This Shabbat we are reading parasha Re’eh in which one of the lessons is encouraging to share and give Tzdakah (charity).
When the communist revolution had started and a big part of Eastern Europe was in euphoria for the promised social justice by the bolsheviks, the greatest Rabbi of that generation known as the “Hafetz Haim” (Bielorrusia 1838 -1933) predicted that one day in the future the communist regime will collapse and that utopic vision of not having poor people in the world won’t succeed. How did the rabbi know that prophecy so many years before the time of Mikhail Gorbachev?
The rabbi’s prediction was based on the Torah statement in our parasha, which says:
“Because poverty will not cease from the midst of the land.” That is, humanity will never be able to solve the problem of poverty, and certain people will always be in economic distress.
The Torah forces us to look directly at reality and treat it according to the real situation and not according to utopian dreams. If so, what is the sense of making an effort and giving charity when the problem continues to exist, and we will not be able to provide a global solution to it?
In fact, if we look at Torah, we find that the commandment of charity does not amount to only financial assistance given to a person in need, but it also refers to the person who gives, to the giver of charity, the one who is not in financial need.
The instruction, “give to him and let not your heart be troubled by what you give him,” deals with two aspects: the first is the giving itself, and the second is the emotional state of the giver. A person who gave a donation to the poor and did so with a sense of loss or waste, fulfilled the first aspect of the mitzvah but not the second aspect.
From this we can learn that, although we cannot solve the problem of poverty and bring economic well-being to all of humanity, the commandment of charity is of enormous value to us because it creates in us empathy for others and to their plight. Social solidarity and kindness make us a different people.
The Talmud is bringing a deep bible study made by Rabbi Yitzchak that concludes that “everyone who gives money to the poor is blessed with six blessings, and those who give him attention and warm words are blessed with twelve blessings.”
Elsewhere in Talmud, our Hakhamim (sages) expressed: “The one who whitens his teeth (smiles) to his friend has more merit than the one who drinks milk.” A smile is an act that contributes nothing to the solution of the other person’s financial problem. But it is the smile that gives him strength to face the adversity. Why? Because a smile is an act of acknowledgement, of sympathy. The smile is something that a person in need needs more than anything.
Every donation should be made with a smile and energy, so that will lead us to improve ourselves and in consequence to improve the world around us.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen