Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

That an uncircumcised one not eat priestly tithe: That an uncircumcised one not eat priestly tithe; meaning to say, a priest that is not circumcised — whether he is volitional or inadvertent or from duress, such as when his brothers died because of circumcision, so that the fear of death prevented him from being circumcised; in any manner that it be — since he is uncircumcised, he is forbidden to eat priestly tithe. And the same is the law — that he is forbidden — with other consecrated foods. And this prevention is not elucidated in Scripture, but we rather learn it from an inferential comparison. And the transcriber wrote in the name of Rambam, may his memory be blessed, (Sefer HaMitzvot, Negative Commandments 135), “The ones that received the tradition elucidated with this, that this prohibition is from Torah writ and not rabbinic. And the language of Yevamot 70a is, ‘From where [do we know] that an uncircumcised does not eat priestly tithe? It is stated, “a boarder and a hired worker” (Exodus 12:45) with regard to the Pesach [sacrifice], and it is stated, “a boarder and a hired worker” (Leviticus 22:10) with regard to priestly tithe. Just as “a boarder and a hired worker” with regard to the Pesach, an uncircumcised is prohibited [from eating] it, so too, “a boarder and a hired worker” stated with regard to priestly tithe, an uncircumcised is prohibited [from eating] it.’ And the same is the law for other holy foods. And this is likewise the language of Sifra, Emor, Chapter 4:18. And there it is stated, ‘Rabbi Akiva says, “Every man (literally, A man, a man)” (Leviticus 22:4), [is] to include the uncircumcised.’ And there — meaning in the Gemara Yevamot 72a — it is elucidated that a stretched [may] eat from priestly tithe from the word of the Torah, but [the Rabbis] decreed [that he may not] because he appears like one uncircumcised. And a stretched is one who stretched his foreskin in a way that he would appear as if he was uncircumcised, after he was circumcised. Behold, it is already elucidated that an uncircumcised is forbidden from the Torah and a stretched is forbidden rabbinically. And understand this. And there it is said that a stretched must be circumcised [again] rabbinically.” To here [are his words].

And according to that which appears, the entire lengthiness of his words here is because in the second root of the Sefer HaMitzvot, it is written that not everything that we learn from the thirteen hermeneutic principles through which the Torah is expounded or by an inclusion is fitting to count in the tally of the commandments. And behold the inferential comparison (gezerah shava) is one of the thirteen principles, and [yet] he himself counted the prohibition of an uncircumcised one with priestly tithe as one — and even though it is learned like this. And therefore, he is apologizing, with his saying that the ones that received the tradition elucidated that this prohibition is from Torah writ and not rabbinic. And it appears that his intention is to say that any time they, may their memory be blessed, elucidated that the matter is from Torah writ [and] not rabbinic, we count it as a commandment. [And this is] even though we learn it from one of the principles, since the Sages testified about the matter that it is from Torah writ. And were it not that it is fitting to be very careful with the coal of the Rabbi and that I am afraid, I would say that he entered this topic with great duress. And Ramban, may his memory be blessed already wrangled with him in his Sefer HaMitzvot on the second root, and he [produced] many proofs from the words of the Gemara and the Midrash — how the words were prolific, to the point that seven large folios would not contain them. And [as the] final word, the Rabbi said that the contents of Sefer HaMitzvot of Rambam, may his memory be blessed, are sweet things and it is all delights, except for this root (ikar) that ‘uproots (oker) mountains.’

It is from the roots of the commandments [that it is] because the uncircumcised is considered like a foreigner, since he did not enter the covenant of the circumcision — which is a great matter — with [the rest of] Israel. And there is one root to the distancing of a foreigner from priestly tithe and impure ones from the holy, and it is written above close by (Sefer HaChinukh 279).

And [it] is practiced in every place that there is priestly tithe from Torah writ there, as we said in the previous commandment (Sefer HaChinukh 281). And one who transgresses this and eats priestly tithe — whether pure or impure — and is uncircumcised is liable for lashes.