Terumot and ma’aserot (heave offerings and tithes) are dues given to the priests and the poor. A number of passages in the Bible deal with ma'aser and according to the halakhah they refer to different categories: the first tithe is given to the levites (Num. 18:21–24); the second tithe is eaten in Jerusalem or redeemed (Deut. 14:22–26); and the tithe that is given to the poor (Deut. 14:28–29 and 26:12). In order to render agricultural produce fit for ordinary consumption (hullin), terumot and ma'aserot had to be allocated from it in the following manner: first terumah was set aside for the priests, and from the remainder a tenth, the first tithe, was given to the levites. The levites then had to give a tithe of this first tithe, called terumat ma’aser or ma'aser min ha-ma'aser ("a tithe of the tithe") to the priests. After terumah and the first tithe were set aside, a second tithe had to be given of the remainder. In the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the sabbatical cycle this constituted the second tithe, while in the third and sixth years it became the poor man's tithe. The second tithe had either to be taken up to Jerusalem to be eaten there, or redeemed for money and the money plus an added quarter taken to Jerusalem, where it could be spent at the owner's discretion for his upkeep. The tithe given to the poor is not regarded as sacred. On the last day of Passover of the fourth and seventh years a declaration in line with the biblical injunction (Deut. 26:13–15, called "the declaration of the tithe"), which was applied to all tithes, was made. Produce from which terumah and ma'aser have not been set aside is called tevel and may not be eaten either by its owner or by priests. The produce of an am ha-areẓ , who is "unreliable as to tithes" so that it is uncertain whether its terumot and ma'aserot have been set aside as prescribed, is called demai. The Bible does not prescribe a given quantity of terumah. Hence, according to the letter of the Law, the offer of a single ear of wheat should be enough for the whole. However, the rabbis established a quota: "The proper amount of terumah: if a man is liberal it is one-fortieth – Bet Shammai say one-thirtieth – for the average man it is one-fiftieth, and for the niggardly, one-sixtieth" (Ter. 4:3). though biblical law confines the duty of giving terumot and ma'aserot to grain, wine, and oil (cf. Deut. 12:17, "the tithe of the corn, the wine, and the oil"), the sages deduced from the Bible that it applied to other produce and fruits and, according to the halakhah, it was further applied to vegetables. The halakhic rule is that "whatever is food and guarded [i.e, does not grow wild] and grows from the earth is liable to tithes" (Ma'as. 1:1). At the close of the tannaitic era the duty of giving tithes was extended to money as well. Similarly there is evidence of terumah and ma’aser being set aside from all foods, and it would seem that this was "the custom of the pious."

הסכמות: ר' אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק, ירושלם, מעלי יומא דעצרתא [ה סיון] תרפ"ז; ר' בן-ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל, תל-אביב, כח אייר תרפ"ז; ר' אפרים שרגא וויינגאטט, צפת, כג אייר תרפ"ז; רבני חיפה: ר' ברוך מרקוס, ר' אליהו ריינה, ר' יהושע קניאל , ח סיון תרפ"ז.