Thursday 7 July 2016

Ma'aser- religious income tax

Background

Out of all the donations that the Torah obligates a person to give, by far the largest one is ma’aser.[1] From all produce of the land a tenth must be given to the descendants of Levi. The reason for this obligation seems to be stated clearly in the Torah- it is “in return for their service that they perform, the service of the Ohel Mo’ed.”[2]

At a closer look, this payment seems disproportionate to the extreme. One tribe receive a tenth of all of the staple food, presumably more than enough to live off permanently (at that time the overwhelming majority of people worked in agriculture). This would be reasonable if they were in close to permanent employment, perhaps even if it were part-time. But already in the desert there were 8,580 levi’im of working age.[3] How could there possibly be a need for so many workers in the Mishkan?

Clearly the levi’im were not working permanently in the Mishkan, or later in the Beis Hamikdash. Chazal tell us that Moshe Rabbeinu instituted that the Levi’im should be divided into eight watches, Shmuel increased this to sixteen, and David Hamelech eventually made twenty-four watches.[4] Each watch worked for a week at a time, meaning that each Levi’s working time was about two weeks a year![5]

The reason for this is that the levi’im had another, no less important mission. Part of the beracha given to the tribe of Levi is:

יוֹרוּ מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ לְיַעֲקֹב וְתוֹרָתְךָ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל יָשִׂימוּ קְטוֹרָה בְּאַפֶּךָ וְכָלִיל עַל מִזְבְּחֶךָ: (דברים לג, י)

“They shall teach Your laws to Ya’akov, and Your Torah to Yisrael. They shall place incense in front of You and burnt-offerings on Your altar.” (Devarim 33:10)

Chazal derive from this pasuk that the tribe of Levi was one of two tribes that produced successful halachic rulers.[6] The Rambam famously explains that in order to be free to perform these two crucial roles, the tribe of Levi did not receive a portion in Eretz Yisrael or in the spoils, nor were they involved in war.[7]

Why then did the Torah say that ma’aser is payment just for service performed in the Mishkan? I have not seen this question addressed elsewhere, but to me the answer is obvious. Hashem did not want the teaching of Torah to be a job. While the levi’im are compelled to serve in the Mikdash whether they like it or not,[8] their teaching role is one that they are expected to do of their own accord.

The hugely exaggerated wages that the levi’im receive for their work in the Sanctuary allowed for the preservation of Torah scholarship without degrading it. Teaching Torah is something that we are required to do without the expectation of payment.[9] But what then is to stop a Levi from shirking this responsibility, if his payment is not dependent on it?

The answer to this is also clear. Everyone is free to give his ma’aser to the Levi of his choice.[10] This created an incentive for the levi’im to show that they were genuinely deserving of ma’aser, and also limited resentment on the part of the farmers who had to give it.

Problems

This system works perfectly if people use it in the way it was intended. However, as with anything else, if it is regularly manipulated for personal gain society breaks down. Not everyone will necessarily choose who they give their ma’aser to in an appropriate manner, and some may decide not to give at all.

This is what happened in the times of the navi Malachi, who rebukes those who ‘steal from Hashem’ ma’aser and terumah.[11] Later, Yochanan the Kohen Gadol discovered that only terumah gedolah was separated by all, and he instituted that one who buys produce from an am ha’aretz (in this context anyone who has not proved his trustworthiness) must separate ma’aser out of concern that the seller did not separate.[12]

When deterioration like this occurs, everyone must take their share of responsibility. The levi’im should ask themselves whether they have done enough to earn the respect of the people and help them want to support their mission (and they also have the incentive to do so). The same Malachi also saw fit to penalise the levi’im for failing to return to Eretz Yisrael from Bavel, and instructed that ma’aser should be given to the kohanim instead.[13]

In our time

Nowadays all kosher certification includes an assurance that ma’aser has been separated whenever halacha requires it. Yet no levi’im are able to live off ma’aser, and there is ongoing dispute between the political parties over government support to Torah learning. How did this happen?

Two major factors here are technical. Firstly, staple grains in Israel are almost entirely imported. Secondly, even with grain that is grown here, in modern times the cost of labour means that the value of raw grain (from which ma'aser is taken from) is tiny compared to the cost of ready to eat food. There is little we can do about this. However the other reasons are halachic, and it is important for us to address them (after declaring my personal interest as a levi).

