Parashat Re'eh- A Reason to Give Charity
**This week's Parasha Dedicated for Refuah Shelemah of Eliyahu Chaim ben Shefikah Sofiah**
The Torah in Parashat Re’eh instructs us how to respond when encountering a poor person: "If there will be an impoverished person among you, one of your brethren from one of your communities, do not harden your heart and do not close your hand from your brother the impoverished person. For you shall surely open your hand to him…" (15:7-8).
A number of commentators raise the question of why the Torah writes both "do not close your hand" as well as "you shall surely open your hand." Once we are instructed not to "close our hand" from the poor, we immediately understand that we must "open our hand" to them. Why, then, did the Torah present both commands?
The commentators explain that the Torah here realizes that people are naturally hesitant to give charity because of the erroneous, subconscious feeling that they can keep their wealth with them for eternity. People have a tendency to feel so secure in their wealth, to the point where they assume that it will remain with them for all time. In truth, of course, nothing could be further from the truth. All people leave this world empty-handed; regardless of how much wealth they amassed during their time on earth, they take nothing with them as they proceed to the next world. The Sages noted that a child exits his mother’s womb with clenched fists, symbolizing the aggressive instinct to acquire possessions. But after one hundred and twenty years, when a person passes on, before he is interred his palms are outstretched, to show that he takes nothing with him as he leaves this world. It has been noted that for this very reason, shrouds are never made with pockets, yet another reminder that a person brings no material goods with him to the next world.
This may thus be the meaning of the aforementioned verses in Parashat Re’eh. The Torah urges us not to "close our hands" and refuse to give to charity, because, after all, "you shall surely open your hands" – we will leave this world with our hands "open," with none of the assets we acquired during our lifetime. The motivation for giving charity is this realization of the temporary nature of wealth, the fact that we cannot take our material possessions with us to the next world. We might as well share our wealth already during our lifetime with those in need of assistance, since in any event it will not remain with us in the world to come.
This verse perhaps alludes to another reason to give charity, as well. The Gemara tells the story of a student who slipped while going up stairs and sustained an injury. A Rabbi asked him if he had perhaps been confronted by a poor person and refused to assist him, for which he was punished by falling down stairs. Indeed, the student recalled that earlier that day, a man in need approached him for help and he did not give him anything. The Rabbi explained that refusing to give charity is akin to idolatry, for which one is liable to stoning. Slipping and falling down stairs resembles stoning, and for this reason the student was punished in this fashion.
The Vilna Gaon (Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, 1720-1797) noted that the Rabbi’s remarks are alluded to in the Te’amim (cantillation notes) in this verse. The notes under the words "Ki Pato’ah Tiftah" ("For you shall surely open") are "Darga" and "Tebir," the Aramaic words for "step" and "broken." These notes thus allude to the fact that one who fails to open his hands and generously support people in need is punished through a "broken ladder," by falling in the manner described in the Gemara.
This should remind us that charitable donations are beneficial not only to the recipient, but also to the donor himself, who escapes punishment and earns great reward through the assistance he lends to his brethren in need.
