Misva #609: Not to Eat Ma’aser Sheni in a State of Tum’a

After the third and sixth years of the seven-year Shemita cycle, a farmer is required to make a proclamation avowing his compliance with the various tithing obligations, as dictated by the Torah in Parashat Ki-Tabo (Debarim 26:13-15). In this declaration, the farmer specifies several laws that he obeyed, including, “Ve’lo Bi’arti Mimenu Be’tameh” (26:14), which means that he did not eat his Ma’aser Sheni in a state of Tum’a (impurity). The Ma’aser Sheni tithe must be brought to Jerusalem and eaten there, and the Torah here informs us that it is forbidden to partake of this produce in a state of Tum’a. The fact that the farmer declares that he did not eat the produce while Tameh (impure), and that he concludes, “I have done in accordance with all that You commanded me,” shows that this is prohibited. This verse thus establishes a Biblical prohibition against eating Ma’aser Sheni produce while impure. This command forbids both eating Ma’aser Sheni while one is himself Tameh, and eating Ma’aser Sheni which has become Tameh, even though he is not Tameh. The Torah prohibition refers only to eating Ma’aser Sheni in Jerusalem, where it is to be consumed. If, for whatever, one ate Ma’aser Sheni outside Jerusalem, while he or the produce was Tameh, he does not transgress this Torah prohibition. Nevertheless, this is forbidden by force of Rabbinic enactment. One who eats Ma’aser Sheni in a state of Tum’a is liable to Malkut; if he does so outside Jerusalem, then he receives Malkut for violating the Rabbis’ edict. This command is binding upon both men and women, and applies during the times of the Bet Ha’mikdash, when tithing produce is required on the level of Torah law.