Dear Friends;

 

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

 

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

Moshe says to the people of Israel, “I place before you today a blessing and a curse” —  the blessing that will come when they fulfill G-d’s commandments, and the curse if they abandon them.

A Temple should be established in “the place that G-d will choose to dwell His name there”, where the people should bring their sacrifices to Him; it is forbidden to make offerings to G-d in any other place.

A false prophet, or one who entices others to worship idols, should be put to death; an idolatrous city must be destroyed. The identifying signs for kosher animals and fishes, and the list of non-kosher birds are repeated.

A tenth of all produce is to be eaten in Jerusalem, or else exchanged for money with which food is purchased and eaten there. Firstborn cattle and sheep are to be offered in the Temple and their meat eaten by the Kohen.

The mitzvah of charity obligates a Jew to aid a needy fellow with a gift or loan. On the Sabbatical year (occurring every seventh year) all loans are to be forgiven.

Our Parshah concludes with the laws of the three pilgrimage festivals — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot — when all should go to “see and be seen” before G-d in the Holy Temple.

 

” Dvar Torah “

 

In this week’s Parsha, once again, Moshe reviews the commandments of the Torah with Benei Yisrael during the final days of his life. One of the commandments that he goes over is the mitzvah of giving charity. He tells them the following: ” If there will be among you a needy person, from one of your brothers in one of your cities, in your land that Hashem, your G-d, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother. Rather, you shall open your hand to him, and you shall lend him sufficient for his needs, which he is lacking.” Then a few pasuks later, Moshe continues to say: ” You shall surely give him, and let your heart not feel bad when you give him, for in return for this matter, Hashem will bless you in all your deeds…”.

Interestingly, there are two phrases that have caused discussion among our commentators. One is,”You shall not harden your heart”…… and the other, “Let your heart not feel bad”….. The Chachamim say that when the Torah repeats itself, it’s try to convey an important message. Accordingly, the Chachamim derive from these two phrases that helping the poor has to be accompanied with good feelings of heart; meaning that you have to give charity with happiness and joy! To feel happy in your heart is as important as the act of giving charity itself! Some Chachamim even go as far as to say that the money given to charity without a joy and happiness of the heart, does not count as part of your “Ma-aser”- 10% obligatory donation towards charity.

But you may ask yourself, why is it so? Why is the Torah so concern about feeling of joy when we want to help the poor? If a wealthy guy, for example, wants to write a $500,000 check to a charity organization, why should it matter if he gives the check with a frown on his face? Shouldn’t the organization take the check anyway? Money is money; isn’t it??!! Also, when the needy comes and knocks on your door, he doesn’t want you to “open your heart”….. he wants you to open your wallet! So what is the big deal if we are not happy when we are giving charity or helping the poor?

Rabbi Frand gives a beautiful explanation to the above question. He quotes a story from the Talmud that best explains the reason for being happy when giving charity:  During the time of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem, a Jewish livestock owner was obligated to give 10% of his new flock to the Temple. How was this done? Every year, around Rosh Hashana, he would pen all his cattle, from a year old and younger, in an enclosure. He would then open up the gate and let them out, one at a time. As each animal exited the enclosure he would count: one, two, three,…… seven, eight and nine. When he counted the tenth he would mark the animal with a red dye. That animal would then be set aside to be brought to Jerusalem. The procedure was repeated until all the animals were counted.

A question is asked regarding this prescribed procedure. Why make the rancher go through the whole process of penning the animals and then driving them out the exit one at a time? Why not just take ten percent off the top, add a few extra to ensure that no less than required ten percent was given, and avoid this seemingly time consuming and senseless procedure?

The answer is that a very profound message is being conveyed to the rancher by virtue of this process. As each animal goes out the door, it is as if the Almighty is telling the person, ‘One is for you, two is for you, three is for you…’ After giving the owner nine, the Almighty then asks for only one. After getting to keep nine, the rancher is content and realizes how all of his wealth comes from the G-d Almighty and although he is giving, but he gets to keep much more for himself.

Rabbi Frand says that this is precisely the reason why we should be happy when we give to charity. When we are donating to charity, first we need to realize that everything we have comes from Hashem and we should be delighted that we are able to share a very small amount of it with others! The only reason we may feel unhappy about giving to charity is when we wrongfully think that we have made our money on our own. “I worked hard for this money…… I want to keep it for myself”, we may say to ourselves. Only then, it will be difficult to give it away.

Yes my friends, when you are giving charity with joy, not only are you helping the poor, but you are also acknowledging that everything you have comes from Hashem. The word for charity in Hebrew is “tzedakah”. Tzedakah does not mean charity. It means “righteousness”. We don’t give charity because we have pity on the poor; we give charity because it’s the right thing to do. If Hashem has blessed us with wealth, then we should be delighted to share some of it with our needy brothers. If Hashem can be so giving, then why can’t we?!

So the next time a poor knocks on your door, it’s up to you if you want to give him money or not. But if you do decide to give him, make sure you smile at him first! Feel happy about what you are doing. Rejoice, celebrate and dance with the poor for this is a happy occasion. This is what Hashem expects from you and this is what your heart should desire!

 

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin