Lech Lecha: Avraham’s Maaser to Malki Tzedek, Maaser Kesafim, and Hakaras Hatov

Transcript

Parshas Lech Lecha, between Revii and Chamishi, perek yud-daled, we have the story. Lot captured. Avraham Avinu goes together with his big army. He recaptures Lot, the five kings, four kings. Al kol panim, at the end, of course, he was victorious. Vayeitzei melech Sdom likraso, so the king of Sdom comes out to greet Avraham Avinu. This is in pasuk yud-zayin, as well as Malki Tzedek, melech Shalem. Who is Malki Tzedek? Rashi says, Shem ben Noach. Malki Tzedek. So Shem ben Noach goes out to greet Avraham Avinu with lechem v'yayin, with bread and wine. V'hu kohen l'El Elyon. Malki Tzedek, Shem, was a kohen, says the pasuk. V'hu kohen l'El Elyon. Vayevarechehu. So he benches, he blesses Avraham Avinu, vayomar, Baruch Avram l'El Elyon. Uvaruch El Elyon, and Chazal already say that first he blessed, he benched Avraham, and then he benched Hashem. And because of that, the kehunah was taken away from him. That's already a Gemara. He blesses Avram, he benches Avram, and then he benches the Ribono Shel Olam. Al kol panim, vayiten lo ma'aser mikol. And he gives him ma'aser from everything. Who is the he, and who is the him? It doesn't say in the pasuk. The pasuk could be read two ways. The pasuk could be read: Avram gave Malki Tzedek, or the pasuk could be read the opposite, that Malki Tzedek gave it to Avram. Says Rashi, Vayiten lo, Avram. Why does Rashi have to say that? Because actually it could be read the other way around also. It's not clear. You look at the Sifsei Chachamim, he explains it that way, that it's not clear in the pasuk who gave who. Mei natan l'mi? Who gave who? It says, Vayiten lo Avram ma'aser mikol, and why did he give him ma'aser? Says Rashi in the continuation, Lefi shehaya kohen, because he was a kohen. This is Rashi's pshat. The Chizkuni, the Tur, and other Rishonim say the opposite: who gave who? Actually it was Malki Tzedek who gave Avram. The reading of the pasuk is more pashut mashma like the Chizkuni and the Tur and those Rishonim, because it says that he was talking, and then it says, Vayiten lo. So the pashut reading is that the same person, Malki Tzedek, who said, Vayiten lo, he gave. You see, it's a machlokes Rishonim. To get into the actual implication, mashma'os, mashma more like Rashi, mashma more like the Chizkuni. All right, it can be read both ways. The shaila, of course, is: but what are they arguing? Why does Rashi learn that it was Avraham who gave Malki Tzedek, and why does the Chizkuni learn that it was the opposite, that it was Malki Tzedek who gave Avraham ma'aser mikol? What exactly is the point of argument, the nekudas ha-machlokes? So we could say, rabosai, that they're not arguing in the mashma'os ha-psukim, because if Rashi says that it could be Avraham, I guess you can't say that. The Chizkuni says, no, the pasuk is mashma that it's Malki Tzedek. Again, like I said, it is a little bit mashma more that it's referring to Malki Tzedek who's giving Avraham, but still, you could learn it both ways. So what is the nekudah, the starting point of the machlokes?

Rabosai, let me tell you an interesting Rambam. The Rambam in Hilchos Melachim, perek tes, halacha aleph. Oh, we just lost the Torah slide. Says the Rambam, Al shisha devarim nitztaveh Adam HaRishon. On six things Adam HaRishon was commanded. This is perek tes, halacha aleph: avodah zarah, birchas Hashem, shefichas damim, giluy arayos, ... mitzvos Bnei Noach. Let's... Hosif l'Noach eiver min hachai. Noach was added to him eiver min hachai. So it comes out that it's sheva, sheva mitzvos. Six and one is how much? Seven. V'chein hayah hadavar b'chol ha'olam. And this is the way it was, says the Rambam, in the world: seven mitzvos. Ba Avraham. Till Avraham came. Avraham came, nitztaveh yeseir al eilu b'milah. Milah was given to him, v'hu hitpael shacharis. And he also invented, even though the Rambam doesn't use the word invented, misaken, but he says he did. He did daven Shacharis, and we could say, l'maaseh, it became a thing to daven Shacharis. Let's use those words. It became an inyan to daven Shacharis. Yitzchak, what did Yitzchak add? Hifrish maaser, v'hosif tefilah acheres lifnos hayom. And he made Mincha. So maaser and Mincha. Milah and Shachris. Yitzchak, maaser and mincha. Yaakov, hoisif ginahoshim, nispal arvis. Yaakov, he davened Maariv, and he also had kinahoshim given to him. U'b'Mitzrayim, nitztaveh Amram b'mitzvos yeseiros. Amram was given in Mitzrayim more mitzvos. Ad sheba Moshe Rabbeinu, till Moshe Rabbeinu came, v'nishlemah Torah al yado. And the Torah was completed by the hand of Moshe Rabbeinu. Comes along the Raivid, and he says, You know, you missed something. What happened to maaser? Avraham Avinu gave maaser as well. Why are you coming and saying that Yitzchok gave maaser, if you see clearly in the pasuk that Avraham Avinu gave maaser? So says the Raivid, and then in brackets it says, v'Yitzchok shehosif tefilah acheres, ad kan leshono. Okay, we don't have to get into that issue. Our issue is actually the beginning of the Raivid, that l'choirah the pasuk is clear, it's crystal clear, that Avraham Avinu gave maaser. Rabosai, whose shita is that Avraham gave maaser? That's only Rashi. So we can come and say that the Rambam learned like the Chizkuni, and that's the machlokes, the Rashi and the Chizkuni is actually the machlokes, the Rambam and the Raivid. There are contradictory midrashim that this is based on. There are midrashim that is mashma like the Raivid, that Yitzchak was the first to give, and then there's midrashim that are mashma that Avraham gave. Soon we'll get to those midrashim. So based on this, there's a machlokes, the Rambam and the Raivid, on the contradictory midrashim. So meileh, we could say that that's the machlokes, also Rashi and the Chizkuni, the contradictory midrashim. I said this pshat a while back, years ago. I see this year in the new Shapsi Frankel Rambams, he has something called Hagaos V'tziyunim on the side. See, in the old Rambams we don't have that. No. He just brings out this point. I see that either I could say that I was before him, I don't know who wrote that Hagaos V'tziyunim on the side of the Rambam. So either I was first and he was after, or he was first and I was after. But either way, we both say the same nekudah, that the machlokes, the Rambam and the Raivid, is actually a machlokes midrashim, which is a machlokes Rashi and the Chizkuni. I want to say a little bit deeper, and I want to say a little bit more, because it's very hard for me to come and just say, Ah, there's a machlokes midrashim. Rashi says...

