To demonstrate, the Gemara brings the case of a wealthy person who was used to riding on a horse and having servants run in front of him. After he lost all of his money, Hillel raised money to pay for him to still ride a horse and have servants run in front of him. On one occasion, there was no servant available so Hillel himself ran in front of the poor man, despite the fact that Hillel was a talmid chocham.
The meforshim ask a very strong question on Hillel’s action: In its discussion of the halachos of hashovah aveidah [returning lost objects], the Gemara in Bava Metzia teaches the concept of a ‘Zakein v’eino lefi kevodo’ – this means that a talmid chocham is exempt from the mitzvah of returning lost objects when returning the lost item would appear beneath his dignity – for example, to bring a stray sheep back to its owner would be inappropriate for a talmid chocham.
The Rosh (2:21) rules that not only is the talmid chocham exempt from returning lost objects but he is prohibited from going beyond the letter of the law to return the object, because it is considered degrading to his status as a talmid chocham. Accordingly, how could Hillel run in front of the poor person in place of servants – this was surely something beneath his dignity as a talmid chocham?
Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz addresses this question. He explains that the reason that this recently impoverished person needed to ride a horse and to have servants run in front of him, was because of the honor that it gave to him. Rabbi Shmuelevitz writes that in normal circumstances it would indeed be forbidden for Hillel to degrade himself by running in front of this person, even if it constituted the mitzvah of charity. However, Rav Shmuelevitz asserts that it must be this person’s need for honor was so great that it reached the level of being life-threatening. Hillel was concerned that if this person did not have his insatiable need for honor satisfied, then his very life was at risk. Therefore, it was permitted for Hillel to degrade himself in such a way that was normally forbidden.
We learn from Rabbi Shmuelevitz how essential honor is for people – this reminds us that when giving tzedokah, the honor of the recipient must be foremost in one’s mind, not just the fact that one is giving him something.
There are many stories about Rabbi Shimshon Pincus which show, how while he would give lavishly to others, he was always highly sensitive to the honor of the recipients and how on occasion, maintaining the self-dignity of the recipients overrode limitless giving, as is demonstrated by the following story.
Once, a group of fundraisers raised money for a family in the community that had suffered several consecutive tragedies and was in deep financial straits. When the family had to move to a larger city for a short period of time, the fundraisers sought to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a massive tzedokah campaign to inform the public of their dire situation and raise deeply needed funds.
They approached Rabbi Pincus for his endorsement but were met with a surprising reaction: “They will be humiliated to death...How can you do such a thing? These are people with terrible suffering and everyone will know exactly who you’re talking about. They’ll never be able to show their faces in public again!”
Rav Pincus was teaching that tzedokah may never compromise the self-respect of a fellow Jew, and every mitzvah must be measured on the scale of Torah, with the utmost sensitivity to the other person’s needs. May we all merit to emulate the examples of Hillel and Rabbi Pincus. (R’ Yehonasan Gefen)
