Q&A: Tithe So That You Will Become Wealthy — True / Not True
Tithe So That You Will Become Wealthy — True / Not True
Question
Hello Rabbi,
It’s simply a pleasure to hear your views on such a wide range of different topics, and no less, your ability to decide on a position clearly—it’s just fascinating. As a Moroccan baba, I’m in shock (a positive shock, admittedly).
Regarding “Tithe so that you will become wealthy,” in Doubt and Statistics #24 or #25—I don’t remember exactly—you argue, if I understood correctly, that it simply isn’t true. And you also came to the conclusion that one should publicize this and say that it isn’t true (to people who are willing to listen).
Let’s say we accept your position that it really isn’t true. I’m asking about the point of saying “it isn’t true.” After all, no one knows better than you where that approach can lead: we’ll start filtering out of the Talmud whatever we think is correct—rationally—and whatever isn’t. And after the Talmud it reaches the Bible, etc. … exactly what we are fighting against with the Reform movement…
What’s wrong with leaving this as an unclear point—tithing—and saying it’s unclear? By the way, it really isn’t clear to me at least—because after all, you didn’t prove that it isn’t true. What’s the advantage of specifically saying it’s not true? This is something that comes up fairly broadly in your lectures: why isn’t there much room for doubt, or for things that don’t work for you/us as rational people?
Thank you very much.
Shalom.
Answer
I’m not sure that it isn’t true, but I suspect that. My claim is that people themselves don’t believe it and are just parroting it. See my columns on declarations of faith.
Usually people prefer to leave this vague so as not to damage others’ faith. But in my view that itself does more damage, because people who reach the conclusion that it isn’t true perceive themselves as heretics, and then they may leave everything. And so it is with all my “heretical” views, which in the past I kept to myself out of concern for harm, until I decided that keeping them to myself causes more harm.
Discussion on Answer
The one who reads the letter should be the messenger.
A more general question: is there any possibility of publishing the columns you wrote as a book? Even if it would be a series of books.
The columns require careful study, and it’s hard to study them from a screen.