Terumah (offering)
A terumah (Hebrew: תְּרוּמָה), 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.[1]
"Terumah" redirects here. For other uses, see Terumah (disambiguation).The word terumah refers to various types of offerings, but most commonly to terumah gedolah (תרומה גדולה, "great offering"), which must be separated from agricultural produce and given to a kohen (a priest of Aaron's lineage), who must eat it in a state of ritual purity. Those separating the terumah unto the priests during the time when the Temple stood were required, as a rule, to do so also in a state of ritual purity, as being unclean could render the terumah unfit for consumption.[2] Today, the terumah is separated and either burnt or discarded.
The term occurs seventy-six times in the Biblical Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible;[6] in the Greek Septuagint it was rendered afieroma (ἀφιέρωμα), in the 1917 JPS Tanakh it is generally translated "offering";[7] while in the King James Version (1611) it is also generally translated "offering" but also sometimes "oblation" and four times "heave offering".[8]
The word is used in various contexts throughout the Hebrew Bible, including one use in Proverbs which may denote haughtiness or graft.[9] In most contexts it refers to designating something for a higher purpose, or lifting apart of a quantity from a larger quantity).
The Bible refers to the following offerings, among others, using the term terumah or the verb leharim: