Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

Take heed to yourself that there be no unworthy thought in your heart saying

'the seventh year, the year of release is at hand', and then your eye looks

evilly towards your needy brother and you would not give to him, then he

would cry to G-d against you, and a sin would be upon you. [Devarim 15:9]

Throughout the Torah we are instructed to be generous to our needy brethren.

What does our verse here add?

The point under discussion in this paragraph is the release of debts during

the Shemittah year. If one is unwilling to make a loan shortly before

Shemittah, because he would never receive repayment, then one is in violation

of the precepts of this verse. To a Torah-observant Jew, this might seem so

obvious that one might have to wonder why the Torah bothers to reiterate.

The first point to understand is that when the verse says "and you would not

give to him", it may not refer to a gift. Rav Hirsch, for example, says that

it means a loan. One would not expect a gift to be repaid no matter when it

was given, so the fact that the verse ties it to "year of release" requires

that it mean 'loan'. Yet, many others treat the transaction as a gift.

Chasam Sofer says that one may not refuse to give a gift at this point (before

the Shemittah) with the claim that he will give even more at another time,

such as Purim. When it comes to giving to the needy, now is better than later.

Bechor Shor understands our verse to teach that we may not say that this poor

person deserved his position as a punishment from G-d and that we must not

override such a punishment by giving his needs now.

Those commentators are concentrating on the needs of the poor person. Others

look instead at the needs of the donor. The Dubno Maggid explains our verse as

meaning that one should not just give when doing well financially, but even

when not doing well.

Nachshoni says that the money is not ours to do with as we wish. We are merely

custodians for the real owner, G-d. It is up to Him to decide how to distribute

it. This does not prohibit private ownership of property, but it does place

limits on what we may do with our possessions.

Rav Moshe Feinstein understands that the expression in the verse before ours,

"'open your hand' to your poor brethren, teaches that one should give charity

as if he has renounced ownership in the money, so the poor person can take it,

instead of receiving it as a gift from the donor." This teaches that the

dignity of the poor person must be preserved. He says further, "this shows

that even after a person has given charity, if he later regrets his charity he

transgresses these commandments."

Koheles [6:1-2] tells us, "There is evil under the sun, which I saw, and it is

common among the people. A man to whom G-d has given riches, wealth and honor

so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet G-d does not

give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it. This is vanity and it is

an evil disease." On this, Nachshoni explains, "the Torah stresses that when

one opens his hands to the poor, he is at the same time opening the gates to

his own soul and will be cured of the evil of not being in control of his own

possessions."

Elsewhere in the Torah we learn the commandment to give to those around us

who need. Here, we learn that this benefits the giver even more than the

recipient. G-d will ensure the poor person gets his needs filled somehow.

As Mordechai told Esther, "if not through you, then through others" and it

will be you who suffers. The lesson is that what we have is not ours, but

belongs to G-d. We may use it so long as we use it as He wishes.