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Topics in this digest: Ki Tisa 5765
by Rabbi Dr. Barry Leff
Exodus 32
2. And Aaron said to them, Take off the golden ear rings, which are in the
ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to
me. 3. And all the people took off the golden ear rings which were in
their ears, and brought them to Aaron.
Exodus 25 (parsha Terumah)
2. Speak to the people of Israel, that they bring me an offering; from
every man that gives it willingly with his heart you shall take my
offering.
In this week's parsha, Aaron asks the people to make a donation for the
Golden Calf, and they give. In the Torah portion we read a few weeks ago,
the people were asked to make a donation for the Tabernacle, the "portable
Temple" and they gave.
In the Yerushalmi Talmud, Bar Acha comments on this: "It's impossible to
understand the character of this nation: they were asked to give for the
Golden Calf and they gave; they were asked to give for the Tabernacle, and
they gave!"
Is this a bad thing? Jews are among the most philanthropic of
people--we're big givers! Is it so bad if we're sometimes a little
indiscriminate?
Here in Toledo we don't seem to have a lot of panhandlers. At least not
in the parts of town that I frequent. Maybe the homeless people prefer
bigger cities like Cleveland or Detroit where there are more resourcesˇKor
maybe they move south to Florida for the winter: I would if I were
homeless! But I think most of us travel to places like New York where
there are panhandlers all over the place.
When you go to a place like New York where there are panhandlers all over
the place, how do you treat them? Do you avoid giving money to any of
them? Or do you give to all of them? Are you likelier to give to a
woman? To someone with a child? To someone with a sign like "Need help.
Willing to work. God Bless." How about a sign that says "Hungry, need
food?" What if the person looks like they have a drug or alcohol problem?
Many people act very judgmental in a situation like this. They either
give to the one who is working because at least heˇ¦s trying. Or they
give to women but not men, or refuse to give anything to someone who looks
like he might use it on drugs or liquor. Or as my daughter Katherine
suggested in our discussion during services, on body piercings.
Our tradition, however, teaches us not to be so picky. According to the
Rambam (Maimonides), "Anyone who sees a poor person asking for money who
turns his eyes away and doesn't give him tzedaka transgresses a negative
commandment, as it is written, do not harden your heart, and do not close
your hand from your poor brother."
It is important to note that in formulating this commandment, Rambam tells
us that not only does a person fail to fulfill a positive commandment to
give tzedaka, but rather he violates a negative commandment, which is a
more serious thing.
As a general rule, there is no penalty (at least not in this world!)
attached to failing to fulfill a positive commandment. You are supposed
to light Shabbat candles, but if you don't, even in the days when the
Jewish courts had jurisdiction over every aspect of Jewish life, you
wouldn't have been penalized or punished.
Violating a negative commandment is a different thing entirely. Unless
otherwise specified, the penalty for violating a negative commandment was
to receive lashes. Rambam taught that turning your eyes away from a poor
person is a serious enough transgression to merit lashes.
You might argue, well, what if you're poor yourself? What if you need
help yourself? Do you still have to give?
The Talmud answers this question for us; in tractate Gittin, 7b it says:
"Even a poor man, a subject of charity, should give charity."
What if you don't have any change? What do you do then? Rambam tells us
if you don't happen to have any money in your pocket, you should at least
give the beggar a smile and a kind word. When I see people looking for
work, and I don't have work, sometimes I'll tell them that I'm sorry I
don't have any work for them.
As you evaluate whether to give money to different kinds of people, it
might enter your mind to consider whether it makes any difference if you
think the beggar is Jewish or not. Again, the Talmud in tractate Gittin
provides some guidance: "Poor Gentiles should be supported along with
poor Jews; the Gentile sick should be visited along with the Jewish sick;
and their dead should be buried along with the Jewish dead, mipnei darchei
shalom, for these are the ways of peace." There is, however also a
teaching that if your money is limited, it is OK to prioritize how much
you give to different people, with family taking precedence over
strangers, Jews over non-Jews, people from your town over people from
another town, etc. But you still should give at least a little something
to everyone.
