TAANIS - 009a – מאימתי – פרק ראשון – תענית, ט ע”א

(Devarim 14:22) You shall surely tithe (aser te'aser) — tithe so that you will become wealthy (titasher).^[1]

Rabbi Yochanan came upon the young son of Reish Lakish and said to him: Tell me your verse. He said to him: You shall surely tithe. He said: And what does You shall surely tithe mean? He said to him: Tithe so that you will become wealthy.

לינוקא דריש לקיש - the son of Rabbi Yochanan's sister, and this was after Reish Lakish's death, as is evident further on.

אמר - the child said to Rabbi Yochanan: What does You shall surely tithe mean?

He said to him: From where do you know this?

He said to him: Go and test it.

He said to him: But is it permitted to test the Holy One, Blessed is He? Is it not written (Devarim 6:16): You shall not test Hashem?^[2]

א"ל ינוקא - but it is written: You shall not test.

He said to him: Thus said Rabbi Hoshaya: Except for this.

As it is said (Malachi 3:10): Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now with this, said Hashem of Hosts, whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing until there is no more need (ad bli dai).^[3]

What is until there is no more need?

Rami bar Chama said in the name of Rav: Until your lips wear out from saying: Enough! (dai).

שיבלו - that is, until they grow weary — dolorant in Old French.

He said to him: Had I reached that verse, I would not have needed you or Hoshaya your teacher.

אי הוה מטינא להתם - to this verse, Bring the whole tithe, I would have known it on my own.

לר' הושעיא רבך - whom you quoted to me.

Another time Rabbi Yochanan came upon the young son of Reish Lakish sitting and saying (Mishlei 19:3): A man's folly perverts his way, and his heart rages against Hashem.^[4]

אולת אדם תסלף דרכו ועל ה' יזעף לבו - when a man sins he perverts his way, so that misfortunes come upon him; and his heart rages against Hashem — he becomes angry and says: Why did this misfortune happen to me?

Rabbi Yochanan sat and wondered, saying: Is there anything written in the Writings that is not hinted at in the Torah?

ולא רמזה - Moshe in the Torah — for the Chumash is the foundation of the Prophets and the Writings, and for all of them there is support to be found in the Torah.

He said to him: Is this not hinted at? Is it not written (Bereishis 42:28): Their hearts sank, and they turned trembling one to another, saying: What is this that G‑d has done to us?^[5]

Rabbi Yochanan raised his eyes and looked at him. His mother came and took him away, saying to him: Come away from before him, so that he not do to you what he did to your father.^[6]

דלי עיניה - Rabbi Yochanan, whose eyelids covered his eyes, and they would raise them with silver forks, as in the last chapter of Bava Kamma (Bava Kamma 117a) — for he wanted to see him, because he was sharp.

דלא ליעביד לך כדעבד לאבוך - that he not set his eyes upon you as he set them upon your father and caused his death, as in Bava Metzia (Bava Metzia 84a).

And Rabbi Yochanan said: Rain comes for the sake of an individual; sustenance comes only for the sake of the many.

מטר בשביל יחיד - if only one person needs rain — for example, he sowed after the time when everyone sows, or he lives in a city entirely of gentiles and needs rain — it comes in his merit. But sustenance — abundant plenty and livelihood for the whole world — does not come in the merit of one; only for the sake of the many. If the many need plenty, so that blessing be sent into the grain, the Holy One, Blessed is He, does it, if they are worthy. But for an individual who needs his crops to be blessed, the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not change the year's judgment for him, only according to its blessing. And although He brings down this rain for an individual to improve his crops so that they not be worse than others', He does not make his field like a field of plenty.

Rain for an individual — as it is written (Devarim 28:12): Hashem will open for you His good storehouse, to give the rain of your land.

מטר ארצך - implies of one person.

Sustenance for the many — as it is written (Shemos 16:4): Behold, I will rain down bread for you.

ממטיר לכם - plural.

They raised an objection: Rabbi Yosi the son of Rabbi Yehudah says: Three good leaders arose for Israel, and they are: Moshe, Aharon and Miriam.

And three good gifts were given through them, and they are: the well, the cloud and the manna.

The well in the merit of Miriam, the pillar of cloud in the merit of Aharon, the manna in the merit of Moshe.

בארה של מרים - a rock from which water flowed, and it rolled along with Israel. It is the rock that Moshe struck, for it did not want to let its water flow for him, since Miriam had died.

When Miriam died, the well departed, as it is said (Bamidbar 20:1): And Miriam died there, and right after it is written: And there was no water for the congregation.

And it returned in the merit of the two of them.

חזרה בזכות שניהן - for so it is written: And you (both) shall speak to the rock, and it will give its water.

When Aharon died, the clouds of glory departed, as it is said (Bamidbar 21:1): And the Canaanite, king of Arad, heard.

What report did he hear?

He heard that Aharon had died and the clouds of glory had departed, and he thought that permission had been granted him to wage war against Israel.

ונסתלקו ענני כבוד - clouds of the sky, clouds of smoke and other clouds are not clouds of glory.

And this is what is written (Bamidbar 20:29): And all the congregation saw that Aharon had died.

Rabbi Abahu said: Do not read they saw (vayiru) but they were seen (vayeirau).

