Some promises are passed down from one generation to the next. The mitzvah of tithing teaches us that sometimes we are not simply fulfilling a mitzvah, we are completing a debt that began hundreds of years ago.
The Tithe of Jacob
One of the well known mitzvot in the Torah is the mitzvah of tithing, giving ten percent of one’s income or produce to charity. It is such a well known and popular mitzvah that even some non Jews observe it. In this week’s Torah portion, this is the last time that the mitzvah of tithing appears in the Five Books of Moses.
The mitzvah of tithing means setting aside one tenth of the produce we grew during the year. Part of it is given to the Levite, part to the poor, and in certain years we bring it to Jerusalem and eat it there ourselves.
We already learned about the mitzvah of setting aside tithes earlier in the Torah. But in Parshat Ki Tavo, we learn about a mitzvah connected to tithing called the declaration of the tithe. It is not enough that every year you set aside your tithes. There is also a special ceremony at the end of the third year, in which you essentially conduct a personal accounting and examine yourself to make sure that you did everything properly.
But it is not enough just to conduct this examination yourself. You have to come to the Temple, stand before G-d, and declare: I did it. I removed the tithe from my home. I gave it to the poor. I brought it to Jerusalem. I did not violate Your commandments, and I did not forget.
The question is, why isn’t it enough simply to give the tithe? Why does the mitzvah come together with this dramatic declaration?
Think about this in the context of other mitzvot. The Torah commands me not to work on Shabbat. So when Shabbat comes in, I stop renovating my kitchen. Do I also need to give a speech? “G-d. I just wanted to give you an update that I put away my tools especially for you. I am fulfilling the mitzvah of observing Shabbat.”
Or every time I eat something kosher: “G-d. Just so you know, I just ate kosher ice cream. I am fulfilling your commandments.” So why, with the mitzvah of tithing, does the Torah require us to make this declaration?
There is a story in the Book of Genesis about our forefather Jacob that is connected to tithing. I think this story may help us understand why it is so important that we make this great declaration and announce that we fulfilled the mitzvah of tithing.
The story begins in Genesis, chapter 28. Jacob took the blessings that were intended for his brother Esau, and Esau wanted to kill him. Jacob therefore had to flee. On that first night, when Jacob stops to rest, G-d appears to him in a dream and promises to protect him. When Jacob wakes up, he turns to G-d and says:
“G-d, if you really do these things for me, if you will be with me, if you will protect me on this journey that I am taking, and if I return safely to my father’s house, then, G-d, I will do something for you.”
And here we come to the tithe: “Whatever you give me, I will set aside a tenth of it for you.” Jacob knows that staying home is not an option at this point. He is going into the unknown, and he is afraid. So he promises that if he returns in peace, he will set aside a tithe. Hundreds of years before G-d commands us about the laws of tithing, our forefather Jacob, on his own initiative, offers to give a tithe to G-d.
But here we have a question: Did Jacob actually keep his promise? When we examine the Five Books of Moses, we do not find anywhere that he actually gave a tithe.
This question is already brought in the Midrash, Beraishit Rabbah, chapter 70, section 7:
“A Samaritan once asked Rabbi Meir, ‘Do you not say that Jacob was truthful, as it is written, “You will give truth to Jacob”?’ He answered him, ‘Yes.’ He said to him, ‘But did he not say, “Whatever you give me, I will set aside a tenth for you”?’ He answered him, ‘Yes.’ He said to him, ‘Did he not set aside one out of ten, the tribe of Levi?'”
The Midrash explains that the fact that he dedicated the tribe of Levi to serve G-d was Jacob’s tithe. In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 37, it is brought that the gift he gave to Esau was his tithe, but the commentators discuss whether this can actually be considered a tithe.
Some try to explain that the reason Jacob did not give a tithe was because he never actually returned in peace, as he had prayed when he left for Haran. When he returned home, he did not find peace. As Rashi, in Parshat Miketz, chapter 43, verse 14, brings from the Midrash: “May the One who said to the world, ‘Enough,’ say, ‘Enough,’ to my troubles, for I have not had rest since my youth: the trouble of Laban, the trouble of Esau, the trouble of Rachel, the trouble of Dinah, the trouble of Joseph, the trouble of Simeon, the trouble of Benjamin.” In other words, Jacob never achieved the peace he had hoped for.
