The Concept of Tzedakah

“To each and everyone according to his needs, from each and everyone according to his ability.”

That is what Tzedakah is all about – a Just distribution of Society’s resources, so that no-one is in such need that he has reason to ask for assistance. It is not to be mistaken for charity – charity is based on the idea that one is better off then the other, thus creating an unequal relationship which in the end only serves to cement poverty and inequality. Charity assumes that the ones in need of assistance are in need of assistance on all levels of life and have nothing to contribute and nothing of worth to give to the Community. Charity is in and of itself extremely egotistical, because it puts focus on the giver rather than on the receiver. Just think of the idea that giving to charity is tax-deductable! Give to charity and you don’t have to pay your due to the Community…yeah real philantropic.

Tzedakah takes into consideration that all people have something they can contribute to the common good of the Community, it also takes into consideration that we are all in need in some respect, therefore on equal footing with each other. It doesn’t ask people to pull themselves up by the boot-straps, regardless of whether they have boots or not – it makes sure they have boots and no reason to pull anything.

In Judaism the highest level of Tzedakah is making sure a person is self-sufficient – i.e that he can provide for himself.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.”

It has always struck me as ‘interesting’ that so many people who profess to be Conservatives also profess to be Religious – but find the idea of Tzedakah offensive and threatening. It seems contradictory. Most Religions, teach some sort of “care for the weak”, yet those who profess to be the most Religious are often those who complain that the weak and poor in society are ‘mooching’ off of the rich. It doesn’t add up.

Being without means doesn’t mean that you have nothing at all, it means that you have something else of value. Tzedakah ensures that what you have is valued as enriching to Society.

Maybe the poor shoe maker is poor in a finacial sense, and needs Tzedakah to provide for his kids – but he is rich in knowledge on how to make shoes, which means he can teach. The Rabbi might not be very well off, and some times need assistance to make ends meet – but he has one thing in abundance – knowledge of Torah, which provides Spirtual richness to the Community. The Artist may not be rich at all, but what he creates enriches peoples’ lives by providing beauty that opens peoples’ souls and hearts…and so on and so forth – monetary wealth is good, but not having monetary wealth is not equivalent to being a parasite.

It’s time that the Haves of our World start realizing that the Have Nots might indeed have both wealth and riches, their only need is Tzedakah – Just distribution of the World’s Resources on a daily basis, because 1% of the World’s population sitting on all the money, complaining that the rest of us are sucking them dry, at the same time handing out breadcrumbs to make themselves feel good doesn’t go any where near putting your money where you mouth is in relation to G-d.

Shalom!

This article, including artworks and photos are © Henric C. Jensen aka Shadow Bear and are NOT public domain, unless otherwise specified.

The Priestly Blessing.

This weeks parasha contains one of the most well known and used texts in Torah apart from the Ten Statements and the Shem: The Kohanite Blessing – The Priestly Blessing.

Buit what does it mean – how can we as a People as well as individually understand this Blessing? What’s in it for YOU?

“The Eternal One spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them: The Eternal bless you and protect you!

The Eternal deal kindly and graciously with you!

The Eternal bestow [divine] favor upon you and grant you peace!

“Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”(Numbers 6:22–27)

“May G-d bless you and keep you “(6:24)

“With G-d’s blessing comes His protection of the blessing. A mortal king has a servant in Syria while he himself lives in Rome. The king sends for him. He sets out and comes to him. He gives him a hundred pounds of gold. He packs it up and sets out on his journey. Robbers fall upon him and take away all that he had given him and all that he had with him… But when G-d blesses with riches, He also guards them from robbers.” (Midrash Rabbah)

G-d protects not just the receiver of the blessing – but the Blessing itself! G-d invests His Name in His Blessing, and just vas we are commanded to Sanctify His Name, so will G-d make sure that His Name is kept Holy, through His blessing on us.

“May G-d make His face shine upon you, and give you grace” (6:25)“He will give you the wisdom to be gracious to each other and merciful to each other.” (Midrash Rabbah)

Again we are reminded that Torah is close to us, possible to Keep, possible to Live by: “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:14)

Here is another affirmation that Torah itself is etched into us by the Almighty – the question is if we listen – the Kohanite Blessing tells us that we will.

“May G-d lift up His face to you” (6:26)“He will turn His face towards you; for it is not the same thing for a man to greet his neighbor while looking him in the face as to greet him with his head turned to one side.”
(Midrash Rabbah)

G-d does not ignore us, G-d looks at us, face to face and deals with us as Upstanding Humans – He deals with us as acountable beings – we have His undivided attention at all times, regardless of where we are or what we are doing.

There is a Midrash about a King who’s son broke the Law of the Land, and the punishment for that was to be Exiled. On the day that the son was to be sent into exile for his crime, his father came to him and said – “I will go with you into Exile, rather than be without you here at home.” So it is with G-d – He goes with us also into Exile.

