Reeh 5775:      Keep Giving

By Rabbi Joshua (generously known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

Among the many mitzvos in Parshas Re’eh, we find the mitzvah of tzedakah, of giving charity to a needy person. In three instances in the parsha, the obligation is formulated using a double expression.  First, we are told, “you shall not harden your heart nor shall you close your hand, against your destitute brother.  Rather, opening you shall open (pasoach tiftach) your hand to him, and grant him you shall grant (ha’avet ta’avitenu) him enough for his lack (Devarim 15:7-8).  In the next verse, a third double expression is used: “giving you shall give (nason titein) (Devarim 15:9).  The Rambam, in his Mishnah commentary to Bava Metzia (chapter two), explains the use of a double expression in regard to returning lost objects - hasheiv teshiveim, or, return you shall return them, as being in the infinitive mode, meaning that it is an action that must be continually done, constantly attempting to return the objects to their owners.  Applying this explanation to our verse, we can apply another teaching of the Rambam, who says that if, for example a person has a hundred dollars to give to charity, it is better to give one dollar a hundred times than to give the entire amount at one time, because the repetition of the action serves to sear that activity into one’s conscience.  In this sense, the double expressions of giving can denote a constant repetition of the act of giving.

 

Interestingly, in regard to the first and third double expressions in our verses, we find a number of commentators who suggest explanations that divide the two parts of the expression so that the two words teach two separate things.  Rav Shlomo Ganzfried, in his Aperion, offers five different explanations of this kind for the third double expression, nason titein, of which we will mention the first three.  First, he says that the word ‘nason’ is an allusion to the verse in Divrei HaYamim (29:14, and see Pirkei Avos, 3:7) in which David, addressing God, says” for everything is from You, and from Your Hand we have given You,” meaning that a man’s wealth is given to him by God, and, he, in turn, then gives charity from that wealth.  In another explanation, Rabbi Ganzfried says that a poor man must also give tzedakah from that which is given to him. Alternatively, he says that, sometimes, a person benefits through the act of giving.  For example, the Talmud in Kiddushin says that one benefits enough, by giving a gift to an important person, enough to constitute the amount of silver required to effect a marital acquisition.  Our verse, then, is saying that one should give charity, whether or not he benefits, from the act of giving.

 

In regard to the first double expression, pasoach tiftach, the Ba’al HaTurim says when one gives charity to a poor person, he should give it in two ways. He should provide him with his material needs, and also lift his spirits with words of encouragement. The Netziv, although not referring explicitly to this explanation, seems to have had it in mind in his comments on our verses. He says that the verses of pasoach tiftach and of nason titein are referring to two different scenarios. The first  verse mentions ‘your brother', and refers to someone with whom you are acquainted, who lives in your proximity, and whose needs you are familiar with.  In regard to such a person, one should give a sizable donation, to the best of his ability. The verse of nason titein, however, refers, according to the Talmud (Bava Metzia 34) to a small donation, and speaks, according to the Netziv, of a poor man who goes from house to house, with whom you are not acquainted. Even in such a case, explains the Netziv, one must give a small donation, with a cheerful countenance. The need for a cheerful countenance, it would seem, would certainly apply to the first kind of poor man, and this requirement may reflect the explanation of the Ba’al HaTurim.