Dear Friends;

I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

This week’s Parsha begins with the special laws dedicated to the Kohanim, the Kohen Gadol (“High Priest”), and the Temple service. A Kohen may not become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, unless it’s a close relative. A Kohen may not marry a divorcee, nor a harlot; and a Kohen Gadol can only marry a virgin. A Kohen with a physical deformity cannot serve in the Holy Temple, nor can a deformed animal be brought as an offering.

A newborn calf, lamb, or kid must be left with its mother for seven days before being eligible for an offering; one may not slaughter an animal and its offspring on the same day.

The Torah then discusses the festivals throughout the year: (Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Shemini Atzeret); followed by two constant mitzvot maintained in the Mishkan: the lighting of the menorah every day and the displaying of the “show-bread” every week.

The parsha concludes with the horrible incident of a man who cursed G-d’s name (blasphemy) and was subsequently punished with the death penalty at Hashem’s command.

“Dvar Torah “

In this week’s Parsha, in the middle of the detailing the Jewish Holidays of the calendar year, the Torah gives us the following commandment: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not remove completely the corners of your field as you reap and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest; for the poor and the proselyte shall you leave them; I am Hashem Your G-d.” Basically, we are commanded to leave over certain parts of our harvest to the needy and the stranger in our midst. A Jew must leave the corners of his field for the poor. Likewise, if he forgets to pick up certain parts of the harvest, these too become “Gifts for the Poor”.

Rashi explains the phrase “For the poor and the strangers you shall leave them….”, means that you should literally leave the crops for the poor and they will pick it up themselves; you may not assist them with their gatherings.

But sometimes, Rashi’s commentaries are difficult to digest. They need explanation by other commentators. Accordingly, the following question pops up. Why can’t we help the poor with his gathering?! Why can’t we lend the poor a basket or a sickle to make it easier for him to gather the crops? Why can’t we just roll up our sleeves and give him a helping hand too?! If the intention is to help the poor, why can’t we do it properly by helping him all the way?

But strangely enough, Rashi says that the Torah rules to the contrary. The commandment says: “Leave it for them.”…… means Do Not be a nice guy. Do not help them! The pasuk concludes with the words “I am Hashem your G-d”. Rashi says that the intent is a promise: “If you leave them alone and allow them to pick it up themselves, I am the L-rd who will give you your reward.”

Once again, Rabbi Yissachar Frand comes to the rescue and gives a beautiful explanation to Rashi’s commentary. When the poor person comes to the field and the owner comes to greet him and says: “Let me help you to collect the crops”, or alternatively, when the owner rushes to cut down the stalks for the poor person and hands it to him, the owner of the land is acting as if he’s the owner of the leftover crops!! He may think that he’s giving the poor a gift, and the poor may think that he is getting a gift from the landowner. But that’s not the case. The leftover crops do not belong to the landowner. They belong to the poor!  And that’s what Rashi is trying to explain. When the owner gives a gift, he expects the poor person to be grateful to him and appreciate his generosity. But the owner should know better that the gift is not coming from him…. It comes from the G-d Almighty himself! The corners of his land belonged to the poor from the beginning. He was just a messenger to hand them over! That’s why the landowner should not take part in the distribution of these items. Let the poor collect it themselves — it is after all their property in the first place! Only when the landowner comes to realize that it’s not him who is helping the poor, but it’s Hashem our G-d, only then he’ll be qualified to be rewarded by the L-rd!

Yes my friends, when Hashem has been good to us and we’ve been blessed with extra funds to give to charity, we should not think of our charitable donations in terms of  ” I am giving MY money to charity.” Hashem has given us the extra money to give to charity. Those money do not belong to us anyway. They belong to the poor! Hashem is just testing us to see what we do with that money! We, basically, act as the treasurer of Hashem’s charitable Foundation. We decide how to distribute the funds. We are merely a trustee, charged with guaranteeing that the funds are distributed.  But we have to realize that the money does not belong to us; it belongs to the foundation! That’s why, when we give out money to charity, we are not giving out the money from our own pocket — it comes from G-d’s table. That’s why the greatest way to give charity is when the donor and the receiver don’t know each other, because the poor should not feel grateful towards the donor, but rather, he should be thankful to Hashem!

So my friends, when you give charity, be thankful to Hashem for giving you the extra money to give to the poor. But never take pride in giving to the poor. After all, that money wasn’t yours anyway…… it belonged to the poor all along…….

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin