Ki
Tavo
I
have put away the hallowed things out of my house and also have given them to
the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow according to all Your commandment
which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Your commandments
nor have I forgotten them…
26:12
– 14
What
point was there in demanding that the worshipper recount what he did and what
he refrained from doing? As long as he performed the commandment in its proper manner?
…the
statement implies that though the giving of tithes is a time honored principle
of human society, the generous in all ages having undertaken to support their
poor and their scholars (the philosopher – Aristotle – mentions it as the
reason underlying the offerings given in antiquity at harvest time), nevertheless
it was God’s intention that such deeds be motivated solely by His will. You are bidden to do it in order to conform
in uprightness to His ways and ordinances…”According to Your commandment which You commanded me.”
Akedat
Yitzchak (15th Century
The
reasons for this commandment are: Man’s
unique gift, setting him apart from and above the animals, is his power of
speech…Therefore most people will recoil from dishonoring their word, their
distinctive gift, more than sinning in deed.
Sefer Hachinuch (17th Century)
In the
case of this tithe, the donor might be reluctant to give of the labor of his
toil to strangers…This confession was of enormous benefit in it serving as an
incentive to the performance of the precept, so that the Israelite can proclaim...in
the house of God (what he has given), his generosity will be publicized and his
righteousness borne witness to; he will be praised in the gates and it will be
as if he offered it up before the Lord.
Abravanel
(15th Century)
One way
to appreciate the text’s intention is to take the words, “I have not
forgotten,” in a larger, cultural context that analyses what remembering and
forgetting are all about…I am the sum total of my memories; and not just those
from the moment of birth, but the memories of my people. Carl Jung speaks of the “collective
unconscious,” I wonder if we couldn’t also speak of the “collective
memory.” If I’m Jewish, what I’m asked
to do which I tithe is to remember that I wasn’t created in a vacuum. I m not giving away a portion of my earnings;
I’m simply returning what I borrowed from the fund of collective memory. I have a debt to my nation and my God, a duty
to keep alive the people and the tradition which formed my essential being…
Shlomo
Risking (Contemporary)
The
significance of this exhortation lies in the certainty that overrode every fear
in Jewish history – that, despite every calamity, the people of
Gerson Cohen (20th
Century)