In this week’s parsha we have the pasuk (25:25) which teaches, “When your brother becomes poor, you shall support him” [ki yamuch achicha...]. The Medrash links this pasuk with a pasuk in Mishlei (22:2) – “The rich and the poor meet, Hashem puts them all together.” The question is, what does this pasuk in Mishlei have to do with the pasuk “ki yamuch achicha“?
R’ Frand explains this Medrash with the following true story:
In Ger, Poland, the custom used to be that when a Gerrer Chosid could not pay his rent and his landlord wanted to evict him and put him on the street, the Gerrer community would get together and raise the money to pay off the fellow’s rent. The tenant would remain safe in his house and would not be put out on the street.
It once happened that a Gerrer Chosid was a tenant of another Gerrer Chosid. The tenant could not pay his rent and the landlord threatened to evict him. The tenant came to the Gerrer Rebbe and complained, “My landlord – a Gerrer Chosid – wants to put me on the street.” The Rebbe told the tenant to send the landlord to him. The Gerrer Chosid landlord came before the Rebbe, and the Rebbe told him: “Don’t put this fellow on the street, swallow your loss!”
The landlord Chosid complained to the Rebbe. He said, “I don’t understand. If the landlord is not a Gerrer Chosid then the whole community assumes the debt and the whole Kehilla pays for it. Now that I happen to be the landlord and I happen to be a Gerrer Chosid, why should I have to assume the entire problem? Why am I different from a Vizhnitzer Chosid or some other Chosid, or a non-Chosid who wants to evict his tenant? Why am I penalized just because I happen to be a Gerrer Chosid?
The Rebbe said, “That is right. If the Ribbono Shel Olam put you in that position, then He is telling you ‘This is your problem.’ It is no coincidence that he is a Gerrer Chosid and you are a Gerrer Chosid and it happens to fall in your lap. A mitzvah that falls into your lap is a sign from Heaven that YOU need to take care of it.” Therefore, the Rebbe told the landlord “You need to assume the entire burden because that is what the Ribbono Shel Olam wants.”
That is how the Gerrer Rebbe explained the Medrash linking the pasuk in Behar with the pasuk in Mishlei. “When your brother becomes poor then you shall support him.” The Medrash links this with the pasuk “The rich man and the poor man met, Hashem did this for you.” This confluence of events was set up by the Ribbono Shel Olam. For whatever reason, the Ribbono Shel Olam is giving the rich man this specific mitzvah. Therefore, he should not try to deny what Providence is demanding of him.
The Chazon Ish writes in his sefer Emunah u’Bitachon that today we have no prophets. We are living in a time of Hester Panim (the ‘Divine Face’ is hidden). Ruach haKodesh is also not very widespread. But, says the Chazon Ish, the Ribbono Shel Olam still talks to us. If something happens in a person’s life—a confluence of events—the Ribbono Shel Olam is telling you something. This is no coincidence. That is how the Ribbono Shel Olam deals with us in our time. He does not have Nevi’im speak to us and most of us do not have Ruach HaKodesh, so we do not know what is going on. But events—how things just happen to fall into place—represent the Ribbono Shel Olam talking to us in our day and age. This is what the pasuk in Mishlei is saying: When the poor person and rich man happen to ‘meet’—this was the action of Hashem.
Therefore, “When you brother becomes poor” – the Gerrer Rebbe told his Chosid: If this fellow fell into your lap, it is a Sign from Heaven that it is your responsibility to take care of him. This is your mitzvah, this is what the Ribbono Shel Olam wants, and it will be good for you in the end. (R’ Frand)
