Ki Savo - 2nd Portion

Join me as we learnish for Monday Pares which is the second Torah reading in the Torah reading of Tavo chapter 26:12. Yesterday we learned about the mitzvah of Bikurim, bringing the first fruit to the holy temple and making the declaration and thanking God and showing a reciprocation of the kindness that God has given the Jewish people, the land and the fruit therein. Today we continue with uh the other agricultural gifts that would have to be brought to the holy temple as well as the tithes that had to be given to the Cohen and to the poor person and the deadlines for and when these gifts had to be given. Verse 12. By the time you have finished taking all the tithes of your produce that have grown by the third year, that is in a year which you are required to give the tithe as usual. And you will give the tithe that you have to give to the ley that you have been given all to the ley to the comfort to the orphan and to the widow. Which means you also have to give then the uh the tithing to the poor and they will then eat according to their in their cities in your cities the su and they'll be satiated. As we're soon going to see, Rashi is going to explain what this is telling us that the amount of time that a person was able to give the tithe and what tithes were given in which year and basically as we'll soon see inside is that there were generally was split up. You went according to the sabbatical year. The first two years you always had to give a micer. You had to give to the cohain his donation his gift. Then you had to give to the ley and then you also had micer sheni. Then the third year where there was no miser sheni which was that was brought up to the land of Isra to the to the city of Jerusalem you then have to take that uh tithe and give it to the poor person. So there was twice in the seven years that it went to the poor people twice in the seven years that it went and it was eaten in the land of Jerusalem. You had up to that period in the third year up to Pesak which that was the time when they would get rid of all the that you had to either burn or consume all the micer all the tithing that had to be at the that had to be given up until that date. And now we'll see how Rashi explains it and sees it from the detail of the verse. What does this mean when you will conclude by the time you finish taking all the tithe of your produce? When you finish taking all the tithing of the third year, meaning the crop that is grown up until the third year, counting from the sabbatical year. So the sabbatical year is year seven. And then you start again afterwards one, two, and three. So then you have to set a date for when you're going to get rid of and as well to make the confession for the tithing is going to be on the eve of the fourth year as it says after three years you will take out. It says over here the word at the end says later on also as well by the festival of sukus at the end of seven years when it comes to when we say on sukus after seven years it wasn't exactly on the date of but it was a little bit further in onto the holiday mal just like we previously when we talk about the seven years actually later on in chapter 31 when it talks about the mitzvah of hakl and it says at the end it's referring to the holiday that's right there afan and mal So two in our case it's talking about when do you have to finish consuming the tithing is also a holiday. So if we're already comparing holidays, so how do I know that this is P? Maybe it refers to sukus. If over there by when it talks about the mitzvah of it's referring to the holiday of sukus over here should also be the holiday of sukus. Therefore over here the verse comes and asks when you conclude when you finish bringing the tithing is the tithing of the third year. When is that time that you conclude? answers. When is the holiday that you conclude bringing the tithe? So that's because one cannot conclude the tithing after sukus because there are still trees around that the fruits are still uh growing stuff and the only time you finish collecting them is after. So what does that come out to tell us being that there are some that are collected even in the winter or a little bit into the winter or fall I should say. Therefore, the tithe of the entire third year end on P of the fourth year. And any person who left his tithe in the house and he did not get rid of it before Pes will have to uh get rid of it and therefore to be able to accomplish any of those mitzvah whether it's giving the gift to the Cohen or the tithes the first tithe to the Levy and Mser Sheni and the second tithe that had to be eaten in Jerusalem. And then of course there was the third tithe I was soon going to see as well as the tithe that I have to give to the poor people. So over here the Torah tells us about many different gifts that a person had to give the agricultural gifts. Number one you had to give truma. Truma which means a donation to the cohain. Number two you had to give maishain which is the first tithe to the ley that was done every single year. Mser sheni was the third and sixth year. Um I'm sorry second, third and sixth year which you had to bring to the land of Is that you had to bring to Jerusalem and then the years that you didn't bring Mser Sheni which is the second and fifth you would have to give mys an uni which was giving to the poor people as we see in the next rashi explains when you gave to the poor people and when you brought it to Jerusalem as he says in this verse when you finished giving your in the third year that means in the fourth year therefore as he says as follows the year that you don't give only one. They only give one of the micer that means from the two year from the two micers the fruit tooth tithes that were given in the first and second year of the in those you gave me one tithe to the you'll take from the Jewish people the mer then you have then the second tithe was that was eaten in Jerusalem and you'll lean in front of God from your from your from your grain, from your grapes and from your oil. So you have so far two types of tithes that were done in the first two years. And over here the Torah comes to tell us that in the third year you have a special tithe which are not part of those two those two tithes only one of them which is which is giving to the ley and instead of sheni you would be giving you give to the poor people as it says here the ley you'll give to the Levite that means you're going to give to the Levite as well but you're also going to give that means give the ley what is deservant of his that's my which is the tithe number one then give like a gift to the convert orphan and widow then this is the tithe to the poor people so what we have over here is when we're talking about the third year of the shmita that would