Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Herman Meester" <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

If secular, i.e. non-clergy/priestly governments collect taxes and
call it "tithe" if it happens to be 10%, then I don't think there is a
link with Christianity or Judaism. Judaism's tithing is purely ritual
and confined to the home; nothing to do with "taxes".
I think in Judaism, things other than vegetables, herbs, fruits etc.
aren't tithed. But I have to say I'm not a halachic expert at all.
This would be a good opportunity for me to take a look at the Mishna
tractates Ma`asrot and Ma`aser Sheni. I can't find the Zera`im part of
my Mishna at the moment, but if you'd like we could go into that
later.

Could you be more precise on what you mean by "the one [tithe] used in
Christianity"?

By the way, I think we have to distinguish between the religion of the
Israelites in the time of the temple cult on the one hand, and Judaism
on the other hand.
And I think the word Ma`aser, in itself, although it may *refer* to
religious/cultic practice, has no special religious *meaning*; it's
just "a tenth". Cf. mishne משנה "a second [time], doubling,
repetition".

regards,
herman



2006/3/10, Kevin Riley <klriley AT alphalink.com.au>:
> Just reading in Malachi 3 and a thought occurred to me:  Had the definition
> of "tithe" changed from the one in Leviticus [crops and herds] towards the
> one used in Christianity [all income whether goods or money] or does that
> post-date the break between Judaism and Christianity.  I just had a feeling
> I may have been reading something into the text that isn't there.  Checking
> the meaning of "McSR " didn't help as it was basically "tithe", "one tenth".
>  Did Judaism move towards tithing other than agricultural produce?
>
> Kevin Riley
>
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