One way, and then the Rambam says another way, and the Rambam says about this Midrash and those Midrashim. Why would some Rishonim pick this Midrashim over those Midrashim? What's the machlokes Midrashim, and the meila we decide one way over the other? It's a machlokes Midrashim, so why pick one way over the other? And how could there be a machlokes Midrashim? So now we find already that Midrashim, different Midrashim, but it would be better if we could be meyashev, if we could answer to say that both Midrashim are right. How could you do that? How could you have that one says black and the other one says white, and they're both right? One says Avraham did it, one says Yitzchok did it, and they're both right. So I'm going to show you how it could be. So first let me tell you over the Midrashim that say this. The Midrashim are—well, actually I only took out three, but there are many of them, three basic ones. The first one I want to tell you is a Medrash Rabbah in Bamidbar, perek yud-beis, os yud-gimmel. Avraham hischil rishon la'aser. Avraham was the first one to give maaser. First Medrash, that Avraham was the first one to give maaser. Trumah gedolah, rabosai. Let me tell you what it is, for those that don't know what it is. There's trumah gedolah, which is different than maaser. You have to give a trumah, a tithe, to the kohen. Maaser is a tenth to the Levi. There's also maaser ani, we'll see, we'll get to it a little bit later. Put maaser to the Levi is a tenth. Truma gedolah is also referred to as maaser. It's a type of maaser, because maaser means to cut off a piece. That's the word maaser. Maybe it came to mean that later, maybe over the years, but because maaser is to cut off, and there's maaser ani and maaser rishon and maaser sheini, so they took the word maaser to use it as what? A cut, right? Maaser means to take off. Is truma gedolah also referred to as maaser? Okay. Now, did he give him maaser maaser, or did he give him truma? Now let's analyze. Actually, he was a kohen, right? To a kohen, do we give maaser maaser, or do we give truma? We don't give maaser; we give truma. Rashi says, V'hu kohen. So what? You don't give maaser to a kohen. Tell me, you learned this Rashi many times, right? Give him maaser, v'hu kohen. Rashi, you don't give maaser to a kohen; you give maaser to a Levi. We'll soon see it's a machlokes in the Gemara if you could also give it to a kohen. That's a machlokes, Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah in Yevamos, daf peh-vav. Detanya, truma l'kohen u'maaser rishon l'Levi, divrei Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Meir says it has to be truma to the kohen and maaser to the Levi. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah matiroi l'kohen. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah holds you can also give it to a kohen. Today we could say that Rashi paskens that way. Maybe Rashi holds with the shita of Reb Eliezer ben Azariah, that maaser could be given to a kohen. We don't pasken that way. The Rambam says klar, in Hilchos Maaser, perek aleph, halacha aleph, like Reb Meir, trumah l'kohen, u'maaser rishon l'Levi. So I don't believe to say that there's a machlokes, that Rashi paskens like Reb Eliezer and the Chizkuni paskens like Reb Meir. Nah, this is not the right way how to learn. We say that whatever the halacha is, that's the halacha. Rashi's paskening the halacha l'maaseh. I'm saying regel, regel, with the klal zacher, rabosai. I mean, you're learning a Rashi. Rashi says he's a kohen and he gave him maaser. I never heard that you give maaser to a kohen. I never heard such a thing. So we could come and say, Oh, there's a Gemara, Reb Eliezer ben Azariah and Reb Meir. Reb Eliezer ben Azariah holds that you can give maaser to a kohen, and Rashi and the Rambam hold differently, and the Rambam's l'shitaso. The Rambam holds you can't give maaser to the kohen. So if he gave him maaser, so he can't learn Rashi's pshat, so therefore he learns the other...

