A farmer once looked at his fields and made a calculation that seemed clever at the time. The Torah commands that a tenth of every harvest must be given as a tithe. The farmer decided to reduce his tithe. He would keep more for himself and give less to God. Simple arithmetic — more grain in his storehouse, more coins in his purse.
The first year, the harvest was slightly smaller than before. The farmer shrugged it off — weather, perhaps, or the quality of the seed. He reduced his tithe again. The next year, the harvest shrank further. Year after year, as he withheld more, the earth yielded less. The fields that once overflowed with abundance began to wither, producing a fraction of what they once had.
Finally, the harvest dwindled to exactly one-tenth of what it had been in the beginning. The farmer who had once been the wealthiest landowner in his district now stood in a field that barely produced enough to feed his family.
His friends and neighbors came to visit — but not to console him. They came to congratulate him, with sharp smiles and sharper words. "Mazel tov!" they said. "You have become a priest! For when you were the owner of the field, you gave the tithe to the priest. Now God is the owner of the field, and He gives the tithe to you. The tenth that your field produces? That is your portion — the same portion you used to give away."
The Rabbis told this tale with dark humor and a clear warning: God does not need your tithe. The tithe is a test of whether you trust that the Giver of abundance will continue to give. Withhold from heaven, and heaven withholds from you.