrot<\/em>, because \u1e25alla<\/em> resembles personal obligations more than mitzvot tied to the soil: the obligation begins when one kneads dough (Tosafot, Kiddushin<\/em> 36b). In addition, \u1e25alla<\/em> is relevant to everyone, whereas terumot<\/em> and ma\u2019asrot<\/em> are relevant only to farmers (Mahari Kurkus to MT, Laws of First Fruits 5:7).<\/p>\n

Once the Sages decreed impurity upon eretz ha-amim<\/em> \u2013 that is, upon all areas outside the settlement boundary of olei Bavel<\/em> \u2013 \u1e25alla<\/em> could no longer be eaten in those impure places, since \u1e25alla<\/em> is sacred and may be eaten only by someone who is ritually pure. Therefore, in Eretz Yisrael within gevul olei Mitzrayim<\/em>, the Sages required two portions of \u1e25alla<\/em> to be separated. The first portion was the rabbinic amount \u2013 one forty-eighth of the dough \u2013 and was burned because it was impure. This preserved the awareness that \u1e25alla<\/em> is sacred and may not be eaten by someone who is ritually impure. The second portion could be any amount the owner chose, even the smallest amount, and was given to a kohen. This preserved the awareness that \u1e25alla<\/em> is not only sacred, but also a priestly gift meant to be eaten by kohanim.<\/p>\n

Kohanim were permitted to eat this second portion even while ritually impure, provided they were impure only through contact with an external source of impurity. If, however, the impurity originated in the body, such as impurity from a seminal emission or nidda<\/em>, the kohen could eat this \u1e25alla<\/em> only after immersing for purification.<\/p>\n

In Syria and other lands outside Eretz Yisrael, where the basis of the obligation of \u1e25alla<\/em> is lower, the law is different. If a kohen is available who is not impure with body-derived impurity \u2013 such as a minor who has never become impure in that way, or an adult who has immersed \u2013 one separates a single portion of \u1e25alla<\/em> and gives it to him to eat. If no such kohen is available, two portions of \u1e25alla<\/em> are separated. The first, even the smallest amount, is burned, preserving the awareness that \u1e25alla<\/em> may not be eaten in impurity. The second, in the rabbinic amount of one forty-eighth of the dough, is given to a kohen to eat, even if he is impure with body-derived impurity (Mishna<\/em>, \u1e24alla<\/em> 4:8; Bekhorot<\/em> 27a; MT, Laws of First Fruits 5:7\u201311).[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n

Since we no longer have the ashes of the red heifer and cannot become purified from corpse impurity, kohanim today cannot eat \u1e25alla<\/em> in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, in Eretz Yisrael, one separates a single portion of \u1e25alla<\/em>, of any size, and burns it. Some maintain that the same practice applies outside the Land as well. The original reason for separating two portions of \u1e25alla<\/em> outside the Land was to preserve the memory of \u1e25alla<\/em> being eaten by kohanim in the Land. Once \u1e25alla<\/em> is no longer eaten by kohanim in the Land, there is no reason to separate an additional portion outside the Land for a kohen to eat. Instead, one separates only one portion and burns it, as is done in Eretz Yisrael. This is the widespread practice (above, 11:4, note 2).<\/p>\n

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[12]<\/a>. In places to which the Sages decreed impurity, they required two portions of \u1e25alla<\/em> to be separated, each preserving a different aspect of the mitzva. The first portion was burned, to preserve the awareness that \u1e25alla<\/em> is sacred and may not be eaten by someone who is ritually impure. The second portion was eaten by a kohen, to preserve the awareness that \u1e25alla<\/em> is a priestly gift meant to be eaten by kohanim.<\/p>\n

In gevul olei Mitzrayim<\/em>, where the obligation of \u1e25alla<\/em> had applied by Torah law in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun, the sanctity of \u1e25alla<\/em> was the primary concern. Therefore, the portion that was burned was the main portion, and it had to be separated in the rabbinic amount of one forty-eighth of the dough \u2013 the lower amount established by the Sages, as explained above in 11:2. The edible portion, by contrast, was secondary and therefore had no fixed amount.<\/p>\n

In Syria and outside the Land, where the obligation of \u1e25alla<\/em> is entirely rabbinic, the main enactment was the additional portion given for the kohen to eat. Therefore, the burned portion had no fixed amount, while the edible portion had to be one forty-eighth of the dough (Mishna<\/em>, \u1e24alla<\/em> 4:8 and its commentators).<\/p>\n

Regarding teruma<\/em>, however, the Sages did not institute the separation of two portions of teruma<\/em>, because doing so would create halakhic complications: the additional teruma<\/em> would itself become tevel<\/em>, since ma\u2019asrot<\/em> had not been separated from it. Therefore, once the Sages decreed impurity upon the earth of eretz ha-amim<\/em>, teruma<\/em> outside the Land could be eaten only by a kohen who was impure through contact with an external source of impurity, but not by one whose impurity issued from the body (Bekhorot<\/em> 27a; Yerushalmi<\/em>, \u1e24alla<\/em> 4:4).<\/p>\n

What I wrote above regarding Syria and outside the Land follows Rambam, who distinguishes three levels of place with respect to \u1e25alla<\/em>. According to Tosafot (Bekhorot<\/em> 27a, s.v. hilkhakh<\/em>) and Rosh, however, the law described above applies only in Babylonia and in other lands far from Eretz Yisrael: if a kohen is available whose impurity does not issue from the body, one separates only a single portion of \u1e25alla<\/em> and gives it to him to eat. In Syria and in lands adjacent to Eretz Yisrael, such as Ammon and Moav, the law is stricter. Even when such a kohen is available, two portions of \u1e25alla<\/em> are separated: the first, of any amount, is burned; the second, in the required amount, is eaten by any kohen, even one whose impurity issues from the body.<\/p>\n

Unlike terumot<\/em> and ma\u2019asrot<\/em>, which many Rishonim maintain apply by Torah law even when only a minority of the Jewish people are in the Land, \u1e25alla<\/em> is different. Regarding \u1e25alla<\/em>, nearly all Rishonim maintain that when the majority of the Jewish people are not in the Land, one is obligated only by rabbinic enactment. This is the view of Rambam (MT, Laws of First Fruits 5:5) and SA, YD 322:2. There is, however, a minority view that even \u1e25alla<\/em> became a Torah obligation when the Land was sanctified a second time in the days of Ezra, despite the fact that only a minority of the Jewish people were then in the Land, and that this Torah obligation remains in force forever. This view is cited in Tashbetz<\/em> 2:291 and Levush<\/em> 322:2.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One is obligated to separate \u1e25alla in Eretz Yisrael by Torah law only when the majority of the Jewish people are in the Land. As the Torah states: \u201cWhen you come to the land to which I bring you, then it shall be, when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-12"],"yoast_head":"\n10. \u1e24alla - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/17-12-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10. \u1e24alla - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One is obligated to separate \u1e25alla in Eretz Yisrael by Torah law only when the majority of the Jewish people are in the Land. 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