״עשר תעשר״ — עשר בשביל שתתעשר.
“A tithe should you tithe [te’aser]” (Deuteronomy 14:22)? This phrase can be interpreted homiletically: Take a tithe [asser] so that you will become wealthy [titasher], in the merit of the mitzva.
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״עשר תעשר״ — עשר בשביל שתתעשר.
“A tithe should you tithe [te’aser]” (Deuteronomy 14:22)? This phrase can be interpreted homiletically: Take a tithe [asser] so that you will become wealthy [titasher], in the merit of the mitzva.
אשכחיה רבי יוחנן לינוקא דריש לקיש, אמר ליה: אימא לי פסוקיך! אמר ליה: ״עשר תעשר״. אמר ליה: ומאי ״עשר תעשר״? אמר ליה: עשר בשביל שתתעשר, אמר ליה: מנא לך? אמר ליה: זיל נסי.
R' Yoḥanan found the young son of Reish Lakish. He said to the boy: Recite to me your verse, i.e., the verse you studied today in school. The boy said to him: “A tithe should you tithe.” The boy further said to R' Yoḥanan: But what is the meaning of this phrase: “A tithe should you tithe”? R' Yoḥanan said to him: The verse means: Take a tithe so that you will become wealthy. The boy said to R' Yoḥanan: From where do you derive that this is so? R' Yoḥanan said to him: Go and test it.
אמר ליה: ומי שרי לנסוייה להקדוש ברוך הוא? והכתיב: ״לא תנסו את ה׳״! אמר ליה, הכי אמר רבי הושעיא: חוץ מזו, שנאמר: ״הביאו את כל המעשר אל בית האוצר ויהי טרף בביתי ובחנוני נא בזאת אמר ה׳ צבאות אם לא אפתח לכם את ארבות השמים והריקתי לכם ברכה עד בלי די״.
The boy said to him: And is it permitted to test God? But isn’t it written: “You should not test YHWH your God” (Deuteronomy 6:16)? R' Yoḥanan said to the boy that R' Hoshaya said as follows: It is prohibited to test God in any way, except in this case of tithes, as it is stated: “Bring the whole tithe into the storeroom, that there may be food in My house, and test Me now by this, said YHWH of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing that there should be more than sufficiency” (Malachi 3:10).
מאי ״עד בלי די״? אמר רמי בר חמא אמר רב: עד שיבלו שפתותיכם מלומר ״די״. אמר ליה: אי הות מטי התם להאי פסוקא, לא הוית צריכנא לך ולהושעיא רבך.
In relation to the above verse, the Talmud asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: “That there should be more than sufficiency [ad beli dai]”? Rami bar Ḥama said that Rav said: It means that the abundance will be so great that your lips will be worn out [yivlu], similar to the word beli, from saying enough [dai]. Returning to the above incident, the Talmud adds that the boy said to R' Yoḥanan: Your claim appears explicitly in a verse. If I had arrived there, at this verse, I would not have needed you or Hoshaya your teacher, as I could have understood it on my own.
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.