“כי ירחיב ד' אלקיך את גבלך כאשר דבר לך ואמרת אכלה בשר כי תאוה נפשך לאכל בשר”
“When Hashem, your G-d, will broaden your boundary as He spoke to you, and you say, ‘I would eat meat,’ for if you will have a desire to eat meat, to your heart’s entire desire may you eat meat.” The Torah is teaching us that if one takes care of the Levi, takes care of the poor, then Hakodosh Boruch Hu will take care of him and broaden his boundaries – He will give him more. Generally speaking, when we discuss boundaries, we are referring to land. Why does the Torah use the word “גבלך” here?
Why is it that one’s giving tzeddakah generates wealth? Any material goodness that Hakodosh Boruch Hu bestows upon an individual really belongs to the nation at large. The one who is granted the material goodness must view it as a communal fund over which he is placed as the trustee. He is responsible for it and must ensure that those less fortunate than himself are taken care of. When a king has a trustee, it takes time for him to build trust. In the beginning, the king will only give him power over a limited amount of funds. However, the more he sees that his servant is a faithful trustee, the more funds he gives him to be in charge of. This concept applies not only to money and material goodness which one receives, but it also applies to intellect and talent.
A person who is endowed with exceptional qualities is also a trustee over those gifts he received. If one has Torah to give over to others or has other ways of raising the ruchniyus of others, it is his responsibility to do so. Just as the monetary trustee, if he does his job faithfully, is given discretion over more funds to oversee, so too, the one who spreads Torah and ruchniyus faithfully will be given more and more opportunities to spread them even more. Since he is using his gifts properly and spreading them to Klal Yisroel, he is endowed with the ability to continue to do so on an even greater scale. (שערי יושר)
The Torah uses the word “גבלך”, for it is literally speaking about the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel, but perhaps it is figuratively referring not to land, but to us. We ourselves can expand and grow. Brochah and klalah are placed before us. We have the opportunity to choose goodness. The more tzeddakah we give, the more we give of ourselves, the greater our ability to continue on that path in bigger and greater ways will be.
The Midrash tells us that the nefesh is compared to a נר, a candle. If one has a candle and lights another candle with it, the first candle is not diminished at all. Not only is the first light not diminished in any way, but it now has “children.” The more candles it kindles, the more fire there is in the world from that first candle, which itself never diminishes. The Torah tells us that not only will we pass our Torah on to others, but also our own “fire” will get bigger.
May we be zoche to continue to give to others on all levels of ruchniyus, and may we continue to spread the Torah and fire of Hashem, and thus our own fire will grow greater.
RABBI YAKOV YOSEF SCHECHTER