The Chazon Ish rules that today it is proper for ma’aser to be retained by the owner of the produce after separation, as giving it to the levi’im would cause an increase in those falsely asking to be called to the Torah as a levi.[14] This is relied on by many companies and kashrus authorities, although unfortunately due to a lack of transparency it is often not easy to find out which ones.

This novel idea of the Chazon Ish is very hard to understand, as one who keeps ma’aser for himself is stealing from the levi’im. Without a Sanhedrin we do not have the power to make a new enactment where Chazal did not.[15] This leniency is found only in the Chazon Ish, and many other poskim clearly state that ma’aser must still be given to a levi.[16]

From what I understand, even the hechsherim that are particular about giving ma’aser to levi’im do not do so in entirety. Already in the times of the Mishna, for some it was inconvenient to constantly find levi’im to hand over ma’aser to. The solution to this was simple, one could ‘prepay’ by lending money to a levi and taking the ma’aser for oneself in payment of the debt.[17] For the levi’im it also may have been more conveninent to receive money instead of grain.

The catch is the calculation of how much ma’aser can be covered by the amount of money lent. We are informed that this calculation is based on the ‘cheap rate’, ie that even if the price of grain goes up the deduction from the loan is according to the price at the time the loan was given. Although the current value of the grain is more than the money lent, this does not violate the prohibition of taking interest.[18]

Tosfos take this a step further, and say that even if the levi agrees to calculate the payment at a price well below the ‘cheap rate’, there is no interest problem. Based on this Rav Kook takes it as a given that only a small amount of money can be lent to the levi for a large amount of ma’aser.[19]

The truth is that it is clear that all Tosfos said was that there is no interest problem if this calculation is agreed upon. There is no justification for forcing the levi’im to accept such an arrangement. Elsewhere Rav Kook himself says that the reason we rely on this is because otherwise the ability of the Jewish community at the time to survive would be in doubt.[20]

I have little complaint with the kashrus authorities that rely on this, as they are merely facilitating a limited form of giving ma’aser instead of giving none. If there was demand from the community as a whole for the complete fulfilment of this mitzvah (along with the willingness to pay extra), it would be done.[21] It is our responsibility to educate and increase understanding of the issues involved, until this happens. And as in the time of Malachi, it is the responsibility of the levi’im to earn their ma’aser.



[1] Throughout this article I am referring to ma’aser rishon. The additional tithe that must be separated in most years is eaten by the owner as ma’aser sheni, either in a pure state in Yerushalayim or nowadays after redemption (at virtually no cost). Only in the third and sixth years of the shmita cycle ma’aser ani must be given to the poor.
[2] Bamidbar 18:21.
[3] Bamidbar 4:48
[4] Ta’anis 27a. Presumably the changes were due to gradual population increase.
[5] In fact it was less, as each watch was divided into families and individuals were assigned to each day of the week. See Rambam Klei Hamikdash 3:9.
[6] Yoma 26a. The second tribe was Yissachar.
[7] Shmita v’Yovel 13:12. See also Moreh Nevuchim 3:39 where the Rambam explicitly links the mitzvah of ma’aser to the Torah learning of the levi’im.
[8] Rambam Klei Hamikdash 3:1
[9] See Nedarim 37a.
[10] See Rashi to Bamidbar 5:10
[11] Malachi 2:8
[12] Sotah 48a
[13] Yevamos 86b. See Megila 15a that Malachi was another name of Ezra.
[14] Shevi’is 5:12. It is worth noting that the Chazon Ish did not believe in other means of receiving money for Torah learning, see Brown’s biography of the Chazon Ish pages 55-56.
[16] See for example Chochmas Adam, Sha’arei Tzedek Mitzvot Ha’aretz chapter 10.
[17] Gitin 30a
[18] Ibid, with Rashi. Why this is not considered interest is beyond the scope of this article.
[19] Mishpat Cohen siman 36. This practice is already mentioned in the Yad Efrayim (written by R’ Efrayim Zalman Margolies, 1762-1828) in Yoreh Deah 61:10, and criticised strongly.
[20] Igrot Hariya 1:119
[21] Ma’aser Ani is in fact given entirely to the poor, even though a similar trick could be used. This is mainly because there is no view that condones retaining Ma’aser Ani entirely (and therefore less pressure to find other leniencies), but perhaps also because the idea of giving to the poor is more widely understood.

No comments:

Post a Comment