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Meaning in Mitzvot -
Lesson 22

Simanim 33-34 - Dangerous Practices and Laws of Charity

21.09.2014
Text file

 

SIMAN 33 - DANGEROUS PRACTICES

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The main topic of this chapter is the avoidance of any practice which may be dangerous to one's health.  In se'if 7 Rav Ganzfried mentions the famous dictum of our Sages, "A danger is more severe than a transgression" (Chullin 10a).  This is obviously related to the idea of the previous chapter which discusses the importance of safeguarding our health.  If we look carefully at the previous siman, we see that really there are two different reasons to care for our body:

1.  We care for our body because good health helps us carry out God's work.  This is implicit in the citation Rav Ganzfried brings from the Rambam at the beginning of siman 32, "It is impossible to understand or know anything of Godliness in illness."

2.  We care for our body because the body is God's handiwork and a manifestation of God's image, and for that reason is worthy of respect.

 

Likewise, we avoid danger because we are anxious to maintain our ability to serve God.  The Talmud (Shabbat 151b) tells us that one reason we may perform forbidden labors to save life is "Desecrate for him one Shabbat so that he may keep many Shabbatot."  And the Rambam explains that if a circumcision is dangerous for a child, we delay the circumcision since "We can perform a circumcision any time but we can never restore a lost life" (Mila 1:18).

 

And we also avoid danger because of the very sanctity of life.  We are commanded to protect the life even of an unconscious person on the verge of death, who has no expectation of being able to carry out God's service (see siman 194:1).

 

HUMAN DIGNITY (se'if 9)

 

Rav Ganzfried explains that the Torah prohibition of not making ourselves repulsive by eating bugs and the like is extended to prohibit eating anything that people find repulsive.  The essential basis for SPIRITUAL elevation is enlightened and thoughtful HUMAN behavior - giving appropriate expression to our special human dignity.

 

The special importance of human dignity in the halakha was discussed in siman 9 se'if 20.

 

 

RESPECT FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT - NATURAL AND HUMAN (SIMAN 11)

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The Kitzur mentions the Torah prohibition of cutting down a fruit tree.  In the Torah, this prohibition is presented in the context of the commandment to offer our enemies in war the possibility of a truce (Devarim chapter 20).  The Torah then commands us that even when we make a siege, we should spare the fruit trees, asking, "For is the tree a person, that it needs to suffer under your siege?"

 

Judaism is not a pacifistic religion, and the Torah permits and occasionally commands us to engage in war.  Even in our host countries during the long years of exile, Jews have been ready when necessary to bear their share of the security burden.  (See Igrot Moshe YD II:158, MB 329:16.)  But war is never seen as something wonderful and glorious, rather as an occasional unfortunate necessity, and we are obligated to try to minimize its destruction.

 

Our translation, following Rashi, understands the language of the verse as a question.  The verse can also be read as a statement: "For man is a tree of the field."  According to this reading, this mitzva echoes the previous mitzva of always offering a truce: Don't cut down a fruit tree unnecessarily, causing wanton destruction.  And man is also a tree of the field - be careful not to destroy your fellow man either, even in time of war, unless the military situation leaves no other alternative.

 

AVOIDING OMINOUS SPEECH (se'if 14)

 

Rav Ganzfried explains that we should avoid saying anything which seems to wish or declare misfortune on a fellow Jew.  This law is closely related to the one from siman 30 which forbids saying anything which denigrates our fellow Jew.  The halakha takes the power of words seriously and encourages a positive outlook by encouraging positive speech.

 

 

SIMAN 34 - LAWS OF CHARITY

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Many important principles of our faith are evident from the laws of tzedaka.

 

A MERE CARETAKER (se'if 1)

 

Sometimes we are reluctant to give charity not because we have any actual need for the money but because of the special connection we feel to our possessions.  Our sages recognize and legitimize this feeling to a certain extent, and the Talmud says "The righteous value their possessions even more than their bodies, since they distance themselves from stealing" (Sota 12a).  And we learned from the special Erev Yom Kippur prayer brought in siman 131 that resources we acquire through our own efforts are like a gift directly from HaShem.

 

However, there is a limit to our special connection to our possessions.  After all, "you can't take it with you."  Rav Ganzfried explains that ultimately we are only the caretakers of our possessions, special trustees appointed by God to administer this sacred trust according to the interests and desires of their Master.

 

At a deeper level, it is precisely because of the fact that we DO enjoy a special tie to our possessions that the power of charity is so great.  Because our possessions are like an extension of our selves, when we give of our property, we are in a certain sense giving of our own selves.  We fulfill the mitzva of the "forgotten sheaf" by leaving it for the poor after it has already been forgotten!  And Rashi (Vayikra 5:17) teaches from this that even if a person loses a coin and a poor person finds it and benefits from it, this is a special blessing for the giver.

