The Land I Will Show You, sec. 6, chapter 3

Rectifying the Sin of Tithes as Preparation for Return to Zion

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3: Rectifying the Sin of Tithes as Preparation for Return to Zion

The difficulty posed by the mitzvahs dependent on the Land does not impede the mitzvah of settling in Eretz Yisrael. Each stands independently. Yet, we have learned that there is a connection between these two subjects. From the words of Chazal, we can understand that we ought to address this challenging issue at the time of the return to Eretz Yisrael, and moreover, a specific way to tackle it. It is proper to thoroughly investigate the matter from its sources to learn the path we shall follow and the actions we shall undertake.

Integrating several statements from Chazal teaches that since the exile itself was caused by the sin of neglecting tithes, it is appropriate to strive to rectify this sin before or at the time of redemption. It is fitting not to return to the Land hastily without considering what went wrong the first time and without striving to ensure it does not happen again. Otherwise, history is likely to repeat itself: The same sin will occur, followed by the same severe punishment.

This paradigm is learned from the Babylonian exile and redemption: The exile was caused by the sin of neglecting tithes, and since the Children of Israel sinned and were punished with exile from the Land, the sanctity of the Land was annulled, and it was exempted from tithes. The plan of the Holy One, Blessed be He, was that the Children of Israel would return to their land after seventy years of exile without becoming obligated again in tithes,¹ so they would not be exiled from it again if they were negligent in this mitzvah a second time.

However, the Children of Israel accepted the obligation of tithes upon themselves, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, agreed with them – and we will soon understand how this agreement fits together with God’s plan that they be exempt from tithes. All this is explained in these midrashim:

Three decrees were issued by the earthly court… one in the days of Ezra: when they ascended from Babylon, the Holy One, Blessed be He, wanted to release them from the obligation of tithes. What did they do? They stood and decreed upon themselves to tithe… and the Holy One, Blessed be He, agreed with them.²

Because of the sin of tithes and offerings they were exiled³ … once exiled, they were released from it, and they obligated themselves from their own initiative. ⁴

The Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to release them from the heavy burden of tithes, but they accepted the obligation upon themselves. At that moment when they obligated themselves to tithe in Eretz Yisrael, they accepted to tithe even in the land of exile – the obligation of tithing they imposed on themselves was absolute, whether they remained in the Land or were exiled from it – and again they were negligent in tithing as they had accepted:

In three places the Holy, Blessed be He, agreed with the earthly court… and these are the three places: the tithes… How do we know? Because Israel was exiled only for neglecting the tithes. And once they were exiled, they were released from the tithes… Once they returned in the days of Ezra, they kept them of their own accord. How do we know?... “And the first of our dough” [Nechemiah 10:38], and it says “And with all this we are making a covenant” [ibid. 1]. What is “And with all this”? They said: Whether we are exiled or we are present, we will keep the commandment of tithes. And how do we know that the Holy, Blessed be He, agreed with them? It is said “And on the sealed” [ibid.]… they once again neglected them. And so, Malachi says: “Will a man rob God… yet you say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings” [Malachi 3:8].⁵

This obligation of separating tithes in exile is the decree of the prophets to tithe in Babylon, mentioned in the Mishnah:

Babylon is outside the Land, and Ammon and Moab are outside the Land; just as Babylon tithes in the sabbatical year, so do Ammon and Moab… and Babylon is a matter of prophetic enactment.⁶

The plan of the Holy, Blessed be He, was that they be exempt from tithes, but they obligated themselves with a prophetic enactment. Why did they obligate themselves contrary to God’s plan? Was there not a great need that they should not bear this heavy burden that they could not withstand initially, so they would not be exiled again? And another difficulty: They did not fulfill this obligation a second time and yet were not exiled. Why were they not exiled?

Apparently, the new obligation of tithing will not cause exile. This can be explained in two ways:

• Since they accepted the obligation of tithing even in exile, they disconnected the special link between the mitzvah and Eretz Yisrael, and therefore the neglect of tithes will not cause exile. When the obligation of tithing was limited to Eretz Yisrael, exile from the Land was an appropriate punishment for their neglect, measure for measure; but after they disconnected the link between the commandment and Eretz Yisrael, negligence in tithes will incur other punishments.

