כי יהיה בך אביון מאחד אחיך באחד שעריך בארצך אשר ה' אלקיך נתן לך לא תאמץ את לבבך ולא תקפץ את ידך מאחיך האביון כי פתח תפתח את ידך, לו והעבט תעביטנו די מחסרו אשר יחסר לו
The Gemara (BB 10a) relates a conversation between Rebbi Akiva and TurnusRufus. The Roman asked Rebbi Akiva, “If your G-d truly cares for poor people, why doesn't He provide for them?” Rebbi Akiva answered that Hashem allows them to remain poor to provide us the merit of giving them charity, which will protect us from punishment.
The Alter of Kelm questions Rebbi Akiva’s explanation. Although the mitzvah of giving tzedakah is certainly a great one, aren’t there enough other commandments that we can do to save us from punishment? What is so unique and special about giving charity, and why must the poor suffer to enable us to specifically perform this mitzvah?
The Alter answers that the mitzvah of tzedakah has a singular and vital function. Although one fulfills the letter of the law by distributing charity to those in need, in order to perform this mitzvah at its highest level a person must do more than this. It isn’t sufficient to give charity simply because Hashem commanded us to do so and we want to perform His will. A person dispensing tzedakah should feel the pain of the poor beggar as if it were his very own. Just as a person who feels his own hunger naturally responds by feeding himself, so too should we strive to identify with the pauper’s anguish to the point that we would be moved to assist him even if we weren’t obligated to do so. (See what we said from Reb Moshe on לא בחסד ולא במעשים באנו לפניך in #5 here.) God created an imperfect world davka because he wanted to give mankind the opportunity to be Godlike- to do good autonomously because of an intrinsic desire.
➣ This Mitzva's unique character is highlighted by the fact that our baalei machshava say that we should do Mitzvos Sichliyos only because of Hashem's tzivuy (as we brought from the Netziv, the Sfas Emes, and the Aruch HaShulchan here in Parshas Chukas.) Here, in perfectly diametric opposition, we are told to learn to do this Mitzva shelo lesheim shamayim, in a manner of speaking!
As the Rambam (Peirush HaMishnayos Avos 3:15) says, given the choice between giving a great deal to one or smaller amounts to many, it is best to give smaller amounts to many, because the repeated act of giving to the poor will make you into a giving person, a person that will naturally love to help the needy.
The Alter answers that the mitzvah of tzedakah has a singular and vital function. Although one fulfills the letter of the law by distributing charity to those in need, in order to perform this mitzvah at its highest level a person must do more than this. It isn’t sufficient to give charity simply because Hashem commanded us to do so and we want to perform His will. A person dispensing tzedakah should feel the pain of the poor beggar as if it were his very own. Just as a person who feels his own hunger naturally responds by feeding himself, so too should we strive to identify with the pauper’s anguish to the point that we would be moved to assist him even if we weren’t obligated to do so. (See what we said from Reb Moshe on לא בחסד ולא במעשים באנו לפניך in #5 here.) God created an imperfect world davka because he wanted to give mankind the opportunity to be Godlike- to do good autonomously because of an intrinsic desire.
➣ This Mitzva's unique character is highlighted by the fact that our baalei machshava say that we should do Mitzvos Sichliyos only because of Hashem's tzivuy (as we brought from the Netziv, the Sfas Emes, and the Aruch HaShulchan here in Parshas Chukas.) Here, in perfectly diametric opposition, we are told to learn to do this Mitzva shelo lesheim shamayim, in a manner of speaking!
As the Rambam (Peirush HaMishnayos Avos 3:15) says, given the choice between giving a great deal to one or smaller amounts to many, it is best to give smaller amounts to many, because the repeated act of giving to the poor will make you into a giving person, a person that will naturally love to help the needy.
