The Land Defiled Beneath Those Who Broke the Law of Tithes

[5] "The land is defiled beneath its inhabitants" and so forth (Isaiah 24:5). Rabbi Yitzchak said: you suppose you flatter it, but it flatters you. It shows you standing grain but does not show you the sheaf; it shows you the sheaf but does not show you the threshing floor; it shows you the threshing floor but does not show you the heap. Why? "Because they transgressed the laws [torot]" (ibid.): because they transgressed two Torahs, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. "They changed the statute [chok]" (ibid.): they changed the statute of tithes. "They broke the everlasting covenant" (ibid.): they broke the covenant of the fathers. Therefore Moses warns Israel and says to them, "You shall surely tithe" and so forth (Deuteronomy 14:22).