לה יחלץ לעזרת הנופל מיד
To immediately come to the aid of one who has fallen
וְכִי יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ וּמָטָה יָדוֹ עִמָךְ וְהֶחֱזַקְתָ בּוֹ גֵּר וְתוֹשָב וָחַי עִמָךְ :(כה :לה)
If your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters in your proximity, you shall hold onto him – convert and resident – so that he can live with you. (25:35)
Rashi explains: You shall hold onto him – Do not allow him to decline and fall, and it will be difficult to raise him up. Rather, strengthen him from the time of the faltering of the hand. What is this comparable to? To a burden that is on a donkey. While the donkey is still standing in its place, one can grab hold of the load and set in its place. Once it has fallen to the ground, five people cannot set it in its place.
We have spoken many times about the ploys of the yetzer to hide its cunning specifically in a ‘mitzvah’. The yetzer knows that not everyone will be tempted by it and rebel against the Kingdom of Heaven, there are people who are steeped in yirah [awe], who are not inclined to do even the smallest thing that is not the will of Hashem Yisbarach. But of course, it does not want to give up, and so it changes its hide and displays itself as the ‘yetzer tov’ and asks them to specifically do a ‘mitzvah’, but it shows them that keeping this mitzvah is a ‘hidur’ [the best way] while Heaven is not pleased.
Rashi wants to warn us in this posuk about one of its tricks. When the yetzer finds a person ready to do the avodah of ‘tzedakah’ and ‘chesed’, it presents itself as an ‘account manager’, at first, it sees fit to make the person aware of the obligation to stand to the right of the impoverished person, and it tempts him to appoint himself as a ‘gabbai tzedakah, but not in the specific way that the Torah wants it. And now if he hears of one of his acquaintances who does not have a way to support himself, he was just fired from his job, he does not feel that he has to do more than necessary, for the yetzer arouses him and leads him to tzedakah, and it uses this rationale, and says: ‘Do not have so much pity on him, after all he shows that he is fit for work, but what? He was an extra worker, let us hope that Hashem will help him and in a few days, he will find a job that interests him. There is no rush to support him, rather, just like he found the first job by himself, he will find another job.’
It says all this without really looking into the situation of the ‘unfortunate man’ who was fired from his job. It is more likely to say that he was not an extra employee, and the proof, when he meets the boss, he greets him warmly. But what? In time it became clear that he was not the right person for the position. If this is true, then it is self-understood that his first job was most likely his last job, for if the ‘boss’ will find the need to hire another ‘worker’, he will want someone who can do the job properly. It will become clear that the situation of the ‘boss’ in relation to the ‘worker’ is that the boss was right in firing him...
Since this is so, it would be fitting that those in a position to help the poor should immediately enter ‘the picture’, these are the ones who clarify why the ‘employee’ was fired by the ‘boss’, and if it becomes clear that the employee was not right for the job, they should look for another profession that with Hashem’s help he will succeed. And even if it becomes clear that they were correct, and he was simply fired because the worker was no longer needed, their effort to support hi should not be for nothing, for sometimes the man who was let go becomes so depressed he cannot look for another job. It is only the effort of the ‘gabbai tzedakah’ and ‘the supporters’ should investigate and he will be uplifted, and he and his family will be saved from starvation.
However, as we have mentioned, there are many charitable individuals whose yetzer controls their accounts, and he has already concluded otherwise...
And what is really hidden under that reasoning? That is, what is the yetzer really ‘whispering’ into the ears of ‘the supporters’ and ‘gabbai tzedakah’ who reason that they do not have to help the ‘unfortunate’ man? This is what it says to him: ‘You will not have great honor from this! For aside from the needy one – who is not yet standing in a place of great stature – no one knows that you saved him from shame and embarrassment, and your success and good deeds will not be publicized. If so, what do you need these small hardships for! Turn to the really ‘needy’ and ‘bitter souled’ who will shower you with ‘berachos’ and immeasurable ‘publicity’!’...
‘Besides, he is only ‘a beginner unfortunate one’, wait until he becomes ‘an experience unfortunate one’ and then you will also benefit by helping him. Now, having no choice, he will borrow from this one and that one in order to support himself and his family, and ultimately, he will be deeply in debt, and then all the people in the city will complain that he is not repaying his debts. Then once he and his relatives are filled with shame and embarrassment, his relatives will come knocking at your door for ‘a free handout’... then you will arrange ‘a collection’ to rescue him from dire straits, and when his shame is doubled from taking ‘charity’ from ‘merciful ones’, then you will worry before all the reason to support him, But first, all sides, the needy one and all his relatives will bless you, and all who hear of it will talk about your great goodness...’
It is self-understood that this is not the way of the Torah. When the Torah commands about tzedakah and says 'והחזקת בו' – ‘you shall hold unto him’, it wants you to benefit the poor immediately, and not to wait until his suffering is so great so that you will benefit from this. True, a poor man in dire need comes first, but to delay the salvation of a needy person for selfish reasons – this is prohibited!
This is the explanation of Rashi: ‘Do not allow him to decline and fall, and it will be difficult to raise him up’, rather, as soon as you hear about it rush to help him, then most of the time it will not take a lot of money to help him, rather a little effort or advice to set him right. But Rashi also understood the argument of the yetzer that ‘it is better to wait’... therefore he used his parable of the load on the donkey, that if one realizes that the load is about to fall but it has not yet fallen, one person can grab it and set it right. But once it falls to the ground, even five men cannot set it right. Similarly, if we do not hurry to help the poor man a little earlier, they will need many to help him. Aside from Jewish money going to waste, five will not be able to set him right, and they will be forced to make a ‘public collection’, and then the more it is publicized, the greater will be his shame. Aside from his pain and shame from all the time that has passed, there is no ‘benefit’ that is worth this...
This detail is ‘an illustration’ of the way of the yetzer, and from here we can learn all fields of avodas Hashem, for in every area it tries to trick the person and clothe its farfetched view in white and justify it, however, intelligence was given to the person to differentiate between justice and justice.
