Comments on: Wheat berries and tithing http://jcarrot.org/428/ Jews, Food, and Contemporary Issues Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:13:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: avtherav http://jcarrot.org/428/#comment-1158 avtherav Sun, 29 Apr 2007 13:47:38 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/428/#comment-1158 Biblically, tithing was a natural means of distributing charity to the poor, as well as salaries for the levite class. The biblical requirement to give this food to people requires that the people who eat it are ritually pure, something which we assume no one is today. Therefore any produce today must have the tithes removed, but they are unfortunately thrown away (composted hopefully!) because they cannot be eaten. If one were to look at it positively, we can use the loss of food as a meditation on the state of society today. We are not entirely where we should be and therefore we cannot fully benefit from the bounty we have planted. p.s. this only applies within the borders of israel, as do the majority of all agricultural rules. Biblically, tithing was a natural means of distributing charity to the poor, as well as salaries for the levite class. The biblical requirement to give this food to people requires that the people who eat it are ritually pure, something which we assume no one is today. Therefore any produce today must have the tithes removed, but they are unfortunately thrown away (composted hopefully!) because they cannot be eaten. If one were to look at it positively, we can use the loss of food as a meditation on the state of society today. We are not entirely where we should be and therefore we cannot fully benefit from the bounty we have planted.

p.s. this only applies within the borders of israel, as do the majority of all agricultural rules.

]]>