All of this applies to the days prior to Rosh Chodesh Nissan as well. Certainly, then, it applies following Rosh Chodesh, when the innovation (chiddush) of miraculous conduct enters our Divine service.
An elevated service. It is now thirty days before Pesach. We should fulfill our obligation to provide our fellow Jews with their Pesach needs in an “elevated” manner, reflecting the name of this week’s parshah, Ki Sisa—“When you count,” literally, “elevate the ‘head’ of each of the Children of Israel”—in both quantity and quality.
For a start, we should donate in a generous manner, giving in an “elevated” manner, not only donating a tenth or a fifth of our earnings, but even more than that. Aren’t we told not to give more than a fifth? True, our Sages teach that “one should not give extravagantly, more than a fifth of his wealth on tzedakah.” Nevertheless, as the Alter Rebbe explains, nowadays “we should greatly increase our giving of tzedakah,” telling us, “Do not be concerned with the teaching, ‘Do not give extravagantly, more than a fifth.’ Now, if the restriction no longer applied in the Alter Rebbe’s era, then we certainly should not be concerned with this restriction in our own generation, many generations after that of the Alter Rebbe. Give more, gladly. Moreover, the Previous Rebbe, the Leader of this Generation and a successor of the Alter Rebbe, bears the name ‘Yosef Yitzchak’—‘Yosef’ meaning ‘addition,’ which includes an addition in tzedakah, and ‘Yitzchak’—‘laughter’ and ‘joy,’ which indicates the giving of tzedakah joyfully, with a glad heart and a friendly attitude.
Thus, we should donate in a manner that also elevates the spirits of the recipient.
