Ask the Rabbi: Giving Ma’asrot to the Intended Recipients | Rabbi Daniel Mann | Beit Midrash

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Question: I understand that it is not practical to give teruma and terumat ma’aser to a kohen because he cannot use it (see this column, Bamidbar 5778) and we cannot eat ma’aser sheni in Yerushalayim with its rules, but shouldn’t we give ma’aser rishon and ma’aser ani to levi’im and the poor, respectively?

Answer: The discussion breaks up into two parts. 1) Ma’asrot to which hafrasha ("taking off" – they are actually described as being set aside but only the trumot, not the ma’asrot are physically taken off) at processing centers, which is done on a mass scale. In that case, on the one hand, the mitzva is significant but on the other hand, it is daunting (one competes in the market with people who will not be taking off close to 20%). 2) Ma’asrot from produce that grew in one’s garden or was bought in a store that does not take off ma’asrot.

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1) The major kashrut organizations do not require that the ma’asrot that were declared were given. Although there is an opinion that hafrasha that was done with an intention not to give is invalid, the consensus is that failure to give does not invalidate the hafrasha; therefore, that the produce is not tevel (Shut Har Tzvi, Zeraim I:44). Regarding ma’aser rishon, going to a levi, it has become standard to rely on the idea (Chazon Ish, Shvi’it 5:12) that since the practice is that that we give aliyot to levi’im just on their word, we do not want a situation in which one has significant financial benefit by claiming he is a levi. (It may be relevant, that on the level of spirit of the law, the mitzva is intended to compensate members of the tribe for their full-time involvement in the nation’s spiritual needs (see Bamidbar 18:31).)

There are obviously poor people who can prove their poverty, and so it is more difficult to not give to them. Presumably, kashrut organizations suffice with making the produce permitted to eat, and leave the decision of whether to give ma’aser ani (see below a way it can be done) to the farmer, who will also consider his ability to stay profitable.

2) Most produce in Israel undergoes the taking of trumot and ma’asrot at processing or distribution centers. Therefore, even if one buys at a supermarket without a hechsher, it is rarely more than a safek whether it needs further tithing. Under those circumstances, one does not have to give the ma’asrot he "took off" (see discussion in Mishpetei Eretz, Trumot U’maasrot 17:2).

In regard to that which grows locally or can be traced to a process that does not include hafrasha, the situation is as follows. Regarding ma’aser rishon, some still rely on the Chazon Ish and do not give. Presumably, it would be wonderful to have a levi to give the portion of the produce that correspond to the ma’aser, as a levi would likely be pleased to give expression to his levi status; he could then either keep the produce or gift it back.

Regarding ma’aser ani, it is usually not very useful and actually insulting to be designated a recipient of ma’aser ani and receive minimal benefit from it. A halachically practical system is to lend money to a poor person of an amount that corresponds to the expected value of all the ma’aser ani of that period. The loan works with the condition that it will be paid back only with the ani’s nominal (non-physical) acceptance (as ma’aser ani) and return (as loan payment) of the produce to the giver (Mishpetei Eretz ibid. 9). Because arranging all of this is not so simple, fine organizations (that deal with land-based mitzvot) arrange everything and have people sign up and pay a set fee, which includes the money for the loan that halachically facilitates the ma’aser giving. The same can be done regarding giving to levi’im. It can also work for farmers, who would have to give a lot more than a non-producer, but for whom there is also a mechanism that makes it much cheaper than 10% of the market value of his produce (details are beyond our present scope).

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