Tzedakah Power
Last week I was in the middle of my daily morning prayer service at a local synagogue and I was approached by a young man from Israel collecting tzedakah.
Let's stop for a moment and think about what an incredible testament this is to timeless Torah values of the Jewish people: There are over 20 Orthodox prayer services in the Cleveland community. Every one of them has people (mostly from Israel) visiting every single day soliciting tzedakah from the men who have gathered to pray. This goes on in every single Jewish community around the world - wow!
Sometimes people may feel put on the spot, or they feel that this custom presents a distraction to their prayers, but by and large, most people recognize this as a golden opportunity to combine tefillah with tzedakah, prayer with charity, and to become worthy of the blessings that they are beseeching from Hashem, G-d, in their prayers. In fact, the mussar masters explain that often G-d will give us opportunities to perform chessed or tzedakah in order to create a Guardian Angel to be there to help us when we need divine assistance.
Back to our feature presentation: the man from Israel asked me to help him. He was walking with a limp and he explained he needed assistance to help cover expenses for a medical condition with his leg. I told him that I'd love to help, and asked him for change of a $20. He said that he didn't have any change. So, I went over to the tzedakah box in the shul, got change for my $20 bill, but by the time I returned to my seat, he was gone.
My first reaction was, "Wow, this is great. The best of both worlds. I receive divine credit for good intentions, and I saved ten bucks!" Then I remembered the mussar masters of Slabodka describe the mitzvah of chessed not as an obligation to fill a need, but to become a giving person, even if the need isn't there. That's why Abraham was sad when no guests were traveling through the desert for him to host - because his desire was to help others. He felt inadequate if he couldn't give. So why am I happy that my tzedakah opportunity disappeared? I chided myself. (This story has a happy ending because I saw the man from Israel a few minutes later.)
The timing of this story was perfect: It happened on the day of our annual JFX campaign, and this forum provides us with an opportunity to say thank you. Ruchi and I were blown away by the generosity and support that we received from over 300 people. Donors, big and small, from 5 figures to 1 digit. Everyone came forward because they wanted to give. We are humbled by everyone's generosity, gratitude and magnanimity. We are extremely grateful to each and every person who assisted us in this campaign and we hope, pray and bless everyone that their gift indeed create a Guardian Angel of protection for them and their families in their time of need!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Koval