אחר כך אמר, שהמעלות לא יושגו לפי שעור גודל המעשה, אלא לפי רוב מספר המעשה. וזה, שהמעלות אמנם יושגו בכפול מעשי הטוב פעמים רבות, ובזה יושג הקנין, לא בשיעשה האדם מעשה אחד גדול ממעשי הטוב, שבזה לבדו לא יושג קנין. משל זה, שהאדם אם יתן למי שראוי אלף דינר, בפעם אחת ולאיש אחד, לא תושג לו מעלת הנדיבות בזה המעשה האחד הגדול, כמו שתושג למי שיתנדב אלף פעמים באלף דינר, ויתן כל דינר מהם על צד הנדיבות, לפי שזה ייכפל על ידו מעשה הנדיבות אלף פעמים, ויושג קנין חזק, וזה פעם אחת בלבד התעוררה הנפש התעוררות גדולה למעשה טוב, ואחר כן פסקה מזה. וכן בתורה אין שכר מי שפדה אסיר במאה דינר, או נתן צדקה לעני במאה דינר שהיו די מחסורו, כמו מי שפדה עשרה אסירים, או השלים חסרון עשרה עניים, ואפילו בעשרה דינרים. ולזה תקיש. וזה הוא ענין אומרו: לפי רוב המעשה אבל לא על פי המעשה
I saw Rav Sternbuch brings a Gaon on the words לא תקפץ את ידך, do not close your hand. The Gaon says that when you fold your fingers into your palm, they appear to all be the same length. Only when they are extended do you see that each is different. So, too, the Gaon says, the passuk of לא תקפץ את ידך is telling you that you should not give each poor person the same amount. You are supposed to find out where he is holding in his life, what his needs are and what he is facing, and give accordingly, and that is what is meant by פתח תפתח את ידך, open your hand. Look, your fingers are all different sizes. Look, each poor person has different degrees and kinds of need. If you give the same to everyone, then you are doing it just to be mekayeim the mitzvah- and if so, you are transgressing the issur of לא תקפץ את ידך!
The idea is that we need to develop our empathy to such a degree that we experience personal pain when we realize that others are suffering. The only way this can possibly occur is if there is pain in the world.
There is a story in the Gemara about the great Tanna Nachum Ish Gamzu. His life ended in abject misery- he lost all four limbs and lay helpless and sick in bed. He said that he brought this upon himself when he realized his failure of compassion. He was once on a donkey, during years of hunger, and a poor man came and asked for a bite of food. He immediately got off the donkey and put his hand into his bag to find food. Before he could hand it to the starving man, he died. Nachum cursed himself for not giving him food more quickly. Why did he feel he was so terrible for not giving the food more quickly? He did the best he could under the circumstances! The answer, as my father in law, HaRav Reuven Feinstein says, is that if Nachum knew that a moment might come when he will suddenly, without warning, be stricken with hunger pains in extremis, he would not put his food in his saddle bag. He will put his food in his pocket, so he won't suffer even a moment. Nachum realized that if he would have had degree of love of his fellow man that the Torah requires, he would have anticipated that he, in a manner of speaking, might suddenly have a desperate and immediate need for sustenance, and he wouldn't have put it in his saddle bag. He realized he was lacking the degree of love for his fellow human beings that results in empathic suffering, which is a real suffering. He felt that he needed not only penance, but to experience physically what he ought to have experienced emotionally. (I once injured my knee, and I found that I suddenly had much more sympathy for my mother, who had been suffering from arthritis for many years. My injury wasn't even that bad, compared to what she went through. I realize that this is a sad comment on my compassion, but it's true.)
(Thank you, Steve, for your comment.)
I originally titled this post "My Father's Zatzal mitzva of Tzedaka" because this is exactly what he did. My father literally saved many people from starvation (in Samarkhand and Yerushalayim,) he helped many people get their start in business that took them from hopeless poverty to great wealth, he founded and supported and led many yeshivos. But he once said that he doubts that he will get schar in Olam Haba for the chesed he did in his life, because he loved it with his whole heart, and he got the greatest pleasure out of helping a needful person. Why would he be rewarded for indulging himself??? That is the apex of the Mitzva to BE a Baal Tzedaka. My father searched for the needy, for people who might be ashamed to ask, for people who had given up on themselves and everyone else had given up on, and he gave with- as the Gaon says- an open hand.
