A company which purchases all of their watermelon seeds from Israel, recently applied for Kosher certification from the Chicago Rabbinical Council.
One of their suppliers does not have hashgachah, and therefore the seeds which he buys from that supplier require hafrashas terumah and ma’aser.
The company has about 25,000 pounds of seeds from the non-certified supplier, and before beginning certification the Rabbinic Coordinator had to be mafrish terumah and ma’asros from those 25,000 pounds. That resulted in 250 pounds of seeds which are terumah, which is tamei and cannot be eaten by anyone—Kohen, Levi or Yisroel.
Terumah, which is tamei, must be burnt (although the Chazon Ish says that it can also be buried if burning is too difficult), but a Kohen can have benefit from the terumah tamei as it burns.
Accordingly, the cRc burnt some of the seeds, and while doing so some of the kohanim on the staff and their children were able to enjoy roasting hotdogs over the fire.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
hey! i know the people in that picture!
Alternatively, they could just market 250 lbs without hashgacha. I dont think its a problem for a non-Jew to sell tevel to a non-Jew to eat. They arent muzhar on such things anyways.
Furthermore, the Rambam is meikil on terumos umaasros brought to chutz laaretz (and the Raavad argues). I forget how Shulchan Aruch comes out, or if he even talks about it. But this is a cool article. I want to see more of this kind of news.
A couple of my kids were standing there too but didn’t make it in to the picture. (Guess they missed out on their five minutes of fame)
Now suppose the company considered this a hefsed meruba – if we took the Chazon Ish’s eitza, and buried 250 lb of seed, you’d have, to use the analogy of Shabbos, at least a karov l’psik reisha that you’d get a pretty big crop of watermelon and even more seeds, which would not be tevel, but it would be an interesting shaila for R Schwartz Shlit”a, as to whether there would be any problem of hana-ah, for doing that l’chat’chila. Agav, the comma between “terumah,” and “which is tamei,” implies a non-restrictive clause, which is not at all what the Chazon Ish intended.
“Some of the kohanim on the staff and their chilren” – if the children are young enough for a chazaka, it’s even less of a problem.
Why not bury them? Makes excellent compost.
where can I get seeded watermelons in Israel? The markets are full of the genetically altered seedless variety, which is often too sweet, stiffer texture, and worst of all, without seeds.
mmmm… Romanian hot dogs!!!!
I guess Reb Dovid Cohen and his family ate well!! Knowing halocha is a wonderful thing!!! !