Who Is Obligated to Give the Foreleg, Cheeks, and Stomach, and How Should They Be Treated? [Part 2]

Who Is Obligated to Give the Foreleg, Cheeks, and Stomach, and How Should They Be Treated? [Part 2]

Topics of the Article

In this article we will clarify who is exempt from giving the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach to a kohen; when they are given; whether a kohen is exempt from these gifts or may take them for himself; whether a kohen’s partner is also exempt with regard to his share; whether these gifts must be treated with special dignity; what the law is regarding a Levite; what the law is when an animal is found to be a tereifah; what the obligation is when we merely act stringently and treat it as a tereifah; what the law is when it is a tereifah rabbinically but kosher by Torah law; whether a kohenet may also receive the gifts; what the law is outside the Land of Israel and whether the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach must be given there as well; when the gifts must be given and why; whether one may eat from an animal before the gifts have been given; what the law is regarding one who eats; whether there is a pious custom in this matter; how the kohen is required to eat the gifts; whether he may sell them to a non-Jew or feed them to an animal; to how many kohanim the gifts are given; which kohen should receive them; whether a particular kohen has priority; and what the law is when there is no kohen in the city.

Who Is Obligated to Give the Foreleg, Cheeks, and Stomach

After having explained what the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach are and to which animals this obligation applies, in this article we will clarify who is obligated to give these gifts and in which cases one is exempt from giving them.

A. A kohen who slaughtered an animal is exempt from giving the gifts of the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach. In this case, there is no obligation at all; it is not that the kohen is obligated but is permitted to take the gifts for himself. Therefore, even if the kohen was a partner in the animal, the Israelite partner is also exempt from giving the gifts even from his share of the partnership. See below regarding what is considered a partnership. In addition, below we will see that there are various laws concerning how the gifts are to be eaten; in this case, there is no obligation to eat the gifts in that manner.

However, the Sages did not want every butcher shop to take a kohen, give him a small partnership share in the shop, and thereby become exempt from priestly gifts. Therefore, they enacted that a kohen who began selling on a regular basis must immediately give the gifts. If he began selling only occasionally and temporarily, for up to three weeks he may sell without giving the gifts; but from the fourth week onward, when the kohen slaughters and sells the meat he slaughtered, the Sages obligated him to give the gifts to another kohen (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:24).

B. A Levite who slaughtered an animal: there is doubt whether he is obligated in these gifts. Therefore, he is not obligated to give them. However, if a kohen seized the gifts from him, there is a dispute whether the gifts are removed from the kohen’s possession: according to Sephardic communities, the gifts are not removed from the kohen’s possession, whereas according to Ashkenazim, they are removed from the kohen’s possession. [This is a general dispute in a case of doubt as to whether an obligation exists, where the kohen seized the gifts.] (Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Yoreh De’ah 61:23). However, one may not give these gifts to a Levite, and if they were given to a Levite, the Levite must transfer them to a kohen.

C. An Israelite married to a kohenet who slaughtered an animal is not obligated to give the gifts, and in this regard his status is like that of a kohen.

D. Ben peku’ah: if a live fetus is found in the cow’s womb, there is no need to give these priestly gifts from it. The Pri Chadash (Yoreh De’ah 61:11) wrote that even though the fetus is slaughtered by rabbinic requirement, there is no obligation to give the gifts. However, the Knesset HaGedolah (Yoreh De’ah 61:5–10) and the Pri Megadim (Mishbetzot Zahav, Yoreh De’ah 61:8) were uncertain about the matter and wrote that the owners are not obligated to give them, but if the kohen seized them, they are not removed from his possession.

E. Outside the Land of Israel: regarding an animal slaughtered outside the Land of Israel, there is a dispute whether there is an obligation to give these priestly gifts; see below, where we expand on the subject.

F. Tereifah: an animal that is halachically unfit for consumption is not subject to the obligation of gifts. Therefore, an animal found to be a tereifah need not have its gifts brought to a kohen. However, a kosher animal that is not intended for consumption for any reason is still subject to the obligation to give the gifts to a kohen; for example, it is forbidden to give the entire animal to dogs to eat. Below we will elaborate on the definition of halachically unfit.

Outside the Land of Israel

The Gemara disputes whether priestly gifts apply outside the Land of Israel. Most Rishonim ruled that they do apply, and so ruled the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 61:21) and the Chochmat Adam (Sha’arei Tzedek, Mishpetei Aretz 8:1) as the basic law, though they concluded that in practice, the custom outside the Land of Israel is to be lenient.

