Our daf struggles with the limits of tithing on the festival today. Yesterday we learned we are allowed to give the priest a tithed bottle of wine, but what about other food? If we are allowed to prepare food for the holiday on the holiday in order to make it an oneg (joy), then do we need to tithe everything? What if it’s just a grain of barley? Two grains? What if it’s a cup full?
Interestingly, the grain used to derive the laws is . . . you’ll never guess . . . fenugreek!
Besides wondering what fenugreek is, I am sure you are asking the same question the Gemara asks:
Why specifically discuss fenugreek? According to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the same halakha applies even to stalks of grain as well.
So, I remembered hearing about fenugreek when I was nursing. So a quick google search lead me to health.com which reports: “Based on the available evidence, fenugreek has benefits for lowering blood sugar levels, boosting testosterone, and increasing milk production in breastfeeding mothers. Fenugreek may also reduce cholesterol levels, lower inflammation, and help with appetite control, but more research is needed in these areas.”
Sounds good, however, according to Memorial Sloane Kettering, fenugreek taken in doses larger than regular consumption work as estrogen receptors for breast cancers – so not good.
Our rabbis use fenugreek to determine how tithing should be separated. They say that this Mediterranean grain is ideal because the taste of its stalk and its fruit are identical so you might think that you have to tithe based on the entire stalk – however, you only have to tithe based on the amount of grain harvested. Therefore we learn that any other grain (where most don’t have edible stalks) would be calculated only according to what was harvested.
The gem? Don’t tithe your eggs before they’ve hatched (like that Beitzah connection?). Figure out what your tithing is once you’ve calculated your grains. This is the time of year when Jews generally do tithing. It’s the ten day between Rosh haShana and Yom Kippur, a time of tefila, teshuva and tzedakah. So, look back over the year and calculate what you need to give, and give it.
The benefits of fenugreek are just gem of a side note.
2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day. 