Honor the LORD With Your Substance and the Tithe You Owe

[3] "Honor the LORD with your substance and with the first of all your produce" (Proverbs 3:9): that if you were handsome, do not be loose with sexual sin, so that people will not say, "So-and-so is handsome but is not guarded against immorality," on account of "Honor the LORD with your substance" [read as "from what He graced you with"]. Another interpretation: "Honor the LORD with your substance" (ibid.): that if your voice was pleasant, lead the Shema and pass before the ark, on account of "Honor the LORD with your substance" (ibid.). Rabbi Chiyya bar Adda, the son of the sister of Bar Kappara, had a pleasant voice, and Bar Kappara would say to him, "My son, lead the Shema and pass before the ark on account of 'Honor the LORD with your substance' (ibid.), from that with which He graced you." Another interpretation: "Honor the LORD with your substance" (ibid.): act with your substance [be-honkha] before you act without your substance [be-lo honkha]. There was a case of a man who used to store up wine and oil and would not bring out his tithes as is fitting. What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He brought into him a spirit of frenzy, and he took a stick and began to smash the jars. A member of his household rebuked him. What did he do to him? He took the stick and split it over his head. He said to him, "Instead of helping me, you rebuke me?" The other said, "Give me the stick and I too will smash." He gave him the stick, and that one was smashing them one at a time while this one was smashing them two at a time. What caused this for him? Because he would not bring out his tithes as is fitting. For Rabbi Levi said: there was a case of a man who used to bring out his tithes properly, and he had one field, and the Holy One put it in his heart, and he made half of it for sowing and half of it a reservoir for water. A year of drought came, and they were announcing and saying, "A se'ah of wheat for a sela, a se'ah of water for three sela'im," and he would announce and say, "Who wants a se'ah of water that produces three se'ah of wheat?" What caused this for him? Because he used to bring out his tithes properly. Therefore Moses warns Israel and says to them, "You shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed" (Deuteronomy 14:22).