So we around, that actually Malchi Tzedek gave it to who? To Avraham. It's a nice pshat, huh? Okay. Or we could say that the word ma'aseh doesn't mean ma'aseh. Maybe the word ma'aseh means terumah. And I tell you the Midrashim quote that who was the first one to give terumah? First one to give terumah was Avraham. Harimosi yadi l'Kel Elyon. That's the pasuk before this one. No, this new Midrash about terumah? No, it's in this week's parashah on the pasuk, Harimosi yadi l'Kel Elyon. Harimosi, terumah. Harimosi yadi, terumah, harimosi. That the first person to give terumah was actually who? Avraham Avinu. Ebemeila we could say, so it wasn't ma'aseh to the Levi, it was terumah to the Kohen. So why would the Ramban not bring that? Why would the Ramban not say that the first person to give terumah was Avraham? You like it. You know why you like it? Because I'm learning with you real Torahs emes pshat. Why are you going to kash? If you hold that it's terumah, and that's the answer to the question, how could you give it to a Kohen? And because of this, we want to say that he doesn't learn Rashi's pshat. Why you can lay maaser? Because, so write that Harimosi yadi, that he was the first one to give terumah. The Rambam should have quoted that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's an interesting Yalkut. I don't want to go through all the midrash; there are many of them, and they all contradict each other, you know, who was the first one to give maaser, who was the first one to give terumah. But there's an interesting Yalkut that breaks it up יפה: Avraham gave terumah first, first to give terumah. Yitzchak was the first to give maaser rishon. It says clearly, Vayizra; it says in the pasuk that Yitzchak went and he planted and he... vayiten maaser, he gave maaser. What about Yaakov Avinu? He gave maaser sheini. There is a midrash like that, that Yaakov Avinu was the first to give maaser. V'chol asher titen li, aser a'aserenu lach. So if you'd be paying close attention to what I'm telling you now from the Yalkut, you'll see that that's not a question, because the Yalkut says he was the first to give a certain type of maaser, and that is maaser sheini. The Yalkut says each one gave a different thing. Avraham gave terumah, Yitzchak gave maaser rishon, and Yaakov gave maaser sheini. We're going to get to your question. Your question is the yesod of the shiur. Shh, shh, shh. Your question is the yesod of the shiur. We're not holding there yet. Okay. Let me tell you over two terutzim, two terutzim from the Acharonim on the side—well, Rishonim, I guess we can call them Acharonim—from the side of the Rambam. The question is very strong. The Ra'avad is proving from the midrashim. That who was the first to give maaser? Avram. So what happened to the Rambam's not bringing it? Says the Kesef Mishnah, ta'ama d'Raivid, the reason of the Raivid is because it says clearly in the pasuk that Avram gave maaser, so the Raivid's not wrong. So what's pshat in the Rambam? So we have to explain the Rambam. V'efshar loimar, efshar, says the Kesef Mishnah, maybe we could say, l'daas Rabbeinu, d'Avram lo yash kochon she'isar mimamono. Avram didn't give his money. Whose money did he give? Hasam, there, davka isur ha-shlal haba b'yado. He took from what he caught in the war. V'loi b'toras maaser; that wasn't maaser. Ela lefi shekibdo Malki Tzedek, ויוציא לחם ויין, ברכו, ורצה ליתן לו מעשר השלל. So he didn't give like a chiyuv maaser, a din maaser, he was mechuyiv to give. Malki Tzedek was nice to him, he brought him wine. Meileh, he reciprocated with what? With giving maaser. But it wasn't a real chiyuv din, the real mechoy, so to speak, of—

The real maaser, who gave first? Yitzchak. Azoi lekt the Kesef Mishneh. You take a look in the Chasam Sofer. It's interesting, he says that if you give maaser, there's a bracha in maaser. So since he gave him a bracha, so he gave him back a bracha. Interesting Chasam Sofer, you know, he puts a little more spice into the pshat of the Kesef Mishneh. He doesn't quote the Kesef Mishneh, but he says it on his own, that since he gave him a bracha—it's not, you see, the Kesef Mishneh learns he gave lechaviyayin. I'm immediately reciprocating by giving him, I guess, lechaviyayin. He gave him something in return, something mamashus. Chasam Sofer wants to say a little different. Since he gave him a bracha, so how do you give him back a bracha? He gave him maaser, which has in it bracha. Ayich Chasam Sofer al haTorah. Okay. The Netziv. The Netziv, on the side of the Rambam, comes along and says, You know something? I don't even see the Raavad at all. I think the Raavad is wrong. Avraham Avinu gave maaser? Since when did Avraham give maaser? Ay, it says, Vayiten lo maaser mikol. There's no maaser from mamonos, from money things. Maaser is either tevuah or beheimos. So, maaser? Let me show you the Netziv. Very interesting, the Netziv. He says an interesting nekudah here, the Netziv. He says the Netziv like this. Okay. Oh, here it is. You know, ... lefaresh כן, שהרי אין המעשה לההגס אלא בגדולי קרקע. There's no ma'aser for money. There's ma'aser from animals, from tevuah. לקח טפס. That's why he followed the Rambam, those midrashim, you hear, that say that it was Yitzchak, the first one, you hear, machria, that Rabba is learning that he was machria between the midrashim. Who's right? It's not a peltiker Rabba. The Rambam is machria between the midrashim. I mean, there's two midrashim, so מי יישב the midrash? No. The Rambam held that these midrashim are right and these midrashim are wrong. You see a tremendous yesod, that the Rambam has the right to decide right from wrong in midrashim. You know, this is unbelievable. Unbelievable, Rabosai, that the Rambam is saying he found two midrashim, one that says Avraham and the other one that says Yitzchak. But it has to be that those are right, the ones that say Yitzchak, because Avraham couldn't give ma'aser, because ma'aser is only from karka, from gedulei karka. Rabosai, besides for the chiddush of Shiboi, that the Rambam can be machria right from wrong in two midrashim, but I do want to point out that according to this Rabba, so we can bring a raya that there's no din ma'aser to money, which is a very, very big machlokes haposkim. There's a Tosafos in Taanis, daf tes amud aleph, that quotes a Sifri. But maaser is a ribui that it's miklal parmakmatya. From anything that you earn, not only it's something that grows for you, but anything that you earn, there's maaser. That's a Tosafos quoting a Sifri. Do we pasken like that Sifri? So if you take a look in Tosafos Chadashim in the beginning of Peah, it's quoted that there is a maaser by mamon, and the Chasam Sofer, Yoreh Deah siman reish lamed beis, discusses maaser from money. Reb Akiva Eiger disagrees. Reb Akiva Eiger says that it's not so pashut that min haTorah there's a din maaser on money. Reb Akiva Eiger, in the beginning of Peah, could be there's no maaser for money, only mid'rabbanan. If you take a look at the Aruch HaShulchan in siman reish mem tes se'if beis, he brings this Reb Akiva Eiger and he discusses the shita that maybe it's only mid'rabbanan, the whole din maaser. The conclusion of many poskim is that it's maybe not even derabbanan. It might just be a minhag b'alma, just a custom. The Chofetz Chaim in his Ahavas Chesed, when he discusses maaser...

