Q&A: Tithe So That You Will Become Wealthy
Tithe So That You Will Become Wealthy
Question
A question for the Rabbi: many times I’ve seen it written that there is no scientific way to test the claim “there is a God,” since there are no distinct predictions that follow from it that can be tested. But according to Judaism, you can test God through tithing and its effect on wealth. In many places on the site I read that the Rabbi predicts that the result of such an experiment would show that there is no connection between the two things. If such an experiment were indeed conducted and that were its conclusion, then wouldn’t the real conclusion of that experiment be that the Jewish God has been disproved??
Answer
This would not be an empirical test of the existence of God, but of the Torah’s promise that we will become wealthy if we tithe.
If such an experiment is conducted, I assume it will not produce results that match what tradition would predict, and then the excuses will come, as always happens.
Discussion on Answer
A strange question. Do you keep commandments in order to become rich? If so, I recommend that you drop the whole thing. There are more reliable ways. We keep commandments in order to fulfill our duty, not in order to become wealthy.
That’s not what I meant. I said that if what is written in the Hebrew Bible is not true, then I have no reason to assume it is from God = not keeping commandments.
Where is this written in the Hebrew Bible?
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts, whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without limit.”
And I answered that this is a bad test. Given the level of flexibility that exists in interpreting the Hebrew Bible, there is no problem reconciling it in a hundred different ways.
Nice, I didn’t know that verse. I was thinking of the homily in the title, which actually isn’t from the Hebrew Bible at all.
As for your verse, it seems like this was said to that generation and not for all generations (it’s part of what Malachi says to the people).
With God’s help, 5 Tammuz 5781
Malachi’s words are addressed to the community. If the entire community is careful to separate tithes and give them, that guarantees rainfall in its proper time and economic abundance. And it is explained in Avot 5:8 that if the whole community is not careful, but some tithe and some do not, then a famine of drought comes: some are hungry and some are satisfied. That implies that the test is communal.
In the Sages’ exposition, “You shall surely tithe” — tithe so that you will become wealthy — it is explained that even an individual merits wealth through being careful with tithes. This fits very well with Maimonides’ explanation (Guide for the Perplexed III, chapter 17 and on), that the level of providence over a person rises in direct proportion to his level of faith and attachment to God. Separating a tithe expresses a person’s faith that the “credit” for the fruit of his labor should be given to his God, “who gives him the power to acquire wealth,” and therefore he merits extra protection from the hazards of time.
Even according to Maimonides’ reasoning in his commentary to the Mishnah (beginning of Peah), that the things whose fruits a person enjoys in this world are things that involve benefiting others, justice requires that for this benefit to others he should also merit the “fruits in this world” for the good he did for others, besides the reward of the World to Come, which is the refinement of his soul. Even the very act of benefiting others creates in the world an atmosphere of help and kindness, and when this good atmosphere grows among people, things are better for everyone.
Wealth is not measured by how many millions a person has in his bank account. There are billionaires whose craving for money and pleasure leaves them with a constant sense of lack, a feeling of “yet all this is worth nothing to me.” By contrast, there are people whose economic means are limited, but who know how to live and rejoice in what they have — such a person is much richer than a restless billionaire.
Being careful to set aside from the fruit of one’s labor for the benefit of others instills in a person the trait of a “good eye,” and then he appreciates doubly what he has, and is not full of bitterness and frustration over what he lacks; thus he is “Who is rich? One who is happy with his portion.” Also, the discipline of living according to an accounting naturally leads to careful financial planning, which saves a person from the grim situation in which money slips through his fingers without his noticing. And the gratitude that the giver receives from giving a tenth of his property leads him to appreciate correctly the great value of the ninety percent that remains in his hands.
In short:
Besides the divine blessing that comes to the giver, the very act of giving to others with a generous eye leads a person to appreciate and value what he has, and also gives him tools for proper financial conduct.
With blessings, Nehorai Sheraga Agami-Pasisovitz
Rabbi Kook, in Ein Ayah (Shabbat 6:23), explains the three things that lead to poverty, because one who stumbles in them lacks the “qualification for wealth.” Wealth is meant to enable a person to live a refined life, a life of spiritual elevation that leads to purity of action, a life that includes social benefit. And if a person scorns these aims — why should he have wealth?
So too regarding tithing, which expresses both a person’s faith in his Creator and his good, respectful attitude toward the Levites, the teachers of Torah, or toward needy poor people — such a person is fit, according to the order of divine providence, to be given wealth, because he will use it properly, and it will not, Heaven forbid, be “wealth kept for its owner’s harm.”
With blessings, Nasa”f
I don’t understand. If God gave a test, then what exactly is the answer if it doesn’t yield the religiously expected result?
If He says to test Him in this, that means He is putting belief in Him to the test. What excuse could refute this test (if you really do tithe and don’t become rich, and I’m talking about a Torah-level tithe that meets all the criteria)?
God gave this test to the people in the time of Malachi. “Tithe so that you will become wealthy” is not a test from God but an exposition by the Sages.
If there were an unambiguous test here, you might be right, but there is no such unambiguous test. Even in science, ad hoc modifications to a theory are always possible. And here the situation is worse. It may be that Malachi said this in his own time, but in our time the mode of divine conduct has changed (as I argue in several other respects as well). Who says what “bring into the storehouse” means? Are we talking about tithing money, produce, or perhaps animal tithe? Or maybe all of them? And perhaps these verses were added to the book and are not from God at all? And there are many more such possibilities for rejecting the relevance of this test and its results. The fact is that no one will draw conclusions from such a test, even if it is conducted. That is one of the reasons I doubt the value of studying the Hebrew Bible and drawing conclusions from it.
People draw value-based and theological conclusions from the Hebrew Bible, not tests like the one proposed above.
A promise in the Torah = the truth of the Jewish God.
So I don’t understand: if according to the Rabbi this promise/prophecy won’t be fulfilled (which is basically what the Rabbi is predicting), what reason is there to keep the commandments? Isn’t this a kind of rejection of reality in order to cling to what you already believe?