פירוש על ויקרא 22:10

לא יאכל קדש [THERE SHALL] NO [LAYMAN] EAT OF THE HOLY THINGS — Scripture is speaking here of the heave-offering (i. e., the word קדש means here תרומה only, and not any holy food) because the whole section (cf. Rashi on v. 7 and 9) is speaking of this.

וכל זר לא יאכל קודש, even relatively low grade sacred produce such as the tithe given to the priest known as תרומה.

Or his hired hand. Explanation: Not that the indentured person and the hired hand are kohanim, because cshould [you think that] someone who belongs [to ahis master] for [a period of] years lose his kehunah?

תושב כהן ושכיר, “a tenant of a priest or a hired servant;” you could have thought that if a tenant or physically owned slave of a priest is forbidden to eat of these holy things, it is only logical that a hired hand whose has been hired for a limited period only cannot eat from it either, so why did the Torah have to spell this out for us?; The reason is that if the word תושב alone had been written, I would have thought that it refers to someone hired only for a limited period; (Sifra)

תושב כהן ושכיר A SOJOURNER WITH THE PRIEST OR A HIRED SERVANT [SHALL NOT EAT OF THE HOLY THINGS] — These words mean: the תושב of a כהן and his שכיר (not a כהן who is a תושב or a שכיר); on this account this word תושב here is punctuated with a Patach, because it is in the construct state. What is a תושב? One (a Hebrew servant) whose ear has been pierced (cf. Exodus 21:6), who thereby becomes his (the master’s) possession until the Jubilee year. And what is a שכיר? One (a Hebrew servant) who has been acquired as his possession for a limited number of years only — who goes free at the end of six years (cf. Exodus 21:2). Scripture intends to teach you here that it is not his body (that of the תושב or the שכיר), but only his labour for a term of years that has been acquired by his master that he should become entitled to eat of his heave-offering (as is the case with the קנין כספו, with “a person obtained as a property with money”, mentioned in the next verse) (Sifra, Emor, Section 5 17; Yevamot 70b).

Who leaves [his master’s service] in six years. You might ask: If so, the verse should [only] write the indentured person who does not eat terumah even though he belongs to [his master] until the Jubilee year, and then Scripture would not have to write that the hired hand may not eat since [it would be obvious since] he goes out [free] after six years? The answer is: If it did not mention the hired hand, we would say that the verse is speaking of the most likely case. [Thus] we would think that תושב is somebody who belongs [to his master] for [a period of] years and goes out after six years, and this is why he does not eat. But the one [who had his ear] pierced who belongs to him until the Jubilee year may eat terumah. Therefore the verse needs [to mention] the indentured person and the hired hand.