Hundreds of years later, Jacob’s descendants were privileged to see that day. And this is what our Torah portion is talking about: “When you enter the land that G-d your G-d is giving you as an inheritance,” when G-d gives you the land and you enter it. But not only when you enter the land. “And you inherit it,” , “and you settle in it.” Only after seven years of conquering the land and seven years of dividing it are you obligated in tithing.
Why do the laws of tithing not begin to apply immediately when we enter the land? Why only after we have driven out our enemies and begun to put down roots in the land? Because that is the moment when the conditions of Jacob’s vow are finally fulfilled.
This is the moment when Jacob’s family finally returns to their father’s home and lives in peace, thereby fulfilling his words: “And I will return in peace to my father’s house.” And there is even a small hint within the final expression: “And you will settle in it,” It is as though the Torah is winking at us and saying: Do you know when you will bring this tithe? When the conditions of Jacob’s vow are finally fulfilled. When you return to the land of Jacob’s ancestors and settle there in peace. Only then will you finally be able to fulfill Jacob’s promise.
In a sense, this tithe seems like a continuation of the tithe that Jacob vowed hundreds of years earlier.
And this is also an answer to our original question: Why do we need to make this entire dramatic declaration about the tithe?
A Debt Across Generations
We can explain it with a parable. Imagine that two hundred years ago, your great great great grandmother needed one thousand dollars, and she borrowed it from her neighbor. She certainly intended to pay it back immediately. But you know how life unfolds. She was unable to repay the money after a week, or after a year, or even during her entire lifetime.
For generations, for one reason or another, the debt was not paid. Perhaps you did not have the money, or you could not find the children or grandchildren of that neighbor. But the story remained in the family. One day, when we can finally do it, we will pay the money back.
Now two hundred years have passed. Then you find yourself living on the same street, just a few houses away from the descendants of that lender. The money is in your hands. Do you simply walk over to them and say, “Here you go,” and then turn around and walk away?
No. Of course not. There is so much history here. There is so much behind that little check. It is your responsibility to show your neighbor, to show your family, and to show your great great great grandmother that despite all the years that have passed, you did not forget.
That requires a declaration. Maybe you call the local newspaper. Maybe you hold a celebration for the two families. But you do something. You show your neighbor: This is a big deal. We are finally doing it.
And that is exactly what is happening here with the mitzvah of tithing. Most mitzvot do not require all this ceremony and grandeur. But the tithe is different. It is certainly a mitzvah from G-d, but it is also a mitzvah with a rich history that goes back hundreds of years, all the way to our forefather Jacob. Jacob made a vow, but he was unable to fulfill it. And so many generations that came after him could not fulfill it either.
And this vow could simply have been lost, G-d forbid, but it was not. Hundreds of years later, when we enter the land, when we have peace, we can finally bring Jacob’s tithe. And when we do so, it will require more than simply handing over the money. More than saying, “Here you go,” and turning around and walking away. It will require a great declaration, because this is a great act. “I have not violated Your commandments, and I have not forgotten.” (AlphaBeta)
Kindness Is Never Forgotten
There is a similar story, though not exactly the same, that took place in 1941. During the Holocaust, a Muslim family in Sarajevo, Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga, hid a Jewish family, the Kabilio family, in their home. They knew that if the Nazis and their allies discovered them, the rescuers could also pay with their lives. Nevertheless, they told the Jews: You are our brothers, and your children are like our children. The Kabilio family survived and eventually immigrated to Israel.
And then comes the amazing part. Fifty years later, in 1992, Sarajevo was once again under siege, this time during the Bosnian War. Zejneba Hardaga, by then an older woman, once again found herself in danger.
The Kabilio family, sitting in Israel and watching the news, heard that she was still in Sarajevo. They did not forget what she had done for them fifty years earlier. They contacted Yad Vashem, and even went as far as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to ask that Israel help save the woman who had saved them. In 1994, they succeeded in getting Zejneba and her family out of Sarajevo and bringing them to Israel.
In fact, the Jewish family that had been hunted in 1941 became, fifty years later, the family that saved the woman who had saved them. Zejneba was recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations. She died in Israel about a year after arriving there. True kindness never dies. Sometimes it simply waits fifty years until the opportunity comes to return it.
The Rebbe repeatedly said that we are the last generation of the exile and the first generation of the Redemption, and therefore it is our responsibility to complete everything that the earlier generations began. By doing so, we will hasten the coming of Moshiach very soon.
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