3,426. Tithing the Produce of a Rented Field

Hilchos Maaser 6:11

If someone buys untithed produce from two different places, he can take tithes from one for the other. If a Jew acquires a field from a Jew or a non-Jew as a sharecropper, he must divide the produce in front of the landowner and give him his portion at that time so that he will know that he has received untithed produce. However, if he rents a field from a Jew in exchange for giving the landowner a certain volume of produce, then if he pays him with produce from that field, the tenant must separate the terumah. After this, he gives then landowner the agreed-upon volume and the landowner must tithe it himself. However, if the tenant pays the landowner using produce from a different field – or with a different type of produce – then the tenant must take the tithes before paying the landowner.

Hilchos Maaser 6:12

If a Jew rents a field from a non-Jew in exchange for giving the landowner a certain volume of produce, the tenant must tithe the produce before delivering it. This is a penalty designed to discourage one from renting the field from a non-Jew. This is because if the field is left unrented, the owner might be inclined to sell it to a Jew. Similarly, if someone receives his hereditary field from a non-Jew as a sharecropper, there is a penalty that the tenant must tithe the produce before giving the non-Jewish owner his portion. This is intended to make a person less eager to sharecrop his hereditary field. Again, if left vacant, the owner might become inclined to sell it to a Jew.