Portion of the Week / Food for thought - Haaretz

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Fri., August 17, 2007 Elul 3, 5767

Israel Time: 03:17 (EST+7)

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Portion of the Week / Food for thought

By Benjamin Lau

This week's Torah reading describes the biblical tax system that was intended to stabilize Israelite society. The first tax was a truma (donation), given to the priests to free them for work at the Temple. The second was a ma'aser (tithe) to the Levites, who were responsible for the education system, and received 10 percent of every Israelite's income.

An additional tax, imposed four years out of each seven-year shmita cycle (at the end of which the land is laid fallow), was the ma'aser sheni (second tithe). It was exceptional because the hand dipping into people's pockets for 10 percent of their income was the same hand that returned 10 percent to them - albeit with specific instructions regarding the designated use of that tax, as the Torah tells us: "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household" (Deuteronomy 14:22-26).

At the end of the agricultural season, each family would take a tithe from the harvest, traveling to Jerusalem to eat a festive meal. The need to take the tithe to the Temple created many technical problems (transport, the danger that the crops might spoil during the long journey). Thus the Torah proposed an option: At the end of the harvest season, the farmer and his family should journey to Jerusalem for a banquet, paid for by the tithe. According to the Torah, the commandment's purpose was "that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God."

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Various commentators have sought to explain how a commandment to spend 10 percent of one's income on a family banquet enables one to "learn to fear the Lord thy God." Rashbam argues that the obligation to bring one's family to the Temple was an opportunity to show the children the work and worship done there, thereby reinforcing religious awareness. We can imagine a family from the Galilee or Negev whose members, throughout the year, remained in their usual surroundings, their routine focused on agriculture. The duty to celebrate the harvest's end in Jerusalem at the Temple created for them a vivid memory colored by tradition and spirituality.

Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra emphasizes another aspect to the obligation to journey to Jerusalem. Residents of rural areas lacked an orderly education system; exposure to Jerusalem during the journey to hold a family banquet there afforded them an opportunity to attend some of the many study sessions held in the capital, which could influence the family to fear God. This commentary can be traced back to a Tannaitic midrash for Deuteronomy 14: "Rabbi Ishmael says: 'When people bring the second tithe into the Temple and enter lishkat hagazit (the office of hewn stone), they see there Talmudic scholars and their students sitting and studying Torah; this sight will inspire the tithe-bringers to study Torah.'"

Unrealized vision

The author of "Sefer Hakhinuch" explains the second tithe in the following manner: "God knows most humans are drawn to base material objects 'for that he also is flesh' (Genesis 6:3) and will not always devote themselves to study Torah intensively; thus God, with his insight, gave them an instruction that would bring all Jews to a place where they can learn Torah in any event, because we are all drawn to establish our permanent residence where our money is located. All Jews must bring a tithe from their cattle and sheep annually to a place of Torah study, namely, Jerusalem, location of the Sanhedrin, whose members are knowledgeable and understand science. We must journey there to bring a tithe of our crops in four of the shmita's (seven) years; as we all know, the second tithe must be eaten there, as well as the neta reva'i (the fourth year's sanctified fruits that must be brought to Jerusalem) that is eaten there. In any event, the tithe-bringers either personally journey to Jerusalem to study Torah or send one of their children to study there and eat the tithe-fruit there. Thus, each home in Israel will have a scholar who knows Torah and will use his wisdom to teach every member of his father's house. In this way, 'the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord' (Isaiah 11:9)."

Unfortunately, these imaginative descriptions never became reality - and that was true for the First and certainly the Second Temple periods. For years, the Temple was a source of corruption in high places among members of the priestly class, and was utilized for the shameful exploitation of naive farmers who wanted to come to Jerusalem with their produce, to enjoy the power radiating from the dwelling place of the Shekhina (divine presence). Although the vision was not realized, the idea behind it inspired the creation of a taxation system, one of whose functions was to intensify the spiritual identity of the Land of Israel's residents.

Essentially, the second tithe is intended to enrich the family spiritually that is generated by its own income - a sort of compulsory training fund to be used solely for spiritual enrichment. Every family must devote a certain - and significant - percentage of its income to intensify those aspects of life that are not urgent needs, but which represent an investment in the preservation of our identity and culture. The Torah's guideline here is that we should use our profits not just for immediate needs, but also for loftier, future-oriented ones, to ensure that the society we are creating in this land will be richer in spiritual resources, which are always superior to material ones.

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