• The obligation of tithing they accepted upon themselves is not as severe as the obligation of tithing imposed on them by the Holy One, Blessed be He, and therefore does not incur the punishment of exile.

We have thus learned that when the Children of Israel returned to their land, they took steps to rectify the cause of their first exile; the main plan that the Holy, Blessed be He, had designed was that they would not be obligated in tithes at all, whereas they accepted upon themselves the obligation of tithes that includes even their land of exile, and thus they found a way to circumvent the obstacle while striving to hold on to the important mitzvah of tithing as much as they could.

This is one opinion. There exists another opinion in the midrashim, according to which the obligation of tithes in Babylon was established at the beginning of the Babylonian exile. Here are the sources for this view:

“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me” [Lamentations 1:19]… interpreted the verse to be about the true prophets, who made me beloved to the Holy, Blessed be He… who deceived me and said to me: “Separate terumah and tithes” – And are there terumah and tithes in Babylon? Rather, for the sake of making me beloved to the Holy, Blessed be He. That is why Yeremiah says: “Set thee up waymarks” [Yeremiah 31:21]: Mark me with the mitzvahs in which Israel were distinguished.⁷

“I have kept the vineyards” [Song of Songs 1:6]: These are Israel who were exiled to Babylon. The prophets among them stood and said to them: “Separate terumah and tithes.” They said to them: “We were not exiled from our land until we did not separate terumah and tithes, and now you are telling us to separate terumah and tithes?!” Therefore, it is said: “I have kept the vineyards [my own vineyard I have not kept].”⁸

According to this view, the obligation of tithes in Babylon did not begin when Israel returned to the land, but when they were exiled from it to Babylon, in order to prepare them for their return to Eretz Yisrael. This idea is also mentioned here:

“And ye shall perish quickly” [Deuteronomy 11:17] – even though I exile you from the land to a foreign land, be distinguished in mitzvahs, so that when you return they will not be new to you. A parable of a king who was angry with his wife, and she returned to her father’s house. He said to her: “Be adorned with your jewels, so when you return, they will not be new to you.” Thus, the Holy, Blessed be He, said to Israel: “My children, be distinguished in mitzvahs, so that when you return, they will not be new to you,” that is what Yeremiah meant by “Set thee up waymarks” – these are the mitzvahs in which Israel were distinguished.⁹

It seems that the opinion that sets the time of accepting the obligation at the beginning of the exile hinges on the view of Rabbi Yosi, who holds that when Israel returned to the land, the land was sanctified with a second sanctity from the Torah.¹⁰ For Rabbi Yosi and the Sages disagreed whether Eretz Yisrael was obligated in tithes from the Torah in the days of Ezra. According to Rabbi Yosi, when the Children of Israel returned to their land, they were again obligated in tithes as they were at their first coming, in the days of Yehoshua, and they did not need a prophetic enactment to obligate them in tithes in Eretz Yisrael. Why, then, and how was Babylon obligated in tithes? When did the prophets enact their famous decree that tithes should be practiced there? Why should they accept upon themselves the obligation of tithes in Babylon specifically when they returned to Eretz Yisrael?! Necessarily, according to this view, the obligation of tithes in Babylon was enacted at the beginning of their exile in Babylon, in order to prepare them for return.

The commandment to tithe in the land of exile was eventually abolished:

Rabbi Yochanan said: “Our sages in the exile used to separate terumot and tithes until the ‘rovin’ came and abolished them.”¹¹

This is because – so it seems – the enactment of tithes in the land of exile was made not for its own sake, but as an important part of the return to the Land and as a preparatory mitzvah for accepting the obligation of tithes in it, as explained. According to Rabbi Yosi's view, they accepted tithes in Babylon at the beginning of the years of exile in order to prepare themselves for return. Therefore, when the Second Temple period came to an end, there was no reason to practice the obligation of tithes there, neither as a safety measure for settling in the Land nor as preparation for it. Therefore, the commandment was abolished.

