[7] Eventually "chaber" assumed the general meaning of "scholar",[8] and appears as a title lower than hakham.
In their eyes, any person whose observance of the food purity or tithing laws was doubtful was an am ha'aretz, whose contact was defiling.
[15] On the Scriptural verse, "He shall... purify and sanctify it"[16] the rabbis taught the maxim, "Purity leads to sanctity".
Some even extended all the precautions necessary for the priest in eating holy things to the layman who lived on secular food.
[18][11] The Bible requires the Israelite to give certain gifts from his farm and herd to the priest, Levite, and poor.
Some suggest that in this period the so-called "am ha'aretz" (who included the great majority of the people), either driven by circumstances or seduced by temptation, neglected them; and that a certain more rigorous minority, not knowing whom to trust in such matters, formed among themselves associations ("chaburot"), the members ("chaberim") of which pledged themselves to keep faithfully the rules of tithes and Levitical purity.
[20] To be admitted as a chaber, one must declare his determination never to give terumah or ma'aser to a priest or a Levite who is classified as an am ha'aretz; nor to allow his ordinary food to be prepared by an am ha'aretz; nor to eat his ordinary food (chullin, grain and fruit from which terumah and ma'aser have been separated) except in a certain state of Levitical cleanness.
If they are satisfied that the candidate has lived up to the rules in his private life, he is accepted at once; otherwise he is admitted as a "ben ha-k'neset" (son of the union, neophyte)[22] for thirty days.
[25] As the ordinary Israelite and the Levite are not permitted to handle the most sacred things, it naturally follows that not all men are eligible for the higher degrees; and even of those whose descent does not bar their admission, not all are willing to assume the correspondingly greater precautions incident to the privilege.
It is ordained that if one desires to join the order of chaberim, but does not wish to subject himself to the duties devolving upon the members of the higher degrees—the precautions necessary to keep himself Levitically clean, as for the more sacred things—he may be accepted; but where, on the contrary, one seeks admission to the higher degrees while refusing to pledge himself to strict observance of the rules governing the lower degrees, he must be rejected.
Even if they join the family of an am ha'aretz, they are presumed to continue their observant habits, unless there is reasonable suspicion to the contrary.
If, however, the wife is reliable (being the widow or daughter of a chaber) and the husband is an am ha'aretz, chaberim may eat at his table, but must not buy from him.