The Pri Chadash (subsection 32) wrote that one is permitted to give them outside the Land of Israel, and it is not considered arrogance. The Gra (subsection 20, Likkut) wrote that one who gives them shall be blessed. The Pleiti (subsection 6) wondered why pious and meticulous individuals do not act this way. He wrote that perhaps this is because we do not have kohanim with established certainty, and he related that his son-in-law, Binyamin Wolf Frenkel, at a pidyon haben, slaughtered an animal and gave the gifts to the kohen performing the redemption, and a portion to his father-in-law, Rabbi Yitzchak Shapira, who ate it on behalf of his mother-in-law, who was a kohenet. He also cited that many wish to merit the mitzvah and therefore give money to someone traveling to the Land of Israel to give on their behalf. [He discusses whether distance from the place is considered a case of “he himself cannot perform it.”]

An Animal Found to Be a Tereifah

If an animal is found to be a tereifah, one is not obligated to give the kohen the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach. This is derived from the verse which says “et zovchei hazevach” — “those who slaughter the sacrifice,” meaning that only meat fit for consumption is obligated in these gifts (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:6). However, if the meat is fit for consumption but was slaughtered for the purpose of feeding one’s dogs or marketing it to non-Jews, nevertheless the gifts must first be given to the kohen.

The question arises in our times: a significant portion of the animals that we rule to be tereifah are not certainly tereifah; rather, there may be an adhesion in the lung or another issue, and we are not proficient enough to know when it is a tereifah and when it is not. Therefore, we transfer it for sale to non-Jews or for animal feed. But since in truth it may not be a tereifah, it would seem that we should give these organs to the kohen, and he can sell them to a non-Jew or use them for animal feed.

Furthermore, in many cases it is clear by Torah law that the animal is not a tereifah, but there are matters that the Sages determined to be a tereifah rabbinically. In such a case, do we say that the animal is considered a tereifah even as a leniency, thereby permitting us to refrain from giving the gifts to the kohen? Or perhaps the Sages were stringent that it is a tereifah and forbidden for consumption, but did not enact a leniency that would remove the need to give the gifts to the kohen.

Moreover, sometimes the matter is subject to dispute, and according to the basic law we know that the halachah follows the lenient opinion, but the custom is to be stringent like the prohibiting opinion. Can we say in such a case as well that since we are stringent and treat it as a tereifah, we may also be lenient by virtue of that ruling and permit the owner not to give the gifts to the kohen?

In a case where, halachically, it is a doubtful tereifah, the Shach (Yoreh De’ah 61:3) wrote that there is no obligation to bring the gifts to the kohen, because there is a doubt here and we say that “the burden of proof is upon the claimant”; the kohen must prove that the animal is kosher, and only then may he receive the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach. Based on his words, the author of the Or HaChaim (Pri To’ar 61:4) and the Pri Megadim (Mishbetzot Zahav, Yoreh De’ah 61:8; Siftei Da’at ad loc. 3) wrote that if one refrains from eating it only because of a stringency lest it be a tereifah, or because the Sages enacted that it is a tereifah, the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach should be given as usual. For although the meat goes to market for non-Jews or to dogs and the like, there is an obligation to give the foreleg, cheeks, and stomach; only where there is a doubt that perhaps the animal is a tereifah by Torah law is there a basis to exempt from giving the gifts.

It also appears from his words that if the person wishes to give the gifts to the kohen, he fulfills a doubtful mitzvah. Moreover, if the kohen seized the gifts, according to the Shulchan Aruch’s view that in a case of doubt, if the kohen seized them they cannot be taken from him, here too the owners cannot take them from the kohen’s possession. However, the Rema’s position is that in every case of doubt, if the kohen seized them, what he seized is removed from his possession.

However, the Pri Chadash (Yoreh De’ah 61:11) and the Kreiti (ad loc. 6) wrote that even if the meat is forbidden to eat only because of a stringency, it is included in the exclusion of the verse, and any meat not fit for consumption, even due to a stringency, is not subject to the obligation of priestly gifts. In their view, there is not even a doubtful mitzvah, and there is no reason to give it to the kohen. The Pleiti added that if the kohen does not accept this stringency, the gifts should be given to the kohen, even though the owner does not eat the meat because of that stringency. Therefore, in a case where an animal has an adhesion which according to the Shulchan Aruch renders it forbidden, while according to the Rema it is permitted, even if the animal’s owner is Sephardic, he is required to give it to an Ashkenazic kohen who eats the animal in such a condition.

When It Is Proper to Separate the Gifts

The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 61:4) wrote that there is a mitzvah to separate the gifts immediately after the inspection that showed that the animal is not a tereifah. The Knesset HaGedolah (Yoreh De’ah 61, glosses to the Tur, subsection 18) wrote that one must hurry to separate them, lest one eat before separation and be subject to excommunication [meaning that the excommunication is not only if one eats the gifts themselves, but also if one eats before separation]. However, the author of the Or HaChaim (Pri To’ar 61:3) wrote that the prohibition is only due to bal te’acher, delaying fulfillment; but if one wishes to taste meat from the slaughter site of the animal [which is considered healthful to eat immediately] and the like, it is permitted without concern.

May One Eat from an Animal from Which the Gifts Were Not Separated?

