friday

Sunday, 6 Iyar 5768 – May 11, 2008

Please include Israel's captive soldiers in your tefillot: Zecharia Shlomo ben Miriam Baumel, Tzvi ben Penina Feldman, Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sarah Katz, Ron ben Batya Arad, Guy ben Rina Chever, Gilad ben Aviva Shalit, Eldad ben Tova Regev, Ehud ben Malka Goldwasser.

Yesterday, we discussed the Torah's admonition in Parashat Behar, "Should your brother become impoverished and his position becomes unstable with you – you shall support him…so that your brother shall live with you" (25:35). As we saw, the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 34:1) associates this verse with King David's exclamation in Sefer Tehillim (41:2): "Ashrei maskil el dal" – "Fortunate is he who is thoughtful of the wretched."

After drawing this association between these two verses, the Midrash proceeds to cite a comment by Isi ben Yehuda concerning the aforementioned verse from Tehillim: "Fortunate is he who is thoughtful of the wretched – this refers to someone who gives a coin to a poor man." Many writers raised the question of how a person expresses "thoughtfulness" and empathy with the poor by donating "a coin" to charity. Rarely, if ever, does one alleviate the hardship of poverty by giving a single coin. Why, then, does Isi ben Yehuda interpret the clause "Fortunate is he who is thoughtful of the wretched" as a reference to a one-coin donation to charity?

One answer, perhaps, is that Isi ben Yehuda understood this verse as referring to a person who simply cannot afford a more substantial gift to the poor. Here in Parashat Behar the Torah instructs one to "support" his kinsman in need "so that your brother shall live with you." Quite obviously, not every Jew enjoys the financial means to "support" the impoverished person and bring him from the abyss of destitution to a life of dignity and stability. One might have thus concluded that unless he can provide a comprehensive, long-term solution to the poor man's plight, he is under no obligation to offer assistance. King David thus lauds the "maskil el dal," the one who is wise enough to understand the significance of even modest sums in alleviating the plight of those in need. Someone who "gives a coin to a poor man," who does his small share in supporting the poor, is worthy of admiration even if he cannot reasonably afford a more substantive contribution.

David Silverberg

Comments are welcome.

(c) 2007 Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion.

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