Civil Servants Find Themselves Cast in Unlikely Role -- Fat Cats

ABC News ^ | 8/12/10 | Rich Blake

[Nachum]

As a Jewish question: Do shoftim get the first fruit? The pick of the crop? Or the same fruit as the rest of us?

Hooboy, a complicated question. The simple answer? The section or body of law that has to do with 'first fruit' is called 'terumah'. It refers to an amount required to give from the harvest. Before one is allowed to benefit personally, he "first" donates the required amount. That number is debated. Amounts varied from a low of one sixtieth (a poor person) as as much as one fortieth of one's crop. If a rich person gave one sixtieth, he was considered miserly. I believe this is a different issue than the discussion of charity (tzedukah).

This also applies to the first wool sheared. One commentary mentions a minimum of 5 sheep's wool.

One might extrapolate that we also are required to give charity (tzedukah) from this section, but it is, here as I understand it referring only to crops of the field grown as 'terumah' (first fruit), not charity (tzedukah).

I am not a rabbi, so you may want to consult with an authority on this.

N