Obligatory Gifts and Offerings in Scripture (14 January, 2014, 13 Shevet 5774)
Main Source for Legal-Halachic Notes quoted in this article:
Halacha Overview based on Maimonides, Archive.
http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha-overview/archives.html
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Abraham the First Hebrew Paid Tithes!
3. Jacob Tithed and this was linked to Israelite Redemption
4. Commanded Gifts to the Poor in Scripture.
5. Offerings to the Temple and to the Priests.
6. The Two Tithes
6b. The Three Great Calamities and a Temporary Abrogation of Some of these Laws
7. Torah Learning and Tithes
8. Tithing in Our Time
9. The Enemy Gives to Enemies. Let us Learn from them!
10. Rewards for Tithing
11. Tithing is Needed
12. Conclusion.
12b. Query and Answer about the Ten Tribes, the Jubilee, and Shemittah.
Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations makes frequent appeals. We also would like to receive tithes or at least a portion of them. Very few actually very respond.
Nevertheless we believe in what we are doing. It reflects the truth. It fulfills a need. it is something that needs doing. It is what we can do. We have something to contribute to this field and therefore should do what we can to do so.
It also costs money. We have subsistence and operational costs as well as those who are dependent on us.
We believe that they who help us will be blessed.
We also believe in tithing in general.
And that they who wished to tithe could do so to us.
The present article discusses the subject of tithing in general.
Proverbs 3:
9 Honour the Lord with your substance
and with the first fruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
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2. Abraham the First Hebrew Paid Tithes!
Abraham was the forefather of the Hebrew Nation.
In Genesis 14:20 Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek who served as a priest of God on behalf of the Gentiles of his time
Genesis 14:
18 And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.
19 He blessed him and said,
Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!
And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything.
According to some opinions (e.g. Saadia Gaon) non-Israelites should tithe as Abraham did.
This would not however necessarily be considered a commandment but rather a recommendation.
In principle, Jews should give to Jews and Gentiles to Gentiles.
There are exceptions however such as when the Gentiles are major beneficiaries of what they are giving to.
Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations serves both Jews and Gentile descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel. Those who benefit the most at present are non-Jews though the message also has importance for the Jewish People, or should have.
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3. Jacob Tithed and this was linked to Israelite Redemption
Abrahm begat Isaac who begat Jacob.
Jacob was renamed Israel and begat 12 sons who fathered the 12 Tribes of Israel.
Jacob received a promise of Blessings and the Firstborn Rights from his father Isaac. His brother Esau thought he had been cheated by jacob. He intended to kill him. Jacob had to flee. He went to stay with his uncle Laban. In the House of Laban Jacob received his wives and begat 11 of his children. (Benjamin was born later). He then returned to the Land of Canaan which had been promised to him. The story of Jacob happened as told BUT still serves as a simile of the fate of his descendants. Jacob is a Prototype for his offspring.
When Jacob first went out of the Land on his way to Laban he had had a vision of angels ascending and descending. This represented the rise and fall of other nations.
As a result of this Jacob promised to give a tithe to the Almighty.
Genesis 28:
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, 'If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you'.
See our Commentary to these verses:
http://britam.org/Genesis/Gen28to32VaYatzei.html
The expression
I WILL SURELY GIVE THE TENTH in Hebrew is "eser a-esrena", literally "a tenth shall I tithe". In the Hebrew it could also be understood to say, as the Sages have noted, "a tenth [and a] tenth will I tith" meaning I will give two tenths.
Nevertheless,
Those authorities who say that tithing is an obligation in our time say that one tenth is sufficient. Two-tenths is optional. They say that no more than two-tenths should be given unless there are special circumstances.
Let us look at what Jacob did say:
Jacob said that if God will look after me and protect me and give my basic needs so that I return to the House of my father, then God will be my God.
The pillar will be the Place of the House of God, i.e. the Temple. One tenth [or two tenths] of all that I earn shall I tithe.
One could say that tithing is hereby connected with the future Redemption of the Israelite Nation.
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4. Commanded Gifts to the Poor in Scripture.
According to the Torah certain gifts had to be given to the poor, to the Temple Service, and to the Priests and Levites, and others.