We have thus learned that according to Rabbi Yosi's view, they were obligated from the Torah in a permanent obligation upon their return, and they prepared themselves for this over the years preceding the return of the obligation, whereas according to the Sages’ view, they were obligated rabbinically in a way that would not cause exile as a punishment. What can we learn from all this today?¹²

There is a dispute whether the law follows Rabbi Yosi or the Sages; whether the obligation of tithes at this time is from the Torah or rabbinic.¹³ Either way, we have learned something from the old paradigm, to rectify something in this area in the way that the exiles of Zion in the days of Ezra did. Although we do not have prophets who can decree to tithe fruits in lands outside Eretz Yisrael, still there is a mitzvah of tithing that applies even now in the diaspora – I refer to the practice of money tithing, which Yaakov our forefather accepted in the context of his return to the land.¹⁴ Being meticulous in this mitzvah with great care and precision will prepare us to fulfill the mitzvahs of tithes in the Land, just as the separation of tithes in the Babylonian exile prepared the exiles of Zion, according to Rabbi Yosi's view; and will equate the land and the diaspora regarding the matter of tithes as they were equated then, according to the Sages’ view.

I have written briefly only to arouse and encourage this important mitzvah, in my opinion, and for this purpose these important and great sources were presented and explained; let the wise hear and increase learning, and the man of understanding acquire strategies.

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1. The initial sanctity of the land, which was established with Yehoshua's conquest, was nullified with the destruction of the First Temple, and according to one opinion, it did not return from the Torah upon their return to the land; see Yevamos 81a–82b and Tosafos there, 82b, s.v. "Yerusha Rishona". Tosafos discuss whether the obligation of tithes in the Second Temple period was rabbinic or from the Torah. For our purposes, we adopt the opinion that the obligation was rabbinic, based on the view presented in these Midrashim.

2.  Tanchuma Vayechi 8.

3. This is not the punishment that Chazal establish for the sin of neglecting tithes. They said: “For the sin of neglecting terumos and tithes, the heavens are restrained from bringing down dew and rain, and inflation occurs, and wages are lost, and people run after their sustenance and do not reach it” (Shabbos 32b), while “exile comes to the world for idolatry, and for immorality, and for bloodshed, and for shmittah” (Pirkei Avos 5:9). It seems that this is due to what will be explained shortly: that the obligation of tithes in the Second Temple period changed, so that the neglect of tithes will no longer be punished with exile.

4. Rus Rabbah 4:5.

5. Midrash Tehillim 57:2. This behavior pattern was already established in the actions of the forefathers by Yaakov our father. Like the Children of Israel in the future, Yaakov took upon himself to tithe upon his return to Eretz Yisrael and did not tithe, and was punished that Esau would dominate him. So said the Midrash: “The angel said to him: ‘Did you not say to me – “and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You” [Genesis 28:22]?’ What did Yaakov do? He took the livestock of his possessions that he brought from Paddan Aram... when he crossed into the land of Canaan, Esau came upon him from Mount Seir in fierce anger, plotting to kill him... and Yaakov took all the tithes of his possessions that he brought from Paddan Aram and sent them with his servants and gave them to Esau... God said: ‘Yaakov! You have made the holy secular?!... By your life... he will dominate over you in this world’” (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 37).

The Book of Malachi is based on the story of Yaakov and Esau, which the prophet applies to the exiles of Zion. Thus, the book begins: “I have loved you, says Hashem... Was not Esau Yaakov's brother? says Hashem: yet I loved Yaakov ' [Malachi 1:2]; and the continuation of the book expands on this theme. See Oros Yaakov, Essay Bn’i Bechori Yisrael.

6. Yadayim 4:3.

7. Eichah Rabbah 1:54.

8. Avos de-Rabbi Nasan chapter 20, halacha 1.

9. Sifrei Devarim, Piska 43.

10. See Yevamos 82b.

11. Talmud Yerushalmi, Challah 4:4.

12.  It is appropriate to note that one should not mistakenly see in these statements a basis for the words of Rabbeinu Chaim Cohen. In these statements, we find only that in order to return and not be liable to exile, they enacted to tithe even outside the Land, or that they enacted to tithe outside the Land to prepare themselves to behave properly with tithes in Eretz Yisrael. We do not find that if this possibility does not exist, one should forego the mitzvah of settling in the Land. The difficulty with the mitzvah of tithes was never a reason to exempt from returning to the Land. Therefore, one should learn from this only to return to Eretz Yisrael along with the regulation of the matter of tithes to the best of our ability.

13. See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 331:2 and the commentary of the Vilna Gaon there.

14. See above footnote #5.