The Chofetz Chaim says, perek yud ches, os beis, that when you give maaser, you should make a tenai, a condition, at first, before you give, that you're doing it bli neder. Tov sheyaasneh b'tchilas kabalaso es hamitzvah shehu bli neder. I heard b'shem Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zecher tzaddik livrachah, that he paskened that it's very important to speak out clearly that you're doing it bli neder, and also to be mechaven by hataras nedarim, where you say any minhag that you've done, it should be bli neder when you give maaser. Why? Because since it's only a minhag, if it was a mitzvah, so it's not shayach to nedarim; you have to do it anyway. But since it's only a minhag, lifnim mishuras hadin of the poskim, yeah, so therefore you must be masneh, mitchilah, and have in mind by hataras nedarim that you're not giving the maaser b'toras chiyuv, neder, but rather b'toras, you know, it's something good that you're doing, a maalah. So we have three shitos, and this is the conclusion of most poskim: yesh omrim that it's d'Oraisa, there's such a mitzvah; yesh omrim that it's derabbanan; v'yesh omrim that it's a minhag. So we can come and say, l'maaseh, the Rambam didn't bring it, even if he held that Avraham Avinu gave maaser from money. Since it wasn't chiyuv, since it wasn't even a derabbanan could be, but rather it's a minhag that he did, so the Rambam didn't feel to bring in the list of the things that they were mesaken b'teiras chiyuv. Aval, Rabbeinu is mesaken shachris. Rabosai, shachris is not a minhag. Some people think it is, but it's not. It's a chiyuv. Mincha is even, some people, even less than a minhag. It's a maila tova. It's a middah tova, but it's not, rabosai, it's a chiyuv. And Maariv, kvar nahagu, chovah also, it's not stam a regular—it's not a ma'aseh chesidus. You have to daven Maariv. But since maaser, the Rambam held, could be is not a chiyuv chiyuv, mimeila the Rambam didn't feel to bring it in the list. Kach nir'eh laniyas da'ati. Okay. Rabosai, let's turn it around a little bit. On the side of the Radbaz, that it's actually a minhag tov to give maaser, yeah? What happened to the fact that Malki Tzedek was not a kohen? And the answer is also Miyushiv, right? Which means that the Rambam would be l'shitaso. If it was maaser, it would have to go to a kohen. But since it's not regular maaser, maaser, but regular it's maaser me'os, maaser me'os does not have to be given to the kohen. Who does it have to be given to? The maaser oni has to be given to a Levi. I meant to say, so he was a Levi. I meant he's not a Levi. You know what I mean. What are you bothering me for? So the pshat is gark poshut, right? Because since it wasn't regular maaser, it was maaser ma'os. So maaser ma'os can be given to anybody who needs it, right? Let's discuss this nekudah, rabosai, yeah? Let's go through it. We've established that Malki Tzedek was a kohen and not a Levi. We've also established that maaser, maaser, maaser, the real maaser, the Torahdik maaser, can only be given to a Levi, and we don't pasken like Reb Eliezer ben Azariah. So we have a problem. According to the shitas that it was real maaser, raivid, what does he do with the kasha, with the fact that what? That Malki Tzedek was only a kohen and not a Levi. I mean, yeah, the Raivid has to have a pshat also, no? So we could come and say that he held like Reb Eliezer ben Azariah, and that's not okay, because we pasken that it's supposed to be given to a Levi. So let's begin with the next.

It says an interesting pshat. Eno chanami, it should have been given to a kohen, a Levi, but Avraham couldn't find one. He didn't have a Levi. V'Avraham hoytzi hama'aseh lichvod Hashem, v'lo matza adam ra'ui l'sitah lo k'Malki Tzedek. He couldn't find anybody. You're right, it has to be given to a Levi, but if there's no Levi, what do you do? So, but the last prayer he gave it to a kohen. Are you yotzei ma'aseh with that? That's a big chiddush. This even has a big chiddush, and I don't hold that that's what the Even Ezra's saying. I hold he's saying different. I hold he's saying something completely more, I say, let's say deeper, something else is the kavanah of the Even Ezra. But let's just say it over k'pshuto, the way everybody says over the Even Ezra. The question is, how could he gave it to Malki Tzedek? If Malki Tzedek was a kohen and not a Levi, the teretz is, eno chanami, he couldn't find anybody to give it to, so he gave it to Malki Tzedek. We could say that that's gufo what the Chizkuni was bothered by. What do you mean, he couldn't find anybody? He says the opposite. What? He gave it to Avraham. What did he give to Avraham? We could say gargeshmak. If you hold that it's not regular ma'aser, but rather it's ma'aser what? Kesafim. Who does ma'aser kesafim go to? One of two people: an ani, which Avraham Avinu at the time was, right? Chazal say clearly, V'lo yoimar ani asharti es Avraham. Avraham was poor. He didn't have his money, and Chazal, the Rishonim speak out, he had bitachon, I'll get it a different way. Hashem promised him money, I'll get it, so he was an ani at the time. Or, al tmachzik talmid chacham. Machzik Avraham Avinu. He gave it to yeshivas, Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu was a whole organization of Torah and chesed. He supported, no? So Malki Tzedek actually gave it to Avram, that pshat l'Chizkuni could be. You like it? You like it? It's beautiful, beautiful cheshbones, yeah? No? Not to you? Again, let's chesh. If Avram is giving Malki Tzedek, so bishlama according to the Raivid, the Rambam, excuse me, it wasn't regular maaser; it was lichvodoi, like the kesef Mishnah, or it was ma'aser, and therefore there's no chiyuv to give it to davka to a kohen and a Levi and everything. Beautiful. Right? That's all good, the Rambam. The Raivid, who learns it was regular maaser, so you have a kashya: how come Avraham Avinu is giving Malki Tzedek if it has to be given to a Levi? And the Raivid, the kashya is a peledik. What does he give a kohen maaser for? Teretz is what? The Gemara, Reb Lezer ben Azariah, that you can give to a kohen. No, we don't pasken. Ela mai, we could say like the Ibn Ezra: he had nobody else to give it to. Yes, if you have nobody else to give it to, yotzei maaser with that. And that's called, to you, Raivid, that he was mesaken maaser if you gave it to the wrong person, unless maybe maaser did an afrasha. It's not a din in the nesinah; you can be mekayem the mitzvah of maaser by being mafrish maaser even if you don't give it to the right person. You have to learn the sugya a little bit better. And maybe that's what the Ibn Ezra means: he was mafrish it. He had nobody to give it to; he gave it to him. Like today, we mafrish maaser, we don't know what to do with it. So what do they do with it? They burn it, right? In Eretz Yisrael, you burn it. You have nobody to give it to, so what do you do? But that frosh is there. Maybe that's what it means that he was mesaken maaser, to be mafrish maaser. Or we could say the other way around, that actually that's what the Chizkuni is saying. It wasn't regular maaser. It was maaser me'os, which was not going to answer the Rambam. It would answer—I mean, the Chizkuni would be good. In other words, the Chizkuni could be learning what the Rambam shita, that it's ma'os maaser. And who's giving who, actually, right? The Chizkuni is not going to become the Rambam; he'll become the Rambam. That he's giving ma'os maaser. Who does he give it to? Avraham Avinu, altz ani, or altz machzik talmud chacham. I don't believe that that's the pshat in the Emes, rabosai. But I think I want to say a tremendous yesod over here. What is maaser? Rabosai, I believe there's two dinim in maaser. There's one din of maaser, the chiyuv maaser. One din of maaser is the hakaras hatov to the Ribono Shel Olam, and therefore I give maaser. I have to appreciate what was given, and I show that appreciation through giving maaser.