“…and give you peace” (6:26) “If there is no peace, there is nothing.” (Torat Kohanim)

“Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said: there is truth, the truth of the truth, and peace. Truth is: a kid stole an apple. The truth of the truth is: the kid was hungry. Peace is: Nobody stole anything; give the kid an apple!” (Heard from Reb Shlomo Carlebach – picked up at Kolel)

G-d says: “Nothing happened, give the Kid an apple!” Yes, our shortcomings are a source of grief for G-d, but because He knows the Truth, the Truth of the Truth about them, He can also say: “nothing happened; give the Kid an apple!” I.e G-d knows that, like all kids, we respond better to posiitive re-enforcement than to negative re-enforcement – that is why He Keeps enumerating what will happen if we return – He wants to make sure we understand the good that comes from Keeping His Law. He grants us Peace as a positive re-enforcement.

“And they shall set My name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them” (6:27) “I would have thought that if the Kohanim desire to bless Israel, then Israel is blessed, but if they do not they are not; comes the verse to tell me: “I will bless them.” In either case, says G-d, I will bless them from heaven.

The Kohanim bless Israel, but who blesses the Kohanim? Comes the verse to tell me: “I will bless them.”"(Sifri Zuta)

No matter what other may say, G-d’s Name is upon us – The Eternal One has invested His own Name in us, and no matter what He will keep that Name Holy in us.

Amen!

Shabbat Shalom!

To Strike With a Shoelace…

Yocheved shared an absolutely beautiful Story, that I thought would make a good Dvar Torah for this Shabbat – which is Shavuot, by the way!

“Thought I’d share this neat experience: When the girls were very young (they are 10 and 11 now) I read a midrash that said if you must strike a child, do so with a shoelace. I felt this was what G-d wanted for my children and that corporal discipline was an unneessary tool in their case. So I committed to this.One day, about a month ago, my little girl, Yemina was in a “funk”. She gets really moody sometimes and was really barking at her older sister, Zipporah, who is far more easy going. I had had about all I could take with her yelling at her sister and I went to my bedroom. A few minutes later, Z came in and was crying about something Yemina had said to her which was really ugly and demeaning and not worth reporting. I told her to send in her sister.

A few minutes went by and I knew my blood was boiling. I love a peaceful, quiet home, and Yemina was systematically dismanteling it. Then I prayed, and I decided not to do all the typical, “Straighten up or you will find yourself grounded, or eating by yourself, and so on. I abandoned all of that and asked G-d to give me wisdom. A minute later she appeared, sulking, arms crossed, her beautiful features twisted into a sour scowl. I didn’t say anything because wisdom hadn’t come yet. I didn’t know what to say without my arsenal of tricks. So it became quiet and frankly awkward and uncomfortable. Then, I said (very gently), “Yemina, I think you might be out of balance. Your yetzer ha-ra has been running unchecked lately.” I looked at her, she began to rock but clearly had nothing to say to me. Then I said, “you can feel it can’t you?” She bowed her head lower and started to sniffle. I went to her and held her with all the love in a mother’s heart.

I told her I loved her so much, and that it made me hurt when I saw her hurting and that we could pray together and start to feed the yetzer ha-tov in her by purposely doing good things so that it would grow stronger than her yetzer ha-ra, and that pretty soon, it would be so easy to control her bad impulses because they had been kept under check with discipline. She held me so tightly I thought she’d pinch me in two! And she wept a truly penetant and heartfelt cry for help. Ever since that day, things have never become so out of hand. I remind her of the inward check-up and she knows what is going on. I really think she didn’t know why she felt the way she did, and her anger and confusion was part of her lashing out.

I am really glad that MY Yetzer Ha Ra didn’t stay stirred up when dealing with her, because I would have missed a a real pinnacle turning point and a very tender moment. For what it’s worth– Shalom! Yocheved”

Yocheved is refering to Bava Batra 21 a in the Babylonian Talmud:

“Rav said to Rav Samuel bar Shilat: If you hit a child, strike him only with a shoestring.”

This story reminds me of what happened after the Revelation on Sinai – which Shavout is about – G-d says to Israel:

“But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 30:14)

I love this passage – because it shows G-d’s trust in us. He trusts that by simply giving us His Law, we will become better people, because we will carry His Guidence with us, ready to tap into at any moment we need it. And when we fail, His word will gently remind us of where to look, where to turn and how to stay on the side of our Yetzer Ha Tov.

This of course, just as Yocheved points out to Yemina in the Story, will happen only if we replace our errant behaviour with desired behaviour – and do it often. Practice makes Perfect, they say, but I would say “Practice makes Habit” – and the more we practice acting from our Yetzer Ha Tov, the more will it act on it’s own, and the same is of course true about Yetzer Ha Ra.

Let’s remember that Torah is a Shoestring that will give us the Guidance we need when we need it.

Shabbat Shalom!