This week's parashah discusses the mitzvah of tzedakah. (15:7-11) לא ...אביון בך יהיה כי פתח כי ,האביון מאחיך ידך את תקפץ ולא לבבך את תאמץ לו ידך את תפתח, "If there will be among you a needy person...you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother. Rather, you shall open your hand to him..."
Giving tzedakah is based on the awareness that we are Hashem's children. The Gemara (Bava Basra 10.) tells us that Turnes Rufus the Rasha said to Reb Akiva, "You will go to Gehinom for giving tzedakah, and I will explain why with a mashal: A king got angry at his slave, so he put him in jail and commanded that no one give him food or drink. If someone disobeys the king by giving him sustenance, won't he be punished?"
Reb Akiva replied, "I will answer you with a mashal: A king got angry at his son and put him in jail. He commanded that no one is to give his son food or drink. Someone disobeyed the decree and gave the son food and drink. When the king heard about it, he gave the man a present for doing so. We are Hashem's children, as it states 'לה אתם בנים אלקיכם."
The premise of giving tzedakah is based on the fact that we are Hashem's children. Even when Hashem punishes someone by making him poor, He wants and hopes that others will have compassion and help him. The Gemara (Bava Basra 131:) states that if a father writes in a document that all his money and possessions should go to only one of his sons, we don't assume this to mean literally that only one son should receive his wealth because why would he do so? He loves all his children. Why would he want to give one child and let the others suffer in poverty? We understand that the father meant that all children should receive an equal portion of his wealth, and the son he mentioned should be the manager (the apitropus) over his money.
The Chida (Pnei Dovid, Re'eh) zt'l learns from this a lesson in tzedakah. We are all Hashem's children. In fact, as the Alshich tells us, every Yid, individually, is Hashem's child. Is it logical that Hashem would want some of His children to be wealthy and some to suffer poverty? It is clear that Hashem gave more money to some because He wanted them to be apitropsim, money managers, but they must distribute the funds among Hashem's children.
The previous Skulener Rebbe zt’l gave a mashal: At a chasunah, a waiter comes by and places a tray full of meat next to one person at the guest table. No one thinks that the entire tray was intended only for him. Everyone understands that it was intended for all those seated at the table. The same occurs when one person is blessed with wealth. Hashem intends for him to share his good fortune with others.
This can explain why the Torah writes in double lashon (15:10) לו תתן נתן, "Give you shall give him." It is written this way to imply that Hashem gave to you so you can give to others. לבבך ירע ולא, "your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him," because the money was given to you to distribute to others. Why should you feel bad when you give tzedakah? It was never meant to be your money. A person doesn’t really deserve a reward for giving tzedakah. All he did was allocate the money to where it was destined. Nevertheless, the Torah promises, משלח ובכל מעשיך בכל אלקיך 'ה יברכך הזה הדבר בגלל כי ידיך, “For this Hashem your G-d will bless you in all your work and all your endeavors.”
The Rebbe explained to him that when Heaven gives someone money, he becomes an apitropus, a custodian over the money, and his role is to distribute the money to others. The Rebbe said, “I see you aren’t a loyal apitropus because you aren't distributing the money as it was intended. Therefore, we will find someone else to be wealthy, someone more suitable for the job." The wealthy man became terrified, realizing he was about to lose his wealth. The Rebbe said, "We will make a gorel to decide who will be the next wealthy person of Kerestir. If you do teshuvah and commit to helping the poor, you will win the lottery...” They made the gorel, and his name came up in the gorel!
The Ben Ish Chai tells about a donkey decorated with beautiful roses. When it went through the street, everyone came near it to smell the wonderful scent of the roses. At nighttime, the donkey returned to its barn and told its friends about the honor it received. The donkey told his friends, "Everyone was so excited to see me. They oohed and aahed and ran to me as I walked through the streets." The next day, the donkey carried a load of garbage on his back. Everyone kept their distance from it. The nimshal is that people honor the wealthy or those in influential positions, but the rich should know it isn't about them. The honor is due to what they are carrying.
The Noam Elimelech (Devarim) writes, "The Poskim say that the Avos didn't keep the mitzvah of tzedakah with perfection because there were no Yidden around them to give tzedakah. [They could only give tzedakah to goyim.] When a person gives tzedakah, he can reach even higher levels and accomplish all salvations [because he gave tzedakah to Yidden]. Through tzedakah, he can arouse immense compassion Above, without needing to come onto the merit of the Avos..."