We have been invited by the Multi Faith Council of Northwest Ohio to
participate in a Habitat for Humanity build, a program through which
volunteers donate time and money to actually build a house for a poor
family. I am working with a few people who are interested, and I hope we
will have a critical mass to participate. As that that teaching from the
Talmud instructs, we need to contribute to the non-Jews in our community
as well. In the past I know there was some question about participating
in a build if the Muslim community is involved because of our political
differences with them, and their refusal to condemn terrorism. But if we
refuse to participate in a building a Habitat house because of that, who
are we penalizing? The Muslim community or the poor family that the
Multi-Faith Council is trying to help? If you are interested in
participating in a Habitat build, please contact me.
But, back to beggars. What if you think the beggar is being lazy? Is it
OK to question why he doesn't have a job? Why doesnˇ¦t he take advantage
of the many resources the government provides? What if you think he might
use your money to buy booze or drugs?
Rabbi Shmelke of Nicholsburg tells us, "When a poor man asks you for aid,
do not use his faults as an excuse for not helping him. For then God will
look for your offenses, and He is sure to find many of them. Keep in mind
that the poor man's transgressions have been atoned for by his poverty
while yours still remain with you."
We're not appointed the judge over every poor person who comes our way.
It's not your job to determine whether every beggar you meet truly
deserves your support or not. But, you might counter, it's one thing to
give money to a real poor person who might misuse--he is at least poor.
But what if he's a fraud? We've all read stories in the paper of people
who beg because they can make a lot more money than minimum wage if
they're good at it.
Rabbi Chayim of Sanz makes an important point about fraudulent charity
collectors: "The merit of charity is so great that I am happy to give to
100 beggars even if only one might actually be needy. Some people,
however, act as if they are exempt from giving charity to 100 beggars in
the event that one might be a fraud."
Of course, if you know for a fact that someone is a fraud, that he is not
really poor at all, you are not obligated to give him money. Personally,
I've never met a beggar who I was sure was a fraud. A few I might have
suspected, but as Rabbi Chayim tells us, being suspicious is not a reason
to refrain from giving.
One of the biggest challenges in giving tzedaka to beggars is that our
tradition also tells us that it's not enough just to give, rather we need
to give gladly. In the eight levels of tzedaka, Rambam tells us that the
lowest level of charity is one who gives to the poor person unwillingly;
that someone who gives gladly and with a smile is at a higher level.
I grew up in New York City. Kids in New York are trained to be tough. We
are trained from an early age to look away from all the creepy characters
inhabiting the streets of New York. We are taught to look ahead, walk
fast, and keep going. With some effort I've been able to train myself to
be much freer with my small change. But the part about acknowledging the
other person, about giving a scruffy beggar a smile along with a quarter
or fifty cents was a LOT harder.
Why does it make a difference how we give? Why shouldn't it be enough to
just give something and be done with it?
From the perspective of the poor person, it's about helping them maintain
their dignity even when they are in desperate circumstances. It's not
easy to be impoverished, and a smile and acknowledgement as a human being
can be very important to helping a poor person's self-esteem. The Torah
is concerned with the dignity of poor people. Farmers are commanded to
leave a corner of their field, and to leave behind forgotten sheaves, or
areas they missed in harvesting for poor people. Why not tell the farmer
to simply harvest everything and give a piece of it to the poor? Because
it is better for the poor person's dignity to harvest it himself.
There is, however, another reason why it matters how we give.
Giving tzedaka serves two purposes: the first is to support the poor who
are needy. The second purpose of giving tzedaka, however, is to refine
our own characters. To make us less selfish, less judgmental about the
faults of others, more giving, to make us see the flaws in the world
around us. To remind us that we are obligated to do something, even if
it's small.
If you live in a place like New York where there are a lot of beggars on
the streets, you don't have to give a lot to each one. Give what you can.
Carry a roll of pennies or nickels if you can't afford a roll of quarters
in a place with so many poor people. But giving something will both do a
little something to help the other person, and it will do a little
something on opening your heart and helping you become a kinder more
giving person.
Next time you see a beggar, don't turn your eye--thank him in your heart
for providing you an opportunity to do the mitzvah of giving tzedaka!
Shabbat Shalom
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