Pĕsikta dĕ-Rab Kahăna: R. Kahana's Compilation of Discourses for Sabbaths and Festal Days (JPS Classic Reissues)

PISKA 10

247 PISKA 10 Summary Tithe that you may be blithe Niggardliness in one’s household, in lending, and more especially in tithing leads eventually to a decrease of one’s possessions (Sec. 1). But faithfulness in tithing increases them (Sec. 2). Whatever exceptional gifts are given to a man—looks, voice, or produce—he should therewith honor the Lord (Sec. 3). Thus Israel are saved from Gehenna because again and again, in every activity in life, they are determined to honor those commandments which require giving up a portion of one’s possessions (Sec. 4). When men scheme to act deceitfully with regard to tithes and offerings due from the Land’s produce, the Land, in return, leads such men to believe that they will reap a good harvest , but then denies it to them (Sec. 5). The regulations concerning tithes and offerings from crops were observed by David and practiced by the Patriarchs (Sec. 6) and by Job (Sec. 7). When one considers all that God does to make a crop grow, His demand for a tithe is modest (Sec. 8). A man who eats his produce untithed is as one who eats the forbidden flesh of animals that die a natural death or are torn by beasts of prey; such a man causes the corn to be blasted before it ripens (Sec. 9). Tithes do not make you poor. On the contrary: tithe and be blithe, for God will make you blithe by making you prosperous (Sec. 10). 248 Piska 10 Tithe, and then thou shalt again tithe (Deut. 14:22).1 1. He that hath an evil eye hasteneth after riches, and knoweth not that want shall come upon him (Prov. 28:22). R. Hanina interpreted the verse as applying to Ephron. According to R. Hanina, [even though] the word “shekel” [when used without qualification] in the Pentateuch means a sela‘, when used in the Prophets means a liyra, and in the Writings means a centenary,2 [nevertheless, he had in mind as an exception to his observation, Ephron’s demand, as noted in the Pentateuch, for shekels valued not as sela‘s, but as centenaries]. Proof of the exception , as R. Judah ben R. Pazzi pointed out, is found in the verse in which Abraham says in regard to Ephron: With silver [shekels] at their highest value let him give [the field] to me,3 etc. (Gen. 23:9). Because Ephron cast a covetous eye upon our father Abraham’s money, Scripture saw to it that one letter, the waw, was wanting in his name. For, according to Scripture, Ephron said to Abraham, My lord, hearken unto me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that 1. EV: Thou shalt surely tithe. But such a translation glides over a redundancy in verbs, a redundancy which the commentator will presently exploit. In the Land of Israel, Deut. 14:22–16:17 was read on the Sabbath during Passover as well as on the Sabbath during Sukkot. See Ezra Fleischer in Tarbic, 36 (5727/1966), 155. Outside the Land of Israel, Deut. 14:22–16:17 is read on the eighth day of Passover as well as on the second day of Pentecost when the day falls on the Sabbath. 2. A liyra equals 25 sela‘; a centenary equals 100 sela‘. Cf. B.Bel 50a. Shekel is bullion, and sela‘ is currency; the latter, through the years, has depreciated in value. 3. JV: For the full price let him give it to me. PISKA 10 249 betwixt me and thee? (Gen. 23:15)—if you had a mind to give me, say, four hundred centenaries worth of silver you could easily give it to me [out of the income] from your estate’s manure. And thus because he cast a covetous eye upon our father Abraham’s possessions, Scripture saw to it that the waw previously part of his name, was wanting: And Abraham weighed to Ephrn (Gen. 23:16)—this time spelled “Ephrn,” wanting the waw.4 R. Ammi applied the verse in Proverbs to a borrower too niggardly to hire two heifers at one time. So he borrows one and hires one, and knoweth not that want shall come upon him (Prov. 28:22), [since if the borrowed animal gets hurt or dies], “The owner thereof not being with it, the borrower shall surely make restitution”5 (Exod. 22...