A super Levite? TB Yevamot 86

Before we can appreciate today’s daf TB Yevamot 86 we have to review some basic information. The Israelite farmer had to pay his “taxes” before he may enjoy eating his produce. Terumah (תְּרוּמָה ) is 2% of the grain and seven species harvest given exclusively to the priests. Moses Maimonides also ruled it includes all fruits. Terumah is holy. No non-priest may eat of it. After terumah is separated, ma’aser rishone (מַעֲשֵׂר רִאשׁוֹן) equaling 10% is given to the Levites. The Levites may share ma’aser rishone with whom anybody he chooses.

According to the Torah the priests are a subset within the Levites. Amram the Levite had three children, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses. Aaron and his descendants became the priests. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was a descendent of Ezra, appointed the head of the Jewish people when the sages deposed Rabban Gamliel for his haughty behavior, and was very wealthy. We shall see that he believed that the priests were also entitled to ma’aser rishone because he consider them Levite plus or super Levites. On the other hand, Rabbi Akiva believed that the ma’aser rishone belong exclusively to the Levites.

“The Sages taught: Teruma is given to a priest, and the first tithe is given only to a Levite; this is the statement of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya says: The first tithe is given to a priest. The Gemara is puzzled: To a priest and not to a Levite? But the Torah expressly states that the first tithe is for Levites. The Gemara answers: Say he means it can be given also to a priest. The Gemara clarifies: What is the reason for Rabbi Akiva’s opinion? As it is written: “You shall speak to the Levites, and you shall say to them” (Numbers 18:26). Clearly, the verse speaks of Levites, not priests. And the other tanna, Rabbi Eliezer, maintains in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, as Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: In twenty-four places in the Bible the priests are called Levites. And this is one of those verses: “And the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok” (Ezekiel 44:15).” (Sefaria.org translation)

This sugiyah concludes with these two sages confronting each other when Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya tries to collect ma’aser rishone. “The Gemara relates: There was a certain garden from which Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, a priest, would take the first tithe, in accordance with his opinion that priests are also entitled to this tithe. Rabbi Akiva went, closed up the garden, and changed its entrance so that it would be facing toward the cemetery, to prevent Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya from entering the garden. Rabbi Elazar said in the form of a lighthearted exaggeration: Akiva, a former shepherd, comes with his satchel, but I have to live; from where will I receive my livelihood if I cannot claim the first tithe? Rabbi Elazar was actually a very wealthy man and did not need the produce from this garden. However, his point was that Rabbi Akiva acted in order to stop him from receiving something that he felt was rightfully his.” (Sefaria.org translation) Remember a priest may not enter a cemetery and become ritually unready except for his seven closest relatives, mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, wife.

The Meiri explains that Rabbi Akiva picked up his shepherds satchel to show that just as he was able to survive without ma’aser rishone, so too Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya could survive without it because he was a wealthy man.

The Meharsha explains that Rabbi Akiva used his shepherds satchel to collect tzedakkah and wanted to give the ma’aser rishone to the poor Levites. He interprets “but I have to live” to mean that Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was a tenth generation descendent of Ezra and Ezra fined the Levites and ordained that the ma’aser rishone be given to the priests. According to Rambam Ezra fined the Levites because they did not return en masse to Israel from the Babylonian exile. The Kesef Mishneh added that afterwards a person still could give the ma’aser rishone to the Levites if he so chose. (Mishneh Torah, Sefer Zera’im, Hilkhot Ma’aser, chapter 1, halakha 4.)