What is a chiyuv maaser? When we say that Avraham Avinu was mesaken maaser, what does that mean? Could be it wasn't a din maaser, but he was mesaken. He instituted the idea of giving back when the Ribono Shel Olam gives you. I believe that that's the words of the Even Ezra, clear, every single word of the Even Ezra. Look at the Even Ezra's words. Look at his lashon: וְאַבְרָם הוֹצִיא הַמַּעֲשֵׂר לִכְבוֹד ה'. Avram took maaser to honor Hashem. אֲבָל לֹא מָצָא אָדָם רָאוּי לְתִת לוֹ. He didn't know who to give it to, so he gave it to Malki Tzedek. Are we talking about the chiyuv maaser? No. The chiyuv maaser, you're not yotzei by giving it to Malki Tzedek. The concept, the idea of maaser, that's the pshat Avraham Avinu was mesaken. Now we can say gar gishmak. The two midrashim: one midrash says Avram gave maaser, and the other midrash says that Yitzchok was mesaken maaser. And the teretz is, rabosai, how could they both be right? And the teretz is, if you look carefully, they're not saying the same thing. Rishon, who was the first to give maaser? Avraham Avinu. Who was the mesaken? Who was mesaken maaser? Yitzchok. Avram was the first to come up with the idea that I give maaser, al takaras hatov, like the lashon of the Even Ezra, לִכְבוֹד ה'. The lashon of the medrash is, Avram rishon, he was the first, litein, to give maaser. It didn't say he was mesaken maaser. Yitzchak established maaser. Mimeila, the Raivid quotes it that Avram was the first to give maaser, while the Rambam says, I don't want to say that it was Avram the first to give maaser, because it wasn't maaser the way we understand hilchos maaser. It was the concept of being giving, being makir tov to the Ribono Shel Olam, to give maaser. I'll prove this to you. How could Avram give maaser for something that doesn't belong to him? He wasn't koneh it; he didn't want it. It says clearly, I don't want it. It says in the pasuk, Take back everything. I don't want it. כן, קח את הרכוש, take it all back. I don't want it. That's the kasha. So how could you give maaser? How could you give maaser if it's not yours? You know who asked this? The Chizkuni himself. That's his raya, one of his rayas, that it was malki tzedek who gave to Avram, because it didn't belong to Avram. The Riva has to be meyashev those that say that it was maaser. Shla Milchama, he was koneh b'meila. Even if he didn't want it, it was still his. The truth is, in the lashon ha-pasuk, you don't see clearly that he didn't want to be koneh. What he said was, I'll take it, I'll give it back to you maybe. The Chizkuni says no, that means he wasn't koneh. If he wasn't koneh, how did he give maaser? So you can't say that what, that it was real chiyuv maaser, unless you learn like the Rivam, shlav b'mechamah, that he was koneh b'meilah, he was koneh by himself because it was the booty of the milchamah. There's a halachah, you're koneh shlav b'mechamah, right? But on the tzad, like the Chizkuni, he wasn't koneh, so what was he giving maaser for? There it is, either like the Chizkuni, malki tzedek is giving who? Avram, or we could say, ein hachanami, he wasn't a regular din maaser. It was a conceptual concept — that's the right word for it in English? — a conceptual idea, an idea of maaser, but it wasn't regular maaser. Conceptual makes more sense, but conceptual of maaser. I gotta have a different teretz to this. Kasha, Agav Berachah, if you're interested, I don't mind telling it to you. I found the lashon of the Medrash. See, I always go back to the mekor to see what the Rishonim and before them, the Midrashim. I hold that it's not he gave his maaser; he gave the maaser that everybody who owned it lechatchilah was supposed to give.

