Toldot: why measure a harvest?

Daily Parsha · Toldot · Sheni (Bereishit 26:6–12)

The question

In a famine year, Yitzchak sows in Gerar, and “he found in that year a hundred she’arim, and Hashem blessed him” (Bereishit 26:12). Why does the Torah tell us his harvest was measured at all? And why the unusual word she’arim, which elsewhere means “gates”?

The meforshim

Rashi points out that both the land and the year were hard: Gerar was not the Land of Israel, and it was a year of famine. Yet the field was estimated, and it produced a hundred times the estimate. Rashi adds, in the name of Chazal, that this estimate was made for ma’aser.

The Sforno explains that Yitzchak measured his crop carefully so he could tithe it properly, and Hashem rewarded that care with blessing, as Malachi 3:10 promises. The Gemara (Taanit 9a) reads “aser te’aser” as “tithe, so that you will become wealthy.”

Our chiddush (remez)

In standard gematria:

The harvest Yitzchak measured in order to give became his crown. What he counted for Hashem’s sake didn’t shrink his wealth; it crowned it.

The lesson

We usually measure what we have in order to keep it. Yitzchak measured in order to give, in a hard place and in a hard year, and that act opened gates of blessing. The same is true of our time, money and attention: the portion we set aside first is the one that crowns the rest.

Think about it

What in your life do you measure, and what would change if you measured it in order to give? Share your thoughts in the comments.