Heave offering

A heave offering, or terumah (Hebrew: תְּרוּמָה‎), plural teramot, is a kind of offering. The word is generally used in the positive sense of an offering to God, although sometimes it is also used in a negative sense, such as the ish teramot, a "[dishonest] judge who loves gifts".

In Chazalic literature it is listed as one of the twenty-four priestly gifts. The consumption of terumah is restricted by numerous Torah-based rules and could be eaten by priests, their families, and their servants. The terumah may be consumed only in a state of ritual purity.

This is also called the "great offering" (Hebrew terumah gedolah תרומה גדולה) which is, usually, a food item given to the Jewish priest, as a gift. The thirteenth-century French rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah explains the adjective "great" (Hebrew gedolah) to be because this terumah is the first of all tithes given on produce and thus is given from the "greatest quantity of produce" before any other gift is given.

Etymology

The feminine noun terumah, ("lifting up") comes from the verb stem, rum (רוּם), "high" or "to lift up." The formation of terumah is parallel to the formation of the feminine noun "wave offering" ('tenufah' תְּנוּפָה) from the verb stem nuf, "to wave," and both nouns, and both verbs, are found together in the third occurrence in the Hebrew Bible. Consequently versions such as the King James Version have in a few verses translated "heave offering," by analogy with "wave offering":

Terumah (parsha)

Terumah, Terumoh, Terimuh, or Trumah (תְּרוּמָה — Hebrew for "gift" or "offering," the twelfth word and first distinctive word in the parashah) is the nineteenth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the seventh in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 25:1–27:19. The parashah is made up of 4,692 Hebrew letters, 1,145 Hebrew words, and 96 verses, and can occupy about 155 lines in a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah).Jews in the Diaspora read it the nineteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in February or, rarely, early March.

The parashah tells of God’s instructions to make the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

Readings

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or עליות, aliyot.

First reading — Exodus 25:1–16

In the first reading (עליה, aliyah), God instructed Moses to tell all Israelites whose heart so moved them to bring gifts of gold, silver, copper, colored yarns, fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, acacia wood, oil, spices, lapis lazuli, and other fine stones to make a sanctuary — the Tabernacle (Mishkan, מִּשְׁכָּן) — and its furnishings, so that God could dwell among them. God instructed them to make the Ark of the Covenant of acacia wood overlaid with gold in which to deposit the tablets setting forth God’s commandments.

Terumah (disambiguation)

Terumah is a Hebrew word, originally meaning lifted apart, but meaning donation in modern Hebrew. It can refer to: