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Twenty-four priestly gifts


The twenty-four kohanic gifts are a description in the Gemara tradition of offerings given to the Jewish priests. The adjective "kohanic" means "of a kohen", relating to a Jewish priest.

The Kohanim were compensated for their service in the temple in Jerusalem - and to the nation - through twenty-four "priestly gifts". The majority of these gifts were food items. Of these twenty-four gifts, ten gifts were given to the priests in the Temple, the "Holy House" (beyth ha-miqdash), four were to be consumed by the priests in Jerusalem, and ten are to be given to the priests even outside the land of Israel.

The gifts are usually not given today, when there is no temple in Jerusalem. For example, most practising Jews today do not give first-born of their animals to modern Kohanim. Other practices may be followed, such as selling the mother animal to a non-Jew before it gives birth to the firstborn, and then buy back both the animal and its firstborn.

According to Tosefta Hallah, the ten gifts given in (or to be consumed in) the Temple area were portions of:

Gifts given (or to be consumed) within the walls of Jerusalem were:

Gifts which could be given (or consumed) outside Jerusalem were:

Females, who did not serve in the Tabernacle or the Temple, were permitted to consume and/or derive benefit from some of the Twenty-Four Priestly Gifts. But if a Kohen's daughter married a man from outside the Kohanic line, she was no longer permitted to benefit from the priestly gifts. Conversely, the daughter of a non-priest who married a priest took on the same rights as an unmarried daughter of a priest.


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