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The Portion of the Poor
When harvesting specific portions of the crop had to be left to the poor (Leviticus 23:22, 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 7:1-2,13; 8:1024:19-21)
During the Seventh (Sabbatical) Year all produce in the fields was to be available equally to the poor and to the rest of the population (Exodus 23:10-11, Leviticus 25:56-7).
In addition all debts in the 7th year were to be absolved (Deuteronomy 15:1-3). There was to be a new beginning.
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During the 3rd and 6th year of the 7 year Cycle the 2nd tithe (a tenth) of the Produce was to be given to the Levites and the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29, 26:12).
We are commanded to support the poor (Leviticus 25:35-36, Deuteronomy 15:7-8, 11).
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5. Offerings to the Temple and to the Priests.
Every year each Israelite had to be give half a silver shekel to the Temple Service (Exodus 30:13).
Sacrifices had to be offered by every Israelite. The sacrifices were given as a form of worship, as means of celebration, and as atonements.
There were different sacrifice for differing purposes. There were sacrifices that were entirely burnt up on the altar, others whose flesh was mainly eaten by the Priests, and others in which most of the meat went to person making the offering and his family and friends.
The Priests (Cohens) were to be given 24 different gifts: These included the skins of sacrifices and other perks.
Details may be seen at:
First Fruits and Other Priestly Offerings
http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha-overview/chapter39.html
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6. The Two Tithes
The Tribe of Levi was divided into 2 major sections, Cohens (Priests) and Levites. The First Tithe was divided between Cohens and Levites.
The Cohens had to receive a first portion of the grain, wine, and olive oil harvests. These comprised the staple foods at the time.
"The first of your grain, wine and oil... you shall give him" (Deuteronomy 18:4).
A tithe (a tenth) of the remainder was to be given to the Levites, as it says "And to the children of Levi I have given all tithes in Israel... (Numbers 18:21,24).
A Second Tithe of the remainder is to be set aside.
In the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th years of the Sabbatical Cycle it is to be eaten in Jerusalem (or to be redeemed and the proceeds spent for food to be eaten in Jerusalem), as it says "You shall tithe all the produce of your crops... and shall eat before Ha-Shem your G-d in the place that he shall choose" (Leviticus 27:30-31, Deuteronomy 14:22-23).
In other (3rd and 6th) years this tithe is given to the poor and Levites (Deuteronomy 14:28-29, 26:12).
The Three Great Calamities and a Temporary Abrogation of Some of these Laws
In Biblical Times Three Great Calamities struck the Israelite Nation:
a. The exile of the Ten Tribes began with the Assyrians taking away the two and a half Tribes east of the Jordan i.e. Reuben, Gad, and Half-Manasseh.
This was followed by the Exile of the rest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. These events had repercussions on the Sabbatical Year Laws.
b. The Exile of the Jews to Babylon in ca. 580 BCE. From this a minority returned after 70 years and re-founded the Province of Judah.
c. The Second Exile and Dispersion of Judah in ca. 70 CE by the Romans.
The [Sabbatical Year and (see below)] [according to one opinion] Jubilee obligation [see below] was understood to require that all the Tribes be on their Lands. With the exile of Gad, Reuben, and half-Manasseh (followed by the others) this requirement was no longer met. There was therefore no longer any extant Torah Commandments on these issues. [When the Tribes return there will be.]
[The above note is not completely accurate. According to the mainstream consensus, The Jubilee came to an end with the Exile of the Ten Tribes while Shemittah continued to be valid until the Fall of the First Temple about 140 years later. See below.]
The Sages in Second Temple times however re-instituted a Law of their own obliging the observance of Shemittah meaning letting the Land lie fallow in the seventh year and the annulment of debts. They deliberately extended this law only over a small section of the Biblical Boundaries of the Holy Land. This ensured that nearby areas would continue to be farmed and provide the needed food supply for the rest. There are still those today who mistakenly take the boundaries of Shemittah observance to be those of the Holy land.
Incidentally it is worth noting here a point concerning the Prosbul. In Second Temple times a tendency developed at the approach of the Shemittah Year for people to stop lending money. Since the debts were to be annulled every 7th year it meant that there was a good chance of those who lent money never receiving it back.
