it” – if it seems too heavy a burden for you to bear. “For the place which Hashem, your G-d, will choose to establish His Name there is far” – if it seems far-fetched to you that you will ever be able to serve Him properly.
If one has this problem, he should know that it is because “Hashem blessed you” with money and an excess of possessions. “And you shall turn the money” – the solution is that you should not be busy thinking about your money all day.
The pasuk tells us how to deal with this situation by saying: “V’tzarta hakesef b’yadecha.” (You shall bind up the money that is in your hand.) The Noam Elimelech explains these words by citing the Gemara (Bava Metziah 47B) that says: “One may not redeem ma’aser sheini on an asimon (a coin with no image); rather, one should do so on a coin that has a tzurah (image).” Thus, the pasuk is saying that one should stamp a holy image on his money that is in his hands.
The pasuk continues: “And you shall go up to the place” – you should use your money to uplift you to follow Hashem’s path. “And you shall turn that money into whatever your soul desires” – you should use the money for the things that your pure neshama really wants, rather than using it for the type of things that the earthly body wants. This means that one should use his money for tzedakah and chesed.
The pasuk then tells us how one can fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah, and thereby uplift his soul to serve Hashem: “With cattle and sheep” – one should give tzedakah to both the simple people of the nation (who are referred to as cattle), and to the holy people (who are referred to as “holy sheep”). “And with wine and aged wine” – this is a reference to talmidei chochomim, as the Gemara says (Yoma 71A): “If one wants to bring nesachim of wine on the Mizbeach today, he should fill the throats of Torah scholars with wine.” “And with whatever your soul desires” – the same applies to all matters. One should always ensure that he uses his resources for the things that his neshama wants, and not for what his earthly body wants.
When one does this: “And you will eat before Hashem” – he will be able to serve Hashem in the ways of tzadikim.
Seeing a Tanna in The Merit of Tzedakah:
When one supports others by giving tzedakah or using his money for chesed, he opens his heart and mind to great spiritual revelations. This is seen from the following story:
Before his petirah, the Baal Hatanya zy”a told his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch zy”a, that he should visit the places where the Baal Hatanya grew up and see where he was born and educated until his wedding.
Shortly after the Baal Hatanya’s passing, in the year 5573, the Tzemach Tzedek set out to visit those places. He first went to the city of Liazhni, to see the house of his grandfather’s, father, Rav Boruch, where the Baal Hatanya grew up. He also went to the city of Dobramisel, where the family lived at one point. He then went to the city of Lubavitch.
The Tzemach Tzedek merited having his grandfather appear to him in images and dreams many times and to reveal to him secrets of the Torah and chasidus. During these travels, he merited having even more intense and inspirational revelations from the Baal Hatanya.
The Tzemach Tzedek once told his son, the Maharash of Lubavitch zy”a, about one incident that occurred at that time:
While the Tzemach Tzedek was traveling from Dobramisel to Lubavitch, he was in a very exalted state of mind and felt very lose to the Baal Hatanya. He hoped that when he got to Lubavitch, he would merit seeing him in an image, with a shining countenance. He thought of several questions he had about both the revealed and hidden Torah and organized them in his mind so that he would be able to ask them to his grandfather.
However, the Baal Hatanya did not appear to him when he arrived in Lubavitch. This caused him a lot of pain and anguish and he felt as if he had fallen from a high mountaintop to a low valley. He had gotten so close to a spiritual revelation but seemed to have fallen short.
He began to examine his actions to see if he had done something wrong that led to this disappointment and deemed him unworthy of seeing his grandfather.
On Wednesday, the 20th of Elul, the Tzemach Tzedek went to daven in shul. On the way, he bumped into a resident of Lubavitch named R’ Pinchos. R’ Pinchos asked him to lend him five rubles so that he could do some business in the marketplace and earn enough money for his Shabbos expenses. The Tzemach Tzedek told him to come to his house after davening to pick up the money.
As the Tzemach Tzedek was preparing to daven and placed his talis on his shoulders, he remembered R’ Pinchos’s request. He realized that it was market day was the market opened very early in the morning, which meant that R’ Pinchos really needed the money immediately. He immediately took off his talis and ran home. He grabbed five rubles and ran to the market to find R’ Pinchos, and he handed him the money.
When he got back to shul, he went to the sick to wash his hands. At that moment, the Baal Hatanya revealed himself to him with a shining face and answered all of his questions.
Ahavas Yisroel Leads to Ahavas Hashem:
Rav Eliezer Dovid Friedman zt”l (quoted in Sefer M’Pi Sefarim V’Sofrim) related that a chasid once came to Rav Uri of Strelisk zy”a to ask for advice regarding how he could come to a level of true ahavas Hashem.
Rav Uri replied, “Ahavas Yisroel leads to ahavas Hashem. My advice to you is to keep a book of matches in your pocket at all times so that you can give one to anyone who needs one. By showing love to your fellow Jews in this way, you will come to love Hashem.”
