Pesachim 34 – Planting the priest’s portion

Abaye and Chananiah, son of Avin, were learning about priest’s portion (terumah) in the academy of Rabbah – who was quite a personality, see here. Rava met them and asked what new have they learned. They replied, “And what problem do you have?” Rava told them that he could not understand the following ruling: If a priest’s portion of grain became impure and one planted it, then this grain cannot make other food impure, but it itself is still forbidden to be eaten. The earth should purify it! 

They told him, “You know for whom it is forbidden? – For all others, but not for the priests, and in fact, it is pure.” Rava rejected the answer since it would not be teaching anything new. They tried another time: “It became impure because the priests did not watch it!” – but that answer was not satisfactory either.

When Ravin went to Israel and related this question to Rav Yirmiyah, the latter said, “Stupid Babylonians! They live in the low dark land, and because of that, their teachings are murky.” (When they don’t know a reason, they just invent it!) The real reason was conclusively proven by Resh Lakish to be this: in truth, this portion of the grain is pure, but the Sages, out of their love for holy things, decreed additional impurity on the planted grain and removed the power of the earth to purify it. Basically, however, it is pure, and thus it cannot transmit impurity further.

Art: Proverb 'everything has a reason' by Pieter The Younger Brueghel