He wasn't giving his maaser. He was giving the maaser for the doros that didn't give. It wasn't his maaser, but its maaser. You like it. You're thinking. I'll tell you where I got it from. It's a פירוש in Medrash. You look at the words of the Medrash, it's clearly. I'll read you the Medrash here. Ah, you want a mefurash in Medrash, rabosai? You just have to learn. You have to know how to learn here. Where's the Medrash? רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר... It's a p'sikta d'Rab Eliezer, perek chof-zayin. רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר: אברהם התחיל ראשון לעשר בעולם. לכך עשר מעשר דגן ומעשר... וכל מעשר לו בן אחיו, ונתן להשם בנדבה. He didn't give it. It says he gave Lot maaser. He gave stone's maaser. He didn't give his maaser. Who says he gave his maaser? He took it and gave the maaser. Don't say anywhere he gave his maaser. That's when you know how to learn. That's what happens. When you know how to learn, you get klor. What's wrong, Rafi? What are you showing here? Rashi says that it was his maaser. I know. What am I saying, that Rashi didn't say that? I know that Rashi says that. But then you have all these problems, right? So I'm showing you that those that want to elude those problems have a teretz, and the teretz is: he didn't take what— The maaser of him, and if we had a pashut, who was koneh, and who gave to who, and ... he didn't get his maaser. He gave the maaser of the ma'os that was supposed to be given that was never given throughout the ... I have a riot to this. I think you should listen if you ask ... Yaakov Avinu, Yaakov Avinu tells Ribono Shel Olam, Give me lechem le'echol u'veged lilbosh, and Parshas Vayeitzei, by Sheini, when he starts his journey to the house of Lavan, Give me food, give me clothing, v'chol asher titen li, aser a'aserenu lach, I'll give maaser. Can I ask you a simple shaylah? If Yitzchok was mesaken maaser, so what's the big deal when he's telling the Ribono Shel Olam? You know, Ribono Shel Olam, if you give me, I'll put on tefillin. You know, Ribono Shel Olam, if you give me, I'll keep Shabbos. If you give me, I'll be a kosher Yid, and I'll go lifnim mishuras hadin, and I'll even say Krias Shema. These are chiyuvim you have to do. I mean, what is he telling Ribono Shel Olam? So, Rabosai, I'd like to answer this kashya many ways. First of all, I'd like to tell you that the Takit says in the Medrash that Yaakov was the first one to misaken Maaser. Why does the Medrash say this? Because if it wasn't before him, then what's he telling the Medrash? L'chaira that's pshat in the Medrash, right? If it was before him, what is he saying? Well, I'll give you, of course I'll give you. Or we could say that before him, Yitzchak was on the tevuah, right? Like the Radbaz says. And he was misaken what? V'chol asher titen li, v'chol, everything. What do you do with the shitas that Avraham was already misaken maas? So then it's not, right? So teretz maybe Avraham was misaken. Okay, we can go back. I don't want to start going back through again the whole—my chatgadget. Every time we have one more nekudah, we have to go all the way back again, all the way to Avraham and then the Levi and Kohen, and then, okay. Or we could say, like the Medrash, maaser sheini, v'chol asher titen li, a new darga of maaser. Avraham was maaser kesafim, Yitzchak was maaser—or terumah—and Yitzchak was maaser sheini. I'm sorry, maaser levi, and Yaakov was maaser sheini.

Well, ma'aser to what Yitzchak didn't misaken, and to what Avraham was not misaken before. Okay. Oh, we could say a little differently. V'chol asher titen li, aser, asrenu lach. How many times is he giving ma'aser? What is he, repeating himself twice? Why is he repeating himself twice? So the Gemara in Kesubos says actually we're talking about a chomesh. A tenth plus a tenth is a chomesh. So if you take a look at the avas chesed of the Chofetz Chaim, chelek beis, perek yud tes, there the Chofetz Chaim writes that actually, if you could, you should give a fifth. Ma'aser is mechuyav, ten percent. If you could, lifnim mishuras hadin, you should try, meaning if you're capable and you're wealthy and so on and so forth, you give a tenth plus a tenth. Aser asrenu, which is how much? A fifth. So you get the answer to your kasha. Yaakov gave more. Yaakov added on the ma'aser that everybody else gave, plus—and if you look at the Chofetz Chaim there in the Hagaah, he explains that you shouldn't give right away, what? A fifth. First you give ten. Then you see if you could, you give an extra ten, and that's why he breaks it up. Yaakov gave a vinu twice, says the Chofetz Chaim. Aser asrenu, just say chomesh. Tell the Ribono—what, ask, take out his calculator and calculate? The Ribono, you're a tenth of a tenth. But I guess he knew the Eibishter knows math, maybe, figured, you know. He's testing Hashem if He knows how to, you know, tenth plus a tenth is a fifth. Why'd you say straight out, give you a fifth? So the Chofetz Chaim learns from here that actually it's a tenth, and then you add another tenth. Okay, thank you. Now, all we can say, I saw a very interesting Netziv in Parshas Vayeitzei. Avraham Avinu gave maaser, Yitzchok gave maaser, Yaakov also gives maaser, yeah? So the kasha is, what's he adding? What's he telling the Eibishter? Says the Netziv, he doesn't ask the kasha, but he speaks it out, and the meila, the way he speaks it out, we can say that that's what he's coming to answer, or even if he's not coming to answer it, it answers the kasha. He didn't give him b'toras maaser; he gave him b'toras korban. V'chol asher titein li, b'toras korban. I'll give you a korban, Rabbeinu Shalom, I'll return to you whatever you give me a tenth. Tell me, what's the difference, maaser or korban? Maaser is not a korban; it's a type of korban. I mean, if you use your imagination a little bit, I'm sure you can find Torah in kachim that maaser is a korban, right? What's the difference? Okay, Rabosai, let me tell you what I think pashut pshat is. You know the difference between maaser and a korban? I'll tell you the difference. Maaser is on particular things. Korban is on kol asher titein li; it can be given from anything. And you know who did this in Tanach? Yiftach. Yiftach promised that if he wins the war— I win the war. I will bring a korban mikol asher yetzei mibeisi, anything that comes out of my house first. He gave a korban from everything. Who came out first? We know the story, his daughter, and he had a big problem. So there's a whole shayla, he should have matir neder al kol panim. He sent her to a mountain, and we never heard from her again, because he promised her as a korban. I hold that Yankif meant the same thing. Kol asher titein li, whatever you give me, it's not maaser. It's literally like Yiftach said, Kol asher titein li, I will give you a korban. So someone's going to come and say, what's the difference? Very big difference. Maaser is only from tevuah, gidulei karka, animals included because that's also called gidulei karka, and the Torah says as a din maaser. Maaser, Avraham Avinu was masakin, it could be on money too, but it could be on nefashos, it could be on human beings. And the answer is, korban could be on anything. Like we see by Yiftach, shh, like we see by Yiftach. That's what the Netziv is saying, that it wasn't maaser maaser, but what was it? Chabei sai, it was a korban.

