Commentary for Kiddushin 138:14
אי הכי מאי גדולה חזקה דמעיקרא ליכא למיגזר משום תרומה דאורייתא לבסוף אף ע"ג דאיכא למיגזר משום תרומה דאורייתא בדרבנן אכול בדאורייתא לא אכול
said to them, Behold, ye remain in your presumptive rights: whereof did ye eat in Exile? of the sacred food [eaten] in the country.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gebul. country, is a technical term denoting any part of Palestine outside the Temple and Jerusalem. The reference is to terumah.');"><sup>16</sup></span>
Daf Shevui to Kiddushin
According to this second reading of what these priests did, the greatness of presumptive status is expressed in the fact that now back in Eretz Yisrael, where biblical terumah does exist, the rabbis still let them eat rabbinic terumah. They were not strict lest by eating rabbinic terumah they come to eat biblical terumah. In contrast, in Babylonia, there was no biblical terumah, so there would have been no reason to be strict.
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