Obligation to separate and give t&m from greenhouse produce
Question
Hello, I teach at a girls’ high school. As part of our agriculture classes, we have two greenhouses and also a few fruit trees. I signed up the school with Beit Ha'otzar, but I’m not sure whether a regular membership fee is sufficient or if I should have arranged some kind of expanded membership.
Answer
Although in practice we separate terumot and ma’aserot from greenhouse produce, this is done due to doubt (some opinions exempt produce grown indoors from tithing). For this reason, when separating terumot and ma'aserot from greenhouse produce, the formula is recited without a blessing.
In this situation, there is no obligation to give the levi ma'aser rishon, nor to give ma’aser ani to the poor from produce grown indoors or in a greenhouse, since the very obligation of tithing is in doubt (meaning: there was never a definite biblical or rabbinic obligation of separating terumot and ma'aserot in the first place).
(Note: This is in contrast to a regular situation of safek tevel; that is, where at one point there certainly was an obligation to separate terumot and ma'aserot, but afterwards there is a doubt if they were actually separated and given. In such situations, there is still an obligation to actually give the ma'aser ani. In this case, however, to begin with it's not clear that the produce requires the separation of terumot and ma'aserot. This is called ein chezkat chiyuv, loosely translated, "there is no assumption that an obligation exists." In this case, there is no obligation to actually give the ma'aser ani, but separation is still required.)
However, the fruit on the trees growing in the school’s yard are obligated in terumot and ma'aserot. Therefore, terumot and ma’aserot should be separated from the fruit with a blessing, but for this a regular personal subscription, like one used for a home garden, is sufficient; and there is no need for a special subscription.
With the blessing of Torah and the Land,
Ehud Ahituv