Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

That an impure priest not eat priestly tithe: That an impure priest not eat priestly tithe, as it is stated (Leviticus 22:4), “Every man from the seed of Aharon, etc. from the holy things he shall not eat, until he becomes pure.” And we say in Tractate Makkot 14b, “From where [do I know about] a warning for priestly tithe” — meaning to say, that he not eat it [while he is] impure? “As it is stated, ‘Every man, etc.’; what is the thing that is equal to the seed of Aharon” — meaning to say, that all of the seed eat it, males and females? “I would say, ‘that is the priestly tithe.’” And the warning about this matter is repeated, as it is written (Leviticus 22:9), “And they shall keep My charge.” And [it is] like they said in Sanhedrin 83a [in] the ninth chapter concerning those liable for death by the hands of the Heavens, that they learn [about] the one who is impure that eats priestly tithe, from “And they shall keep My charge and they shall not bear a sin for it.”

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] to aggrandize and make dear all that is [part of] the holy in the heart of every man. And I have already mentioned many times the benefit that comes out to us in the thing. And it is well-known [that] to eat it in purity is from the embellishments of the holy.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Heave Offerings 7:1) that an impure priest that ate pure priestly tithe is [punishable] with the death penalty and is lashed for it. But if he ate impure priestly tithe — even though it is [forbidden] with a negative commandment — he is not lashed, as it is not holy. And that which they said (Berakhot 2a) that impure ones eat priestly tithe with the sun setting and they see three medium stars in the firmament — and that time period is like a third of an hour after the setting of the sun. And that which they, may their memory be blessed, said about one who was eating priestly tithe and felt that his limbs shuddered to ejaculate semen, and that which they said about camel drivers. And that which they said (Bekhorot 27a) about the priestly tithe of outside the Land, that it is permitted to a priest that the impurity does not come out to him from his body — such as a boy minor who did not experience an emission or a girl minor who has not [yet] become menstruant. And that which they said (Chullin 130b) that all ignoramuses are assumed to be impure, and so we only give the priestly tithe to priests who know to keep it in purity. And I have also mentioned above (Sefer HaChinukh 159) some of the laws of the impurities in general and in particular.

And [it] is practiced by male and female priests in the Land and at the time that it is in its settlement — as then the obligation of the priestly tithe is from Torah writ there, according to the opinion of Rambam, may his memory be blessed (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Heave Offerings 1:26). And one who transgresses it and eats priestly tithe volitionally and is impure, is liable for death by the hands of the Heavens. And [it is] as it is mentioned in Sanhedrin 83a [in] the ninth chapter, such that they enumerated those liable for death there, and enumerated an impure priest that ate priestly tithe among them. And at this time, there is a rabbinical prohibition with the fruits of the Land of Israel. (See Tur, Yoreh Deah 231.)