Divrei Torah

Tetzaveh

February 2010

Parashat Tetzaveh/Zachor
Rabbi David Baum

A congregant told me a story that I want to share with you all. One day, they were asked by the community to volunteer, and they chose to give food to disadvantaged people in the area. They went to a trailer park and dropped off food boxes, and they went inside one of the homes. This congregant fulfilled this great mitzvah with her children in order to teach them the value of gemilut hasadim, and from this experience came another lesson altogether.

As they came in to one of the homes, they saw that the people owned two televisions. The kids asked something of their mother that all of us think in the back of our minds but maybe would not say (kids are always the most honest human beings on earth), “how can they have two televisions and not be able to buy food.”

As we drive on Glades Road to get on the Turnpike, we see more and more people asking for money, and a lot of us may have the same thought: if they got a job, maybe they wouldn't have to beg, or why would I give them money when I know where it's really going, alcohol or drugs? But my question is, do we have the right not to give knowing these things?

We are on the cusp of a very special holiday, the holiday of Purim. All holidays have their own special mitzvoth, and this holiday is no different. We are commanded to read the megillah twice, in the evening and in the morning, we are commanded to have a Purim seudah, a festive meal, on the day of Purim, and at this meal, we are supposed to let loose and have a blast with some help if you know what I mean. Another commandment is Mishloach Manot, where we exchange gifts of food with friends and family. And a third mitzvah is called Matanot L'Evyonim – gifts to the poor.

These mitzvoth all work together. We come together as a community to hear the Purim story, to eat and be merry together at our communal meals, and we give gifts to each other, Mishloach Manot. But one very important mitzvah may not involve members of what we would define as members of “our” community: Matanot L'Evyonim.

Matanot L'Evyonim is usually translated as charity or tzedakah for the poor, but the actual translation is “gifts for the poor”. This tells us something: on other days, we give tzedakah or charity to the poor, but today we are giving them gifts.

The Shulchan Aruch, one of the most authoritative law codes in our tradition written by Rabbi Yosef Karo, tells us how we are supposed to do this mitzvah.

1. Everyone is obliged to give at least two gifts to two poor people. In addition to this, one must also give at least 3 Mahazit HaShekel (half shekels – the equivalent of $5) to charity as well.

We see here that there is a requirement for how many people you are to give to: 2, and you also must give to a general charity fund. Not only are you helping individual people, but some of your money goes to help many people.

This mitzvah gives us both the personal touch, giving to a person with a face and a story, and also gives us the feeling of helping solve a larger problem and giving to those who we may not reach in person but who we know is struggling for a meal.

The second law: We are not allowed to divert money for the poor for another charity.

We all have our charities that we support. For some it is an Israeli cause, like AIPAC or Friends of the IDF, for some it is a synagogue, in short, we all have our own charities. Rabbi Karo is telling us: today we define these gifts in a narrow way: it is to help the poor. But, the Rema, Rabbi Moshe Isserlis, an Ashkenazi Rabbi who wrote a gloss to the Shulchan Aruch discussing cases where Ashkenazi and Sephardi cases differ, adds something very interesting.

He writes that there are limitations to what the giver can do with these gifts, but the receiver, the poor person, can do whatever they want with the gifts. The point of the gift seems to be tied to the Purim Seudah, and the Mishloach Manot. A poor person should have the right to have a feast as well or to give out gifts to friends, or to give to people even less fortunate than them!

But the Rema is giving us a warning here. He is telling us that it is not to us to judge the poor on how they use the gifts we are giving them. It is the essence of this holiday. On all other days of the year, we question where our money is going, but on this day, we do not question, rather we give presents, matanot.

I told a story of a congregant who was questioned by their children about giving to the poor when they seemingly misuse the money. His or her answer was: it is not your job to judge these people, your job is to give to them.

The Shulchan Aruch goes on to say that you should not discriminate who you give to, whether Jew or non-Jew, and whoever asks for money on this day, should get it, and we cannot be shy about giving.

This is a heavy burden. As students in New York and Jerusalem, we used to leave the seminary to search for people asking for money on the street, it seemed almost absurd! It was like opposite day: we were searching to give instead of others searching to receive.

We read in our parashah, Tetzaveh, about a different aspect of the buidling of the mishkan, the human responsibility that was involved. The priests, the kohanim, were set aside from the rest of the tribes to serve in the Temple. The parashah devotes almost 50 vereses, over half the parashah, to describe the clothing of the priests in detail. None of the other tribes had to wear these clothes, only the priests, and the clothes were vital in the service that they had to do.

Although we still have priests, the Torah mentions that the whole Jewish people are a “Mamlechet Kohanim” a nation of priests.

As modern Jews, we do not wear special clothes all the time, so it is hard for us to remember to do God's work at all times. But tomorrow, we will be wearing special clothes, costumes. We will be set apart from everyone else, and it gives us a tremendous opportunity.

As we are driving to along tomorrow, we will see people in the corners asking for money. All have their stories on the signs that they hold: single mother, injured veteran, homeless and out of work. On all other days, we question the signs and the stories, and we may even judge, but not today.

Tomorrow, we give gifts to the poor, not charity. We don't ask what people will do with gifts, we give them of our hearts. We don't judge what people will do with gifts, we just give them.

Tomorrow, we give gifts because our tradition tells us that we are all connected. Everyone deserves a meal, everyone deserves a gift at least once a year with no strings attached.

Rabbi Baum's Divrei Torah Archives

5770 (2009-2010)

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