Sedra of the week: Re’eh
Rabbi Alex Chapper looks ahead to this week's portion of the Torah
WC Fields once wrote: “A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money.”
This sentiment is the embodiment of the philosophy the Torah tries to engender in us when it says: ‘Do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your needy brother.’ (Devarim 15:7)
We all know that we have a duty to give tzedakah and yet the Torah recognises an all too familiar psyche, the failure to respond to the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves.
The very next verse exhorts a remedy: ‘But you shall surely open your hand to him and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need.’
This double expression of the requirement to give charity implies that we should give freely and without restraint.
Someone who believes their wealth has been achieved solely by the work of their hands is anxious to hold onto to it tightly, to close their hand. The feeling is that such riches are self-earned and need to be closely guarded. This is the mistake that the verse comes to rectify.
The realisation has to be that our financial situation is not all of our own doing – it is not solely the work of our hands. For that reason God instructs, ‘open your hand’.
Just as God determines what makes its way into our hand, so does God determine what should leave our hand.
It’s a strange phenomenon that not only do we have the capacity to ignore our duty to others, but we can also find somewhat ‘legitimate’ excuses for not giving.
Rashi adds insightfully, “Even a hundred times”. If the only way to be charitable is to give repeatedly, then so it has to be done. One act of charity does not make a charitable person. The only way is through continuous acts of charity.
Rabbi Alex Chapper is the community rabbi of Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue
Listen to this week’s episode of The Jewish Views Podcast here:
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