There is a story in the Gemara about the great Tanna Nachum Ish Gamzu. His life ended in abject misery- he lost all four limbs and lay helpless and sick in bed. He said that he brought this upon himself when he realized his failure of compassion. He was once on a donkey, during years of hunger, and a poor man came and asked for a bite of food. He immediately got off the donkey and put his hand into his bag to find food. Before he could hand it to the starving man, he died. Nachum cursed himself for not giving him food more quickly. Why did he feel he was so terrible for not giving the food more quickly? He did the best he could under the circumstances! The answer, as my father in law, HaRav Reuven Feinstein says, is that if Nachum knew that a moment might come when he will suddenly, without warning, be stricken with hunger pains in extremis, he would not put his food in his saddle bag. He will put his food in his pocket, so he won't suffer even a moment. Nachum realized that if he would have had degree of love of his fellow man that the Torah requires, he would have anticipated that he, in a manner of speaking, might suddenly have a desperate and immediate need for sustenance, and he wouldn't have put it in his saddle bag. He realized he was lacking the degree of love for his fellow human beings that results in empathic suffering, which is a real suffering. He felt that he needed not only penance, but to experience physically what he ought to have experienced emotionally. (I once injured my knee, and I found that I suddenly had much more sympathy for my mother, who had been suffering from arthritis for many years. My injury wasn't even that bad, compared to what she went through. I realize that this is a sad comment on my compassion, but it's true.)
(Thank you, Steve, for your comment.)
I originally titled this post "My Father's Zatzal mitzva of Tzedaka" because this is exactly what he did. My father literally saved many people from starvation (in Samarkhand and Yerushalayim,) he helped many people get their start in business that took them from hopeless poverty to great wealth, he founded and supported and led many yeshivos. But he once said that he doubts that he will get schar in Olam Haba for the chesed he did in his life, because he loved it with his whole heart, and he got the greatest pleasure out of helping a needful person. Why would he be rewarded for indulging himself??? That is the apex of the Mitzva to BE a Baal Tzedaka. My father searched for the needy, for people who might be ashamed to ask, for people who had given up on themselves and everyone else had given up on, and he gave with- as the Gaon says- an open hand.
I do not have it in front of me but i do recall that Reb Ruvain has a piece in nedarim where he says that the point of tzdakah is to be mimala chisron shel ahni (to fill the poor mans void) and therefore if you have only $1000 to give and the ahni in front of you needs $1001 even if there is a line of 999 paupers behind this one ahni, he gets the entire $1000 and the rest go home empty handed.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see that inside. I learned by Rav Rudderman, so I don't have a copy of the חידושי רבי ראובן, but I'll try to get a hold of one. I know that the current poskim, such as Reb Chaim Kanievsky, do not hold like that, and it will be interesting to see what the machlokes is. One thing is for sure. The Rambam cannot possibly be talking about a case where your thousand can make a tremendous difference in one man's life, but distributed to five hundred people will mean very little. It's impossible that you should be makriv the nitzrach's toeles on the mizbei'ach of your tikkun hamiddos.
DeleteWhat Reb Reuven is saying is this: unlike matanos that are a chovas karka, tzedaka is limited by די מחסורו. So if a person is lacking a little, you would have a mitzva and chiyuv to give him all your leket etc, but the chiyuv of tzedaka would be limited to the amount it takes to get him over די מחסורו. He says that this difference explains why the Gemara in RH says there's a din of baal teacheir on tzedaka immediately because kaimi aniyim, although there is no such din by korbanos, the idea being that giving the ani tomorrow means that you did not fix today's די מחסורו. But I do not see that Reb Reuven says if there are ten aniyim, you give the first ones די מחסורו even though it will leave nothing to the rest.
DeleteBesides the fact that Reb Reuven doesn't say it, I have problems accepting that it's true bichlal. Let's say there are ten, each needs one thousand to solve their kdei machsoro. You have one thousand. You would give it all to the first one? I don't hear it. Farkehrt. I would say that the idea of די מחסורו tells you not to worry about אין מעבירין על המצוות.
yasherkoach, i havent seen the peice since i was in tomo about 20 years ago.but lmasah I hear the sefara to say if there are ten, each needs one thousand to solve their kdei machsoro. You have one thousand. You would give it all to the first one and fill his void
DeleteI actually like the svara too. I talked about it with my friend/asei lecha rav a few months ago, when he brought in several sefarim that brought from RSZ and lbchlch Rav Kanievsky and others that you should give each one, like the Rambam says in Avos. I was bothered by that. You could give one of them a nesinah that will change his life, but no, you give each one a pittance? Doesn't make sense to me simply on the basis of what tzedaka is all about, besides the din of dei machsoro. I hope to find the marei mekomos I have on that.
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