Who wants to be a millionaire? It appears that many people do, judging by the huge hit television game show by the same name and David Bach’s best-selling personal finance book The Automatic Millionaire, which has sold more than one million copies.

Bach’s premise can be boiled down to: forget about budgeting. Arrange to have contributions automatically transferred into some kind of savings plan, either through payroll deductions at work or an automatic investment plan run by the bank. Governments and others have been harnessing these tools to take our money, but now we have the ability to use these automatic processes to our advantage, or as he puts it, “to pay ourselves first.”

Unexpectedly, Bach has titled the last chapter of his popular book, “Make a Difference with Automatic Tithing,” and in doing so, he brings the biblical concept of tithing – ma’aser, giving 10 per cent – into our technological age.

We find a number of forms of tithing in the Bible. The Torah tells us to “take a tithe of all the seed crops that come forth in the field each year” (Dvarim 14:22) to distribute to the poor during the third and sixth years of every sabbatical cycle. We also have another form of tithing, called ma’aser kesafim, financial tithing, based on Jacob saying to God, “Of all that You give me, I will set aside a tenth to You” (Bereshit 28:22).

Rabbi Shimon Taub, in his comprehensive Guide to the Laws of Tzedakah and Maaser, offers a helpful suggestion for following the practice of tithing in our day: “It is advisable that as soon as people earn money, they should immediately separate ma’aser. For instance, people who receive a paycheck should immediately deduct ten percent as ma’aser. One reason is because once the money is designated as ma’aser, funds people no longer consider it as their own, therefore making it easier to give it away… It is expedient to have a special tzedakah account so that the money that is separated as ma’aser can be placed there.”

Whether or not to tithe is a very personal decision. There is also a question as to whether Jewish law considers tithing today to be an obligation, chovah, or only a custom, minhag. Either way, Rabbi Yochanan encourages the practice by stating, “What is the meaning of the verse ‘Asser ta’asser’ (Devarim 14:22)? Separate a tenth so that you will become wealthy!” (Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 9a).

Bach echoes this notion when he writes, sounding perhaps more like a rabbi than a renowned financial planner, “Although you should give simply for the sake of giving, the reality is that abundance tends to flow back to those who give. The more you give, the more comes back to you.”

Rather than waiting for a pull at their heartstrings, our agricultural ancestors had many automatic processes of giving to others in addition to tithing. The Torah tells us, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not finish reaping the corner of your field, and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest… for the poor and the stranger shall you leave them” (Vayikra 19:9-10). Automatic societal processes during sabbatical and jubilee years also helped provide for the poor. In our times, our ways of giving to those in need, tzedakah, can similarly be done automatically and even in one step.

Though they are not necessarily mutually exclusive goals, I personally give much greater importance and priority to doing the Divine Will than to becoming a millionaire. Since coming across Bach’s ideas a few years ago, I have put his automatic giving ideas into practice. I have set up automatic giving to some of my favourite organizations and charities and have been enjoying the automatic monthly mitzvahs ever since.

Rabbi Schachar Orenstein is associate rabbi at Montreal’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.