 

GENTLE BEHAVIOR TOWARDS BEGGARS (se'if 7)

 

Rav Ganzfried sternly warns us to adopt a gentle and encouraging demeanor towards the seeker of alms.  This admonition needs to be understood even in the context of his warning in se'if 11 that the poor themselves may sometimes be abusive.

 

A poor person is desperate for his minimal needs, and his patience is likely to be short.  In addition, poverty is a terrible blow to a person's self-esteem, and many people view failure to make a living as a judgment regarding their self-worth.  For many people, indeed, poverty is a RESULT of a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem.  

 

For this reason, tremendous patience and forbearance are needed when speaking to the poor.  Even if they may sometimes be abusive, we are required to speak gently and be encouraging.  Only then can the poor person be helped to overcome the negative feelings which will prevent him from pulling himself out of his sorrows and which may indeed have been responsible for them in the first place.

 

THE OBLIGATION TO WORK (se'if 15)

 

Rav Ganzfried, following our sages (Pesachim 113a, Bava Batra 110a), urges a person to live in straitened circumstances and work even in an undignified profession rather than seek charity.  (When possible - as explained in se'if 16.) The rationale for this advice is not practical but religious.  Rav Ganzfried is not worried about the community being burdened by the poor person but rather is concerned about the poor person himself.

 

We see from several halakhot in the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh that self-sufficiency has a religious value.  At the end of siman 28, we learned that even though it is better NOT to sell a sefer Torah for ongoing needs, it IS appropriate to sell a sefer Torah in order to marry or study Torah - indicating a special importance for self-sufficiency in these areas.  In the special Erev Yom Kippur prayer at the end of siman 131 we see that money earned is considered a special gift from HaShem.  

 

Adam and Chava did not have to work to support themselves.  All of their needs were provided for in the Garden of Eden.  Only after their sin was the decree made that man's livelihood was dependent on the "sweat of his brow."  This was a punishment or penance, but simultaneously a way of repairing and overcoming the damage of sin.  (The same is true of exile, as we explained in siman 19).  As we explained in siman 29, the Midrash relates that following the sin of Adam and Chava and this decree, the way to the Torah - the tree of life - is through "derekh eretz."

 

Man is created in God's image, and our ultimate striving is to realize this image by acting in a Godly manner as much as possible.  However, we experience God's influence on a number of levels.  God is the Creator of the material world; He is the divine Judge, the Source of moral authority; and He is the Transcendent One, Master of worlds quite beyond the natural and even the social realities which we experience.  

 

This ordering is easily understood.  We consider our moral and intellectual capabilities, which are unique to man, to be on a higher level than our physical abilities, which are common to animals also.  Our special spiritual potential, which is especially evident in the Jewish people - the people of prophecy - is on a higher level still.  

 

Adam and Chava faced a challenge which was essentially moral: to obey their divine Master and to respect His property.  Proper moral behavior on their part would have been the pathway to spiritual perfection.  Instead, they valued their material, animal nature above the moral imperative.  Having placed ourselves on this lower level, mankind is now required to imitate this level of Godliness as well - to be a partner with God in the process of preparing the natural and material world to be an appropriate habitat for moral and spiritual behavior.  We became obligated to work the soil, to earn a living.

 

Just as it is impossible to "skip" to spirituality by striving for prophetic experience without thoughtful MORAL behavior, so it is impossible for mankind as a whole to take a shortcut and reach the levels ABOVE material repair without passing THROUGH this level.

 

In its own way, this level too is the abode of "imitatio Dei" - going in the ways of God.  The great Chasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Breslav writes, "We are obligated to engage in commerce and labor because this is His will.  For there are great secrets and meanings in all our occupation with commerce and work.  Just as there are great meanings and secrets in all the mitzvot of the Torah, likewise there are awesome and wonderful secrets in all of the thirty-nine [archetypical] labors" (Likutei Halakhot Shabbat III:3).

 

An often quoted Midrash relates that Chanokh (of whom it is related in Bereshit 5:22 that he "went with God") was a cobbler.  "Chanokh was a sewer of shoes, and on every stitch he would say, 'Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever'" (Mikhlol HaMaamarim VeHaPitgamim gives the source as "Midrash Talpiot").

 

In siman 17, we explained at length the meaning of this expression, which is always adjoined to the reading of the Shema.  This phrase expresses our recognition of how unworthy we are of the great merit to unify God's name on earth (God's kingdom).  Someone who is on the spiritual level where he "walks with God" - and who acts with the appropriate concentration and intention - is able to recognize that even sewing shoes can be an expression of God's sovereignty and a unification of His name.

 

Any poor person is permitted to seek alms, but someone in this position will draw himself closer to God and His ways if he makes the best advantage of his straitened state to obtain his livelihood directly from HaShem through taking part in the world's material repair, just as he takes part in its moral and spiritual elevation.

 

 

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