Lack of funds was causing social and economic hardship. The Sages therefore instituted a legal near-fiction (called Prosbul) by which the debts could be transferred to the courts (who were not obligated by Shemittah) and so they who lent money could collect on it later. Certain Purists have criticized the Sages for this as if they had circumvented and/or uprooted the Torah Law. They had not since at the time the Laws of Shemittah owed their validity to the Sages. They had only made their own enactments more livable in light of a changing situation.
The Exile of the Jews to Babylon and their Return resulted in a reconstitution of authority.
The authority of the Sages had existed from the beginning (Exodus 18:25-26, Numbers 11:16, Deuteronomy 17:8-13). It had however been balanced somewhat by the existence of Prophecy though at least some of the Prophets were also Sages. Henceforth the Sages took over in the Great Assembly. This body was constituted when the Jews returned from Babylon and initially numbered 120 which was eventually reduced to 70. It included Prophets in its ranks but replaced the Prophets as a center of authority. The Age of Prophecy was coming to an end. It will be renewed shortly before the Messianic Era. It should be remembered that what books would go into the Bible and how words in the Bible would be read and what they meant and even (according to Nachmanides) what letters constituted words was all decided by authority of the Sages. If the authority of the Sages is rejected so is Scripture!
The Destruction of the Second Temple and Dispersion of the Jews led to an end of acceptable pedigrees concerning the Priests and Levites. For this and other reasons most gifts and offerings to these groups no longer had direct sanction from the Torah.
This too shall be rectified in the End Times.
We are left with gifts to the poor, assistance to others, and the overall voluntary or obligatory (depending on whose viewpoint is accepted) practice of tithing to worthy causes.
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7. Torah Learning and Tithes
We were all to Learn Torah
As explained above,
In ancient times one tenth of the produce went to the Levites. This was the First Tithe.
Another tenth was the property of the producer BUT had to be eaten in Jerusalem as did one tenth of all new-born animals.
The Sefer ha Chinuch (positive commandment 360), in the 1200s CE, explained that the 2nd tithe had to be eaten in Jerusalem in order to encourage Israelites to dwell in Jerusalem where food would have been plentiful and cheap. Since part of their produce had to be eaten in Jerusalem anyway there would be an incentive for families to spend time themselves in Jerusalem in learning and to support at least one of their members in learning Torah in Jerusalem either all year round or at least for part of it. In this way the learning would percolate down to all members of the Community.
See our mini-article:
The Full-Time Torah-Warriors of Israel Today.
http://www.britam.org/Kings/2Kings12.html#The
Levites were to learn Torah.
Not only the 2nd tithe but also the 1st tithe had as part of its purpose the need to enable learning of the Torah.
cf.
2-Chronicles 31:
2 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. 3 The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt-offerings: the burnt-offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt-offerings for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord.
4 He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.
Note the last verse (31:4) indicating that the Tithes to the Levites were given in order to enable them to learn Torah.
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8. Tithing in Our Time
Rabbi Elazar Malamed in an article (Revivim, BeSheva, 9th January, 2014) on the subject quotes from the Talmud (Tanit 9;a) and the Shulchan Aruch Legal Code (YD, 249a) were it says that one should give one tenth of all income to worthy purposes. It is debated as to whether this law is directly from the Torah or an enactment of the Sages based on the Torah.
In practice nearly all religious Jews probably give much more than a tenth to charity, etc, but there are some (despite, or in exp0lanation of, the above sources) who might debate as to exactl;y how the Law of Tithing is to be applied in our day.
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9. The Enemy Gives to Enemies. Let us Learn from them!
The State of Israel exists through miracles. Every day miracles happen. Like ravening wolves all the pagan nations of the world are ready to attack Israel. Even Israelite Nations (such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, etc) give enormous sums of money to the enemies of Israel and to fifth-column elements within Israel.
The EU also gives money to Reform Jewish organizations and others to act as a front. This money goes to fund pro-Arab and pro-Libertarian promiscuous agendas. Its aim is to undermine the Jewish existence. The EU also gives money to Human Right activists who want to force Israel to accept 50,000 Muslim Sudanese and Eritrean infiltrators. This has been explained in Arutz-7 articles and speeches by MKs Yisrael Eichler, Ofir Akunis, and others in the Israeli Knesset. Why should the EU care whether or not Israel accepts large numbers of unattached males from Africa? Anything that could hurt Israel seems worthy of support to the EU!
