CONGREGATION MELECH YISRAEL OF TORONTO

{26:12} When you have made an end of tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the yatom (orphan), and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled. {26:13} You shall say before HaShem your G-D, I have put away the kadosh (holy) things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the yatom, and to the widow, according to all your mitzvot (commandments) which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed any of your mitzvot (commandments), neither have I forgotten them: {26:14} I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it, being tam'ei (ritually unclean), nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of HaShem my G-D; I have done according to all that you have commanded me. {26:15} Look down from your kadosh habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Yisrael, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our avot, a land flowing with milk and honey. {26:16} This day HaShem your G-D commands you to do these chukkim (statutes) and mishpatim (judgements): you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your nefesh (soul). {26:17} You have declared HaShem this day to be your G-D, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his chukkim, and his mitzvot, and his mishpatim, and listen to his voice: {26:18} and HaShem has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his mitzvot; {26:19} and to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that you may be a kadosh people to HaShem your G-D, as he has spoken.

If you have carefully read this passage, especially the last five verses, then you saw that HaShem tied His blessings to Yisrael’s (Israel’s) giving. Now although these verses specifically refer to giving while in the Land, there is also a universal theological application to be found here.

Giving is a part of living a Torah centered life in a Torah (biblically) oriented community. One cannot expect to be blessed apart from their giving. Blessings and giving are divinely tied directly together as we see from these passages.

I would also like you to notice what it says in verses 13 and 14. Because the tithe was to be brought to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) and not everyone lived there, each person was to gather together their tithe and at the appropriate time bring it before the L-rd. Notice that as they tithed they were to make a vow that they have not withheld anything that was supposed to be designated for tithing. This means that, as commanded, they are to put aside the appropriate percent of their harvest for the poor, for the Levite and for the L-rd, and when they brought it before the Lord they were to certify by vow that the entire tithe was there, that none has been subtracted from it for any personal use. This brings to mind Chananyah (Ananias) and Shappira (Sapphira) in the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant).

Ma'asei Hashlichim (Acts) {5:1} But a certain man named Chananyah, with his wife Shappira, sold a piece of property, {5:2} and kept back [some] of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the tamidim’s (apostles’) feet. {5:3} But Keifa (Peter) said, "Chananyah, why has HaSatan (Satan) filled your heart to lie to the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), and to keep back [some] of the price of the land? {5:4} "While it remained [unsold], did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to G-d." {5:5} And as he heard these words, Chananyah fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. {5:6} And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

Chananyah and Shappira claimed they were bringing the entire price of the sale as their offering but they were in fact lying and holding some back. The results were disastrous. Is not this event directly tied to our passages in Parsha Ki Tavo? Our G-d is the same yesterday, today and forever. Many times people place a few dollars in an envelope in their congregation’s offering box and they designate it as their tithe when in fact it is not, it is only a small portion of what by commandment they are supposed to give. Be careful of what you say and what you write because by designating something as your tithe when in reality it is not, you are vowing falsely, lying to G-d, seeing as the tithe is His.

So the next time your rabbi teaches on tithing it is not because he wants to put his hand into your pocket. It’s because your giving is a representation of your faithfulness to HaShem’s mitzvot and is tied directly to whether or not G-d blesses you.

Galitim (Galatians) {6:7} Be not deceived; G-d is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Is not Shaul HaShaliach (Paul the Emissary) saying here that giving is directly tied to blessings? Where do you think Shaul got this principle? From Parsha Ki Tavo of course!

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Jack (Ya'acov) Farber