Most halachic authorities ruled that there is no prohibition at all to eat, not even rabbinically; rather, there is a mitzvah to hasten the separation as soon as possible. There is only a pious custom, practiced by the prophet Yechezkel, not to eat from an animal from which the priestly gifts had not been given (Pri Chadash, Yoreh De’ah 61:10; Kreiti ad loc. 5). The Pleiti (ad loc. 1) added that even though the prophet Yechezkel was in Babylonia, outside the Land of Israel too there is reason for a righteous person like the prophet Yechezkel to be stringent and not eat from an animal from which the gifts had not been separated. The Knesset HaGedolah (Yoreh De’ah 61, glosses to the Tur, subsection 18) implies that although there is no prohibition to eat before separating the gifts, the Sages excommunicated one who would do so.

To Whom Are They Given?

There is a halachah (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:7), derived from the verse (II Chronicles 31:4): “לָתֵת מְנָת הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם לְמַעַן יֶחֶזְקוּ בְּתוֹרַת ה'” — “to give the portion of the kohanim and the Levites, so that they might strengthen themselves in the Torah of the Lord,” that the gifts should specifically be given to a kohen who is a Torah scholar, so that through receiving the gifts he will be able to free himself to engage in the Torah of Hashem. However, if there is no kohen who is a Torah scholar present, or if he does not wish to receive the gifts for any reason, they should be given to any kohen, even if he is not knowledgeable in Torah. The Pitchei Teshuvah (Yoreh De’ah 61:2) wrote that even if the kohen who is a Torah scholar is not currently nearby and one would need to wait for him, the giving of the gifts should not be delayed; rather, they should be given to whichever kohen is present.

In addition, the halachah is ruled (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:8) that the gifts may also be given to a kohenet, even if she is married to an Israelite. Moreover, they may even be given to her husband without her acquiring the gifts at all, because “one’s wife is like one’s own body.”

However, a kohenet who was divorced and had relations with a kohen becomes a challalah and is obligated to give the gifts; likewise, her husband, if he is not a kohen, is obligated to give the gifts. Similarly, a kohen who married in a prohibited manner a woman disqualified for the priesthood — his sons and daughters are challalim, and they have no right to receive the gifts; they are also obligated to give gifts from their animals (Rambam, Bikkurim 9:20; Pri Chadash, Yoreh De’ah 61:12). However, the Pri Megadim (Siftei Da’at 61:12) was uncertain about this, since even regarding Levites there is a view that they are not obligated in the gifts.

If there is no kohen in the city, one is obligated to estimate the monetary value of the gifts and give that value to a kohen when one becomes available in the city.

Regarding a Levite, although there is doubt whether he is obligated in the gifts, these gifts should not be given to him (Shach, Yoreh De’ah 61:12).

How Much Is Given to Each Kohen?

There is a halachah that one must give the kohen a significant gift. Therefore, even if there are many kohanim, each kohen should be given a significant limb. With a sheep or goat, one must give one kohen the entire foreleg. But with an ox, whose foreleg is large and contains two bones, one may give each kohen a separate bone together with the meat on it. And whether with an ox or with a sheep or goat, the right cheek with half the tongue is given to one kohen, the other half of the cheek to another kohen, and the stomach to an additional kohen (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:9; Pri Chadash 14). The Pri Chadash further wrote that although many Rishonim appear to indicate that the foreleg of an ox, if it is especially large and can be divided among several kohanim so that each receives a respectable portion, may be divided in that way, it is preferable to divide it into two parts, as the Shulchan Aruch ruled.

The Kohen’s Conduct Regarding the Gifts

If a kohen seized gifts, they cannot be removed from his possession [the Pri Chadash wrote that this applies only according to the view that the right of bestowal is not considered property; however, the Pleiti (subsection 17) wrote that most authorities agreed that it is not property]. However, a kohen is forbidden to seize gifts; moreover, even to ask the owners verbally to bring him the gifts is not proper. Only when the gifts are given to the kohen in an honorable manner may he take them. However, a person who is not known to be a kohen may ask for the gifts so that people will know that he is a kohen. If there are few gifts and many kohanim, the greedy ones seize them or ask the owners to choose them, while the modest ones refrain from being present at the place of distribution (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:11; Pri Chadash 19).

How Are the Gifts Eaten?

There is a mitzvah to eat them in a manner of grandeur, as kings eat. However, the kohen may prepare the meat in the manner most pleasant to him. If there is no particular manner he prefers, the mitzvah is to prepare it roasted with mustard, which is the way kings eat (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:12). The Pri Chadash and the Kreiti wrote that if the gifts were sold to an Israelite, there is no obligation.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that it is permitted to feed them to dogs or to a non-Jew (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 61:13). The Shach (subsection 5) and the Pri Chadash (subsection 22) wrote in the name of the Maharshal that this permission applies only when the meat is lean or has spoiled. The Pri Megadim explained that since there is a law to eat it in a dignified manner, feeding it to a non-Jew or to a dog is not an act of eating that has dignity.

Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 61).