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Friday

י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Friday
י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

Mitzvah 360) Tithing kosher animals every year

Parshas Bechukosai

“And all of the tithing of cattle… the tenth animal will be holy!” (Vayikra 27:32)

It is a positive commandment that one must tithe all kosher animals born in our flocks every year, bring the tithed animal to Yerushalayim and eat it there, after the forbidden fats and blood have been offered up, as it says “And all of the tithing of cattle and sheep, all that passes under the staff, the tenth animal will be holy to Hashem!”. The method of tithing is as follows: one brings all the animals into a pen, and makes a small entrance so that only one at a time can go out. One then places all the mothers outside and they call the children. The children then exit the pen one at a time of their own accord. The owner counts them with a staff until he reaches the tenth. The one who comes out the tenth is painted with a red dye and the owner calls out “This is the tithe”.

Amongst the roots of this commandment are that Hashem wanted that each member of the Jewish nation should be occupied with His Torah and service. In His infinite wisdom he gave them this commandment so that they would learn a lesson. Hashem knows that most people are drawn after the lowly matter that they are formed of, so He arranged that they should all know the words of His Torah, and as there is no doubt that a person normally fixes his place of abode where his money is, when he has to bring the tithed animals (and the maser sheni, neta revai etc.) to Yerushalayim which is the place for delving into wisdom and Torah, and the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court) who knows all the laws sit there, he will take a lesson and either he himself will go there to learn the Torah, or at least he will send his son to learn and be supported with the above foods that he has to bring there. This will lead to a member of every household learning the Torah and being able to teach the Torah to his whole household. By this the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem, and there will be no sins.

This commandment applies to men and to women, to regular Jews as well as Kohanim and Leviyim, in the holy land and outside it, whether the temple is standing or not. However, after the destruction of the temple Chazal decreed that we should not tithe the animals, as they were worried that we would err and eat from the sanctified animal unlawfully, which would be a great sin. We therefore do not tithe animals nowadays.