Tithes, Vows, and the Manner of Making Offerings

Introduction

We bring our study of offerings to a close with a lesson that covers a lot of ground. First, we’ll consider tithes. These are offerings of a significant portion of our production to support the sacred enterprise on a steady and substantial basis. Second, we’ll look at the vows we are prompted to make and our duties as to fulfilling them. Finally, there is Divine concern about the care and the manner by which we make offerings.

XLVII-XLVIII. Read Numbers 18:24, 28. These mitzvot relate to the first tithe, which requires, after the small offering to the priests that we have already discussed, that ten percent of production from the land be set aside and given to the Levites. Further, the Levites are to set aside and give ten percent to the priests.

Of what relevance might this direction be to us today? What might it teach us? How might it inform our ways?

(First, generally, we do give regularly to support our sacred space and those “priests” and “Levites” who are servants of God and lead us in sacred space, helping facilitate Divine encounter there. As the other tribes supported the “landless” tribe that dedicated itself to service in sacred space in days of old, productive people today support those who now serve in sacred space.

Ten percent? Do we give that much? Should we? Or do taxes today meet some of the needs that were to be addressed by tithes? I’ll refrain from taking us into a discussion whether, if so, that’s for good or bad!

Note that the Levites support the priests. This continues the idea that we have already discussed that servants of God then, and perhaps now, also ought in certain ways to offer of themselves to support sacred space and others who serve there.)

XLIX-LVIII. Read Deuteronomy 14:22, 28; Leviticus 27:32,33; Deuteronomy 26:14; Deuteronomy 12:17.

First, let’s review what we have here. These mitzvot relate to the second tithe. They require a setting aside and devotion of a tenth of essentially the

remainder of the harvest and, importantly, the herd and the flock. This tithe (or its value, as discussed below) was to be brought to Jerusalem in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of each seven-year cycle, when the Temple was standing. While the fat and blood of the animals were offered to God, the owner and companions consumed the meat and other foods in celebration.

The owner could make the choice to redeem the produce, convert the value to money, add a fifth, and devote the proceeds to food and drink to be consumed by the owner, friends, and others in Jerusalem.

In the third and sixth years of the cycle, these tithes were instead used to provide for the needs of the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow. In those years, this tithe was considered the poor man’s tithe.

A. Whether Christian or Jew, we will not, at the surface level, be doing such things today. But do you have ideas about the underlying purposes of these mitzvot and how they might guide our values and practice today?

(There appears to be an important idea in the four years of the cycle that we have and participate in grand communal celebrations in the city or area of our sacred space, near or in those places where we principally encounter the Divine.Why?

In eating, drinking, and making merry together, people bond with each other and develop and strengthen their ties and friendship. They come out of obedience to God, with joy, and a shared sense with others of gratitude

for God’s beneficence. A great bounty was brought, and all shared in the rejoicing in and around sacred space.

Moreover, this period of celebration permitted pilgrims to experience the spiritual, intellectual, and religious richness of Jerusalem so that they could return home with learning and spirituality that could benefit them and their communities on an enduring basis throughout the year. Plus, it created an expectation that all, including many who were not regularly touched by the experience of religious enlightenment and inspiration, would be brought regularly into its flow.

B. How and why might we do such things today?

(We could annually have, say, a fortnight of celebrations in our churches or synagogues with gatherings of fine food, fellowship, learning, and inspiration. There we could make, renew, and strengthen friendships. We could encourage all to join in and bring many guests as well. We could host some of the great scholars, thinkers, and practitioners of our faith to teach, enlighten, and inspire us to live more fully in the Way. Perhaps we would commit to carry on the momentum of such activities throughout the year in our own communities and homes (and selves).

At a spiritual level, purely, might we also ponder the possibility of bringing resources in major ways and on a periodic basis to our internal sacred space, where all the component parts of ourselves could congregate in much the same manner?)

C. As to the poor man’s tithe in the intervening years, how might we give life to this idea?

(This tithe would obviously consist of abundant resources raised from throughout our community. Plus we would have considerable time to plan the manner and means of its deployment. We could be driven here to plan carefully and effectively to make the greatest difference in our use of these resources to distribute to and for those in need, principally in relieving hunger. The ancient inclination is primarily to make sure the poor are fed.

LIX-LXI. Read Exodus 22:28, Deuteronomy 26:13, and Leviticus 22:15.