In the same way as the other side gives money to undermine Biblical Values and the Israelite Heritage so should we give in the opposite direction!
Brit-Am is one of the positive forces working for the Bible and truths concerning Israelite Ancestry emanating from Scripture.
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10. Rewards for Tithing
A blessing is promised for tithing:
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing [Malachi 3:10].
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11. Tithing is Needed
Brit-Am is supported through sales of its publications and the offerings of they who support it.
We need more people to support us and feel that they should do so.
Despite whatever shortcomings Brit-Am, the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel Movement, may have, we do provide a Biblically
Required Service of benefit to many. We are needed and fulfill a need of Biblical Requirement.
God does not change, in what is good - neither should we.
Malachi 3:
6 For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.
7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, 'How shall we return?'
8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, 'How are we robbing you?' In your tithes and offerings!
9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you!
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
Details as to how to contribute to Brit-Am, the Lost Ten Tribes Movement, are available at:
http://hebrewnations.com/contributions/offerings.html
http://www.britam.org/contribute-Brit-Am.html
God bless you
Yair Davidiy
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12. Conclusion
Abraham gave tithes.
There are opinions that all peoples of the earth should tithe.
Jacob who represents all Israel also tithed. The promise made by Jacob to tithe implied a linkage between tithing and final redemption. The Prophet Malachi also links the repentance of Israel in the End Times to tithing.
In Biblical Times numerous gifts along with two tithes were given to the Temple Service, the Priests and Levites, and to the Poor. Tithing is connected with the learning and teaching of Scripture and with the spreading of needed knowledge to ALL Israel. This is what Brit-Am/Hebrew nations endeavors to do.
In our time Jews are probably obligated to tithe.
At all events it is recommended and also emphasized that tithing can bring a blessing and is to the advantage of those who tithe.
This also applies to Gentiles.
Jews and Gentiles who benefit from Brit-Am/Hebrew nations or even simply agree that we are a source of good to others should help financially.
12b. Query and Answer about the Ten Tribes, the Jubille, and Shemittah
Contents:
a. Query by Fredrick Murphy
b. Reply by Yair
c. Comment by Fredrick Murphy on our answer
d. Second Reply by Yair.
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a. Query by Fredrick Murphy
Fredrick Murphy posted on Hebrew Nations's timeline
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hebrew-Nations/114512172040677
"Shalom Yair.
Can you explain this, written currently in newsgroup email from you?
"The Sabbatical Year and Jubilee obligation was understood to require that all the Tribes be on their Lands."
Where is the condition given by HaShem, or therefore by Moshe, that "ALL the Tribes be on their Lands?"
And....didn't 70 yrs of Exile (Babylonian one) happen because Shmittah wasn't observed/obeyed.....(which Sabbatical is used in the computation of Yovel....)? All the while expected by HaShem, even though the majority of Yisrael was already in Exile (Assyrian one)?
Please explain/address. Todah rabbah...
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b. Reply by Yair
Answer:
You got me there. I may have been half -wrong. This goes to show what happens when someone who does not know that much writes based on his own understanding and faulty memory.
Exile is associated with not keeping the Shemittah (Sabbatical Year):
[Hebrew Language Article with sources and discussion:
http://www.vbm-torah.org/vtc/0024006.html
Leviticus 26:
32I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste.
34 Then the land shall enjoy* its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its sabbath years. 35As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it.
2-Chronciles 36:
20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.
We see from above that the Babylonian Exile was associated with the sin of not have observed the Sabbatical Year.
This presupposes that the Sabbatical Year had been obligatory right up tot he Time of Exile. This indeed seems to be the majority opinion.
I had assumed that
The Shemittah from the Torah was intrinsically linked to the Jubillee (Yovel). If the Jubillee could not be celebrated neither could the Shemittah. There is an opinion like this which is even quoted as the basis for legal decision (Gittin 36b). It is not however the mainstream understanding.
Anyway concerning the Jubilee year we were correct in that it was valid only up until the Exile of the Ten Tribes.
Leviticus 25:
10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.