be in the third and sixth year that means every three years a person would give I'm sorry I messed up the years before every three years a person would give me micer ani which is the third and sixth year they would give to the poor person and years 1 2 4 and five they would bring give it to the uh bring it to the holy temple and bring it to Jerusalem and that would be mser sheni. So as we mentioned there were three things that had to be given every year either it was mser sheni which is the second micer that was brought second tithe that was brought up to Jerusalem or instead and in place of that as we see in this verse they would give me mserie they would give it to the poor person who would then uh eat it and give them what to eat. How much do you have to give them? As Rashi says, tell them they suffer. You have to give them enough that they're satiated. From here we know that means if a poor person comes to ask for his tithe in the uh threshing place in the place where the collecting all the different um wheat and barley one should not give less than less than a half a cal of a half a calf of barley which that is the amount that a person can survive with two meals which means that they will give them enough to satiate them. Verse 13. Now that you have a time and the specific times of when you have to get rid of the specific tithes, you then go on the eve of PES and you would say before God your God, I declare that I have removed from my house all the holy items, meaning the holy parts that have to be given to as tithing. And I gave it to Ley and to the convert to the to the orphan and to the widow according to all the commandments that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed on your commandments and have not forgotten to thank you for granting me the opportunity that I can be the one to give tithe and of my produce. Verse 13. You have to confess that you actually did and gave your tithe as we explained I've gotten rid of the holy from which is referring to which is referring to the second tithe that we mentioned that has to be eaten in Jerusalem which is the fourth year that a new produce come new fruits come on a tree that have to eaten in Jerusalem as well teaches us that if a person kept his fruit there for two and he did not bring it to Jerusalem or he kept the fruit and he's in the fifth year. He has to bring it down. Now also don't forget because it's fruit that maybe a person can't bring so much he has the ability to exchange it in for money. So we're talking about that he also didn't spend the money not necessarily that the fruit lasted for two years. I gave the ley which is my the first tithe and also gave the donation and the first of the fruit of the co and I gave the tithe for the poor people. I gave them according to the order. I did not give the truma the donation to the coin before the actual ripening of the fruit exists even while the fruit are on the tree. The truma only happens after the harvest. So therefore you have to first give the first fruit which is then the I also haven't I haven't deducted the tithe that I have to take to Jerusalem before the tithe that I gave to the ley because first thing is the donation that has to be given to the because that's called first because that's number one once it's made into grain it says means whatever has filled that ripened. Whatever is ready to be eaten should be going first. Do not change the order. So we have an order of priorities. The first thing that has to be given is the first fruit had to be brought to the temple which is number two is the truma that has to be given to the kohhane. Number three was the mserish the given to the ley and number four was the mser sheni which has to be brought to Jerusalem or mserie that had to be given to the poor person. I did not go against your commandment to mean take from one kind and tithe for another kind to take from the new from the old meaning every year according to what it was supposed to be done and I did not forget to thank you that I have the ability and thank God that I can be the one to giving the tithe. Verse 14. I did not consume any of the second tithe with while my grief. And I did not consume any of it while I was ritually impure. And I did not use any of it to make a coffin for the dead. I listened. I obeyed into the voice of God. The voice of God. My God. Oh, I have done. I have obeyed. I have acted in accordance of how you commanded me. From here we see that a person on the day of somebody who passed in his family that means an immediate relative he was forbidden to be eating at that time any of this kind of food. whether I was impure and he was pure. That means that the fruit was pure was ritually pure. Whether I was ritually pure and the fruit was impure we told them we're not allowed to eat this while impurity. This is said previously in chapter 12. You cannot eat it in your in your cities. meaning when you're impure. This is talking about eating the tithe while a person's impure as it says it by the those by those animals who were um redeemed because let's say if an animal has a blemish. So therefore it cannot be brought as a sacrifice. You would have to redeem the animal for its monetary value and use its value and eat it in a place where it would be considered richly pure that you however those once you redeemed it and bought another animal you can eat it whether you're pure or not. However, these however when it comes to tithe, you cannot even though it was redeemed so on, you cannot still uh eat it while you're impure. You have to eat it while you're impure. And therefore, there's a difference. And the person articulates that difference that he says, yes, I was pure when I ate it. What would you give it to a dead person? He says to make for it a coffin or shroud, I listened to whatever God told me to do and I brought them to the holy temple. I've obeyed everything that you have commanded me which is I rejoiced with it my family and I caused others to be rejoiced with it as well. Verse 15 and he concludes with a prayer of to God. Look down upon us from your dwelling place in heaven and bless your people, the land of Israel, the nation of Israel and the land that you gave us like you promised to our forefathers, like you swore to our forefathers that flows with milk and honey. after we did everything that you decreed upon us. Now you do what you got to do because you promised us in the book of Leviticus. If we follow in our statutes, then rain will come in its time. Now that we did our job, we bought we followed the commandments, brought the tithes and followed it in accordance to all its laws. We ask of God that he should bless us to give us. You kept that promise that you gave us the land that flows with milk and honey. This concludes the second Torah reading of Paras Kis.