These mitzvot essentially teach us to be extremely mindful about the seriousness of tithing and to take care to account for and declare what is to be tithed. While we won’t study these verses here in greater detail, I do want to make a concluding point. We see in both tithes the Divine desire that we use a considerable portion of the resources with which we have been blessed to support Divine encounter in sacred space, the strengthening of bonds with others in our community and beyond, and acts of love and righteousness to help those who are in greatest need.

In this manner, we sustain the sacred and expand the sacred out into and throughout the world. Isn’t this absolutely consistent with, and in furtherance of, the Divine expectations of love of God and love of others? Isn’t this exactly the sort of thing a kingdom of priests and a holy nation would do?

LXII-LXXVII. Read Leviticus 27:28; Deuteronomy 23:22, 24; Numbers 30:2-16; Deuteronomy 15:19; Leviticus 27:2-8, 10-16, 26.

These mitzvot teach that we must be mindful of the vows we make, particularly when we commit to devote and give in service of God. We’re bound to fulfill such vows fully and on a timely basis, and we’re forbidden from infringing such obligations. Further, we’re strictly limited in the use of property after we have dedicated it in a vow but before we actually offer it. There are exceptions when certain persons in a weak position make vows they’re not fully able to make. Also, vows can be abrogated in other circumstances when holding a person to a vow would be unjust or otherwise inappropriate. Some view these exceptions narrowly; some, liberally.

What are your thoughts about what the right balance ought to be here?

(On the one hand, one should take seriously what one says. And when one makes a pledge to support sacred space and God’s purposes, it’s a commitment that should be fulfilled. There is a place for exceptions, though, especially when the person is not competent or the vow is not made seriously, is exaggerated, is unintentional, is per se invalid, or would have to be fulfilled when one is very ill. The process was either through nullification or a revocation.

In these ways, the vow can perhaps best be understood as a feature of a covenant agreement. It is bound to be fulfilled unless it is an improper, an inappropriate, or a significantly unreasonable offer, one in which it would not be just to enforce.

Many rabbis and sages were actually pretty liberal in allowing a person out of vows that are deeply regretted (and were so at the time of making). They actually discouraged the making of vows in the first place. “The vower’s mouth and heart should be in agreement,” Chinuch writes. People should act correctly without the need to resort to vows and oaths, especially when they go “too far.”

Yet, others argued that vows are helpful in controlling appetites and encouraging good deeds. The latter would permit the explicit exceptions but wouldn’t open it up as much as the more liberal sages.

Oaths were enforced more stringently than vows.)

LXXVIII-LXXXVII. Read Leviticus 22:20-25; Deuteronomy 17:1, 12:15, and 14:3. These mitzvot require that offerings not be blemished. Why, and what might that mean for us in our own practice in our own time?

(As Maimonides teaches, we should present our best efforts each time we make offerings to God and for the benefit of our fellow men - the best food, the best clothes, the best in our houses of worship, the best in our thought, prayer, and attention to the Divine. If we’re to be holy as God is holy, both in sacred space and outside, how would imperfect offerings fit in?

S.R. Hirsch adds the idea that this requirement is akin to the notion that we serve God with wholehearted devotion and commitment. We are willing to diminish the self to glorify God and God’s purposes. On the other hand, a blemish in an offering would represent a flaw in that aspiration.)

LXXXVIII-CIII. Read Leviticus 7:19, 22:4, 22:27, 22:10, 22:12, 6:23, 12:17, 19:6-8, 7:17-18; Exodus 29:33.

In essence, these mitzvot require that offerings be tahor (“clean”), mature, and handled in an appropriate manner.

CIV. Read Deuteronomy 23:19. What in the world do you think this means?

(Our offerings should not be tainted. Giving proceeds from unethical, sinful, or harmful activity is displeasing to God and, thus, unacceptable. We can’t think that it all becomes okay if we “give it up to God.” As we have studied so poignantly in the Prophets, God cares far more that we live our lives with justice and mercy than our merely showing up with sacrifices, especially if our doing so involves artifice, hypocrisy, or taint. The purity of thought and deed of the one who brings an offering and who hopes to come nearer to holiness in the offering is crucial here. When one brings an offering, one should do so with pure thoughts and ethically clean hands.

As to the matter of the dog, the sages have in mind an animal that is vicious, stubborn, and prone to attack people.)

Conclusion