When all its inhabitants are on it and not just a portion of it.
When all its inhabitants are on it in their Tribal Order and not intermixed with each other (Arakin 32:b).
Arachin 32b But did they count the years of release and Jubilees [after the return from Babylon]? If even after the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went into exile, the Jubilees were abolished, should Nehemiah in connection with whom it is said: The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and three score,[3] have counted them? For it was taught: When the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went into exile the Jubilees were abolished as it is said: And ye shall proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,[4] i.e., [only] at the time when all the inhabitants thereof dwell upon it, but not at the time when some of them are exiled. One might have assumed that if they were there, but intermingled, the tribe of Benjamin with that of Judah and the tribe of Judah with that of Benjamin, that even the [laws of the] Jubilee should apply, therefore it is said: 'unto all the inhabitants thereof', which means, only at the time when its inhabitants are there as [where] they ought to be, but not when they are intermingled! ' Said R. Nahman b. Isaac. They counted the Jubilees to keep the years of release holy.[That will be right in the view of the Rabbis who hold that the fiftieth year is not included,[6] but according to R. Judah who holds that the fiftieth year counts both ways,[7] why was that necessary [to count the Jubilees]? It would have been enough if the years of release alone had been counted! Hence [we must say], this is not in accord with the view of R. Judah.
Most say that even though the Jubilee was no longer enforced after the Exile of the Ten Tribes the Year of Shemitta still was.
See:
Hebrew Language Article: Shmittah (Yeshivat Bircat Mosheh Maaleh Edumim)
http://www.ybm.org.il/Admin/uploaddata/LessonsFiles/Pdf/8624.pdf
The Sanctification of Joshua was good for its own time and not for the future (Maimonides Terumah 1:).
The Sanctification of Ezra was good for the future. this is considered a Sanctification of the Sages rather than of the Torah. Nevertheless it has traditionally been stringently adhered to throughout the generations as if it did have Torah sanctification. There have however been exceptions and these have been justified by the assumption that Shemittah in our times derives from the Sages rather than directly from the Torah.
The Sanctification of Joshua ended with the Destruction of the First Temple.
Concerning our essay,
In practical terms there is not much difference one way or the other.
Instead of saying that both the Jubilee and the Shemittah were no longer applicable after the Exile of the Ten Tribes we now say that the Jubillee was rescinded.
Shemittah continued to be applicable according tot he Torah up until the Fall of the First Temple.
After this it too was no longer in force until the Sages re-instituted it in a somewhat weakened form.
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c. Comment by Fredrick Murphy on our answer
Following tha above reply we received the following message:
Fredrick Murphy commented on his post.
Fredrick wrote: "Okay, i follow your logic. The Yovel has been rescinded (by teachers of the Torah). Got it. Todah for the explaination. I don't agree with (maybe because i'm just not "understanding the facts " or maybe it's because i think "assumptions are being raised to the level of facts" by various teachers of the Torah...and that is a no-go for me). I personally desire to see how, outside of assumptions, the Yovel and the Sh'mittah were no longer mitzvot from HaShem that we were to strive to follow. Unless again, i'm just plain missing something (which if i can grasp what that would be, i will GLADLY change my opinion), i have nothing but difficulty in neglecting the mitzvot of HaShem on a topic in order to uphold the tradition/popular opinion of any teachers. I look TO teachers of the Law, don't get me wrong. But a line is drawn at times, and i know we all (ALL) choose not to agree with the other "party-line.""
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d. Second Reply by Yair.
Reply by Yair:
Perhaps you did not follow what I was saying.
The Sages DID NOT RESCIND anything.
They understood the said commandments to be contingent, according to the Bible, on certain conditions.
Once their pre-conditions were no longer in force the Commandments in question were no longer obligatory.
In the case of Shemittah the Sages re-imposed the obligation on their own authority in order to keep at least some aspects of it alive.
You may disagree with the Sages at to whether or not their interpretation of the commandments and their contingencies was correct or not.
In their understanding however it was not they who rescind the commandments of the Jubilee and Shemittah but rather the Almighty Himself!
God controls history. HE decided that the required prerequisites to keep the Jubilee and Shemittah should for the time being not exist.
On this point you may argue with them or not as you wish.
Yair