As Reish Lakish expounded, for Reish Lakish said: Ki is used in four meanings: if, perhaps, rather, and because.^[7]

כי משמש ארבע לשונות אי דלמא אלא דהא - wherever one needs to expound ki, whether for a derashah or for the plain sense of the verse, you may render it with one of these four meanings, for the word ki carries all of them; and likewise ukad, beram and arei are included in these four. And this ki of that Aharon had died is used in the sense of because, and from it we learn the reason of the verse: why were they seen? Because he died — since Aharon had died. Reish Lakish did not mean that no ki anywhere is translated except with these words; rather, even where one translates dilma or arei, we expound its meaning like the meaning of because. And whoever translates and all the congregation saw that he died is mistaken, for then it should have said were seen (ve'itchaziu). And all the congregation saw (vayiru) is in the form of and the ends of the poles were seen, and the waters receded, and they went up from the dwelling of Korach.

The two of them returned in the merit of Moshe.

חזרו שניהם בזכות משה - since it is written And I cut off the three shepherds, it is obvious to us that it speaks of them, for we find no three leaders of Israel together except them.

When Moshe died, all of them departed, as it is said (Zechariah 11:8): And I cut off the three shepherds in one month.

But did they die in one month? Did not Miriam die in Nisan, Aharon in Av, and Moshe in Adar!^[8]

מתה בניסן - as it is said (Bamidbar 20:1): And the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Tzin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there — (after the) red heifer.

אהרן מת - on the first of the month.

Rather, this teaches that the three good gifts that were given through them were nullified, and all of them departed in one month.

We see, then, that we find sustenance for the sake of an individual!

Moshe is different: since he asked on behalf of the many, he is considered like the many.^[9]

Rav Huna bar Manoach, Rav Shmuel bar Idi and Rav Chiya from Vestania were regulars before Rava.

מווסתניא - from that place.

When Rava passed away, they came before Rav Pappa.

Whenever he would tell them a teaching and it did not make sense to them, they would signal to one another.

אחוו להדדי - they would gesture and look at one another, that the teaching did not hold up for them as it did with Rava.

He became upset.^[10]

Tosafos

עשר תעשר - Thus it says in the Sifri: You shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed, that which comes out of the field, year by year. I have only the produce of your seed, which is obligated in tithes; from where do we include interest, trade, and all other profits? The verse says: all — for it could have said your produce; what is all? To include interest, trade, and anything by which one profits.

And likewise it says in the Aggadah: that which comes out of the field, year [by year] — that is, if you do not tithe your field properly, you will have only what comes out of the field. That is, your field will yield only according to the tithes that were given before — namely, that which comes out of the field, meaning what you used to set aside as tithe from the field.

There was once a man who was wealthy, and he had a field that yielded a thousand kor. That rich man would take a hundred kor for tithe and set it aside each and every year, and so he did all his days. When he fell ill and was about to die, he called his son and said to him: My son, know that this field which I am leaving you yields a thousand kor every year; be careful to set aside a hundred kor as I did. The man died, and the son took his place; the field yielded a thousand kor as it had in his father's lifetime, and he set aside a hundred kor from it.

In the second year the son looked and saw that the tithe was a large amount, and he said that he would not set it aside. The next year the field diminished and yielded only a hundred kor. He was distressed over it. His relatives heard that it had diminished so and that he had not set aside the tithe; they all came to him dressed in white and rejoicing.

He said to them: It seems to me that you are rejoicing at my downfall?! They said to him: We are distressed over you, for you brought all this harm upon yourself. Why did you not set aside the tithe properly, as is right?

Come and see: at first, when the field came into your hands, you were the owner and the Holy One, Blessed is He, was the Kohen, for the tithe was His portion to give to the poor. And now that you did not set aside His portion, the Holy One, Blessed is He, has become the owner and you the Kohen — for your field does not yield what it yielded at first, a thousand kor, and He has set aside for you a hundred kor.

And this is what is written (Bamidbar 5:10): And every man's holy things shall be his — that is, when he does not set aside properly, he will have only the holy things, that is, the tithe.

And about this the Sages said: Whoever withholds his tithes will end up having only one tenth. As it is written (Yeshayahu 5:10): And a chomer of seed shall yield an eifah — that is the tithe, for an eifah is three se'ah and a chomer is thirty se'ah.

And so it is written: For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bas.

And Rabbi Nasan of Offenia explained: that which comes out of the field — that is, if not, if you do not set aside the tenth, it will go to the one who goes out to the field, namely Esav the wicked; that is, the idolaters will take it.

Notes

1. 1. The doubled verb aser te'aser is expounded as a play on titasher, you will become wealthy.
2. 2. Testing Hashem is forbidden — so how could the child tell Rabbi Yochanan to go and test it?
3. 3. Maaser is the one area where Hashem Himself invites the test: test Me now with this.
4. 4. A person spoils his own way through his sins, and then rages against Hashem over the trouble that comes upon him.
5. 5. Yosef's brothers had sinned in selling him, yet asked: What is this that G‑d has done to us? — a hint in the Torah to Shlomo's verse.
6. 6. Reish Lakish died after Rabbi Yochanan was pained by him (Bava Metzia 84a); the child's mother feared that Rabbi Yochanan's gaze would harm her son too.
7. 7. Ki gava Aharon means because Aharon had died: they saw the clouds depart because Aharon had died.
8. 8. Aharon died on the first of Av (Bamidbar 33:38), and Moshe on the seventh of Adar.
9. 9. Moshe asked for the manna on behalf of all Israel, so it counts as sustenance for the many.
10. 10. Rav Pappa was hurt, thinking that they were belittling him.