Someone's gonna come and say to me, Rabbi Wolkin, it's very wild talk. It's karban, people, yiftach. You're making big jumps over here, huh? No, I'm not. There's a mefurasha Medrash, and the Medrash says actually that by Yiftach, his daughter complained to him and said, Abba, my father, you know, Yankev Avinu also promised kol asher titein li aser a'aserenu lach, and he didn't include humans. So it's not me that makes the comparison to Yiftach. The daughter of Yiftach made the comparison between Yiftach and Yankev Avinu. And I'll tell you even further, Yaakov Avinu did give maaser from his humans. He gave Leah. The Emes Ezra says, Wait a minute. He gave maaser kol asher titein li? He didn't give maaser kol asher titein li. He didn't give his children. He wasn't makriv his children. Says the Emes Ezra, because anything which is fit for maaser, because since human beings are not fit to give maaser—give maaser from a person, right? You have ten children, you give maaser? What are you laughing? According to the Ba'alei HaTosafos, that's exactly what he did. Says the Emes Ezra, he meant anything that's fit to give maaser. Human beings are not fit to give maaser, so not included. I'd like to tell you. Bechilas, the Ben Ezra. Of course, the Ben Ezra made this going with pshat, but the Baalei HaTosafos bring mefurash medrashim that say clearly they did give maaser from his children, just like Yiftach gave korban his what? And it's miyushav. Why? Because if he taka meant maaser, v'chol asher titen li, and hachanami, the children are not included. But since he said korban, like by Yiftach, children included. Now let me read to you the Medrash. Medrash says... Baalei HaTosafos break it down. Yeah, Baruch Hashem. Listen to a lashon of the Medrash. Ah, listen to a lashon of the Medrash. Ma'aseh— nope, not this one, another one. Oh. Rabbi Yehoshua d'saknin b'shem Reb Levi amar: Kusi echad sha'al es Reb Meir. It was a guy that asked Reb Meir. You say that Yaakov was truthful, right? Titen emes l'Yaakov. No, he wasn't. He said, V'chol asher titen li, aser asrenu lach. Where did he give maaser from his children? So he says, What do you mean? Of course he gave maaser from his children. He gave Levi! He gave Levi. He gave Levi. So the guy who knew math... And he says, That's not enough. One out of ten. But if you have fourteen, twelve plus two, ... he knew the pshat of this guy. You're trying ... So actually, what happened to the two shvatim? Well, I'm not reading the whole Medrash properly, excuse me. I was doing it by heart, but I see the Medrash says it a little different the way I'm saying it over. So the goy said, But there were two more. Says Levi, Yeah, there were two more. There was actually four more, because two plus the two of Ephraim and Menashe. So the goy says, Well, you're making my kasha stronger, not weaker. What are you— I tell you there's twelve, and we add them to the ma'aseh from that. So what do you do? You tell me there's actually four. Amalei, Kol shekein, ... ma atah mosif? You're making it worse. I put in the flour, meaning I started the cake, and you're adding the water. Nice mashal. I liked it. The goy was a smart guy. Yeah? You hear what he's saying? A nice mashal. I put in the flour, and you're adding the water. You're making my cake. Amalei, he said to him, You're wrong, because you don't know math. You ready? How many imoyos were there? Four.

Boys, each אמא had a bechor. The bechor is kadosh anyway. So take out four, says the Medrash, says Levi. Ten! One out of ten is Levi. Moyridik, moyridik, moyridik. Ach, Levi, אמר לי. So the guy saw the brilliance. The guy saw the brilliance. Rabosai, listen to a lashon of Chazal: אמר לי אשריך. Praised are you, אשרי, ומאושרך שאתה שרוי בסוכה. Praised is your nation that they have somebody like you, Levi, among them. Yeah. Brilliant, Levi, on the spot. Of Levi, yeah. The guy says, There's four more. He's sorry, two more, he says, Levi, what do you mean with this? Four more. So you're making it worse. No, no, I'm making it better, because you don't know how to count. Yeah. If you were smart, you'd understand. Four more makes it better. Why? Because it explains four מעשרות means four בכורים, so we're left with ten. Ten, one out of ten is Levi. וְחַי לַאֲשֶׁר תִּתֵּן, מֵעֲשֵׂר עַשְׂרֵנוּ לָךְ. So we answered a gevaldige teretz. Why is Yanki promising maaser already? Maaser is a chiyuv from Yitzchak, and the teretz is: korban. We don't mean maaser, we mean korban, and included what? The children. Rabosai, let me... Let me go further in this yesod. Karban. Why is he promising karban? Is there a chiyuv to give a karban? No chiyuv to give a karban. Chiyuv, marmaiser. And the Teretz, rabosai, is like what we said is gevaldig. The chiyuv is one thing, and then there's an inyan of hakaras hatov, to appreciate the Ribono Shel Olam's chesed. So you show that. You portray that by giving back to the Ribono Shel Olam. Maaser is your chiyuv, but you give extra, give more. You give a karban, a karban todah. Asar asrenu lach b'teiros hakaras hatov. A person has to learn to be makir tov to the Ribono Shel Olam. So eino chanami, Yankevinu felt my chiyuvim, that's enough. Of course I'll give maaser. But on top of that, I want to show hakaras hatov, like the lashon of the Emes LeYaakov, Avraham hoytzi hamaaseh lichvod Hashem, to honor Hashem, to show appreciation to Hashem. He just won a war, a war shelo k'derech hateva. A yarukas Chanicha, what did he have? Some say he went with Eliezer, that was the whole thing. That was the himn Eliezer, according to many midrashim. Honor Eschol. Mamre maybe a little bit. He didn't have much of an army, and he won. Hakaras hatov. Hakaras hatov, he gave maaser. Who? What's the difference to who? It's not a chiyuv maaser. It was symbolic to give hakaras hatov to the Ribono Shel Olam. We learn from here, rabosai, that in maaser... There's the chiyuv, of course, but there's also the idea of hakaras hatov. You give me, I give you back. I show that it's all from you by giving maaser. To give maaser, and to feel, and to be zocheh hilchos maaser, and mekayem the maaser, is your real oni, and then you go out of your way to find the mamish a din oni. It's all very good, but you can't forget, and it can't be drowned in—drowned out, actually, not drowned—in, drowned out, hakaras hatov that you come through, that when you give maaser, I'm returning back to the Eibishter. Bnei Torah could be patur from maaser, in the sense that if you can't pay your bills—we spoke about this many times—many hold that you first pay your bills, and if there is after you're paying all your bills left over anything, which is probably not the case, right? If anything, it's the minus and not plus after the paying of the—

Then you could give maaser, which I also not so clear about. Today, in today's times, you should have some money in the bank. We spoke about it, I asked Rebelsky once that maybe a person in the United States of America must also put away in the bank, because that's also part of responsibilities of chov, because you can't live today without backup money in the bank. When, chas v'shalom, something happens. So we spoke to Rebelsky, he wasn't so sure about it, and he said whatever it is, don't—you shouldn't abuse the heter, even though it might taka be a heter to not give, even after you paid up all your choves, you could still keep extra money because you have to put away money in the United States of America, but not to abuse it. Sometimes a person could say, Well, I need more money and I need more security. You have to know, you know, how much yes, how much not. Even if, like Rebelsky said, even if he's maskim to the heter that I was thinking, but I hold of the heter, by the way. I hold that it's taka true that money has to be put away. In today's times, you can't say, I just pay up all my choves and I have nothing left. That's part of choves, is to have money backed up in case, chas v'shalom, something happens in today's times. But if you are not giving your maaser, or you're giving very small amounts of maaser, but the hakaras hatov must be in big amounts. You shouldn't forget that nekudah. Patur from maaser doesn't mean patur from hakaras hatov. You have to show your gratitude and feel the gratitude to the Ribono Shel Olam. Very important. I hold this is a very strong yesod. How? First of all, shmiras, dvarim shel chasidus, giving extra, extra time for learning, extra time for chesed. Show I pay back. Show I owe You, Rabbeinu Shalom, for the tov that You've given me. And you see that from Yaakov Avinu. V'chol asher titen li. He wasn't mechuyiv to give kol asher titen li. The chiyuv was aser asrenu. Yitzchak was mesaken ma'aser, fine. But the kol asher titen li, to bring a korban, which means to go and show extra because of appreciation that You have given me. So I'm returning to You that we all have to show, regardless of the ma'aser if we're giving or not giving. That has nothing to do. In other words, we can be patur on the ma'aser, but you're definitely not patur on hakaras hatov. And I want to show you something further, and with this we'll end. What did Yaakov already get that he showed hakaras hatov, that he promised kol asher titen li aser asrenu? He says, V'nasan li lechem le'echol u'veged lilbosh. He's only asking for simple basics. And on that he says to the Rabbeinu Shalom, I show You such gratitude, me'chol asher titen li aser asrenu. I'm willing to give even a korban, even from my children. So we live in a time that we don't only have the basics. We have so much more than the basics. We have everything given to us on a silver platter, and we're still not happy. And we still don't appreciate. And we still don't have the feeling of hakaras hatov. Rabbeinu Shalom, look what You gave me. More, give me more, and I need more, and I'm not happy. Yaakov Avinu is asking for nothing. And he's willing to be makir tov, and to express abundance of appreciation through giving a karban, while we have everything and we don't appreciate it. We don't show or feel the proper hakaras hatov to Rabbeinu Shalom. So this is the yesod I believe that we can learn from this parsha. Maaser is chiyuv, as well as a sign, an os of hakaras hatov to Rabbeinu Shalom. I also see from the parsha that when you give maaser, it's not just the actual giving, but you have to show and feel hakaras hatov when you give the maaser. It's not just, we say, the tuk in a maaser, the dry act of giving maaser. There's an hakaras hatov. It's possible that if you gave maaser and you didn't feel, or you don't express the proper hakaras hatov to Rabbeinu Shalom, it's ikar chaser מן הספר. Tofas ha-tafel v'hiniach ha-ikar. Maybe, maybe you missed the point of maaser. And I also feel that we can learn from over here that those that are patur from maaser, those that can't give maaser, or they give very little.

Maaser. It's how much more so than they have to add it in the department of hakaras hatov. If you're giving less maaser, it's to show more hakaras hatov. If you're not giving the proper amounts that everybody gives or everybody should be giving, so at least make up for it by showing more hakaras hatov to Rabbeinu Shalom through any means that you can find. And the last thing that we want to learn out from over here, you see for what you have to show how much hakaras hatov, for the little bit that Hashem gives everybody. You have to show an abundance of hakaras hatov, like Yankiv Avinu showed, how much more for sure in today's times that we have everything. These are the lessons that I learned from this week's parsha, Avraham Rishon. Avraham was the first one to give maaser, the concept of hakaras hatov in maaser. Rabosai, have a wonderful week. See you, im yirtzeh Hashem, again next Sunday.