Reader: What constitutes
giving of charity? Does giving money to the poor, or to a street person asking
for a handout, count? Does giving money to an organization like the Red Cross
count?
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: The Shulchan Aruch states that giving to other
nations is categorized as part of Tzedaka, as a “path of peace”. So you may
count that charity as part of your 20%. However, and this applies even to Jews,
one must not give to a person who is a sinner, and has not repented. Of course
this is difficult to assess, but based on the principle of “Judging your friend
favorably”, we must not assume others sin with no reason. Furthermore, as a
Rabbi once taught, we are not permitted to turn down any poor person’s request.
But we need not give so much, since he or she asks of all people. Therefore,
the obligation to “supply all he or she lacks”, does not fall squarely on any
one individual; we may give a beggar 25 cents. But our giving in general is
limited to 20% maximum. The only exceptions are multimillionaires, and those on
their deathbed – both may disperse more than 20%.
Reader: If one is supposed
to give 20%, is some degree of rounding acceptable? For example, if 20% of a
paycheck turned out to be $228.328, should we round to the nearest cent, or can
we round to the nearest dollar? I don’t mean to split hairs here; just want to
make sure that I do it correctly.
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: I would follow Maimonides’ teaching that the
mitzvah of Tzedaka, more than all other positive commands, requires the most
care. I would round “upwards”, to either a cent or a dollar, as you wish in
each case. But make sure not to exceed 20% total on all profits of the year.
Reader: If I receive a
settlement in an automobile accident that includes an amount over and above
actual damages - an amount designed to make up for loss of time, pain and
suffering, etc. - is that amount subject to charity?
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: It seems to me that such a settlement is also
profit, and would be subject to Tzedaka.
Reader: I work for a large
firm. My paycheck is calculated something like this:
Gross pay
minus federal taxes
minus Social Security taxes
minus amount used to purchase
company stock
minus my cost of elective
benefits
minus a state tax
minus an amount set aside to pay
for health care expenses with pre- tax dollars (this is elective)
minus my elective contribution to
a 401(k) retirement plan
equals net pay.
I have been assuming that the
correct amount on which to calculate charity is as follows:
Gross pay
minus federal taxes
minus Social Security taxes
minus state tax
minus my elective contribution to
a 401(k) retirement plan (which I would presume to pay charity on once it is
withdrawn)
equals net pay for the
calculation of charity.
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: Yes, that is correct.
Torahless Torah
Reader: Rabbi: Allow me to
commend you on yet another excellent article, the one appearing this week
entitled “Why the World was Created.” In the context of the article, twice you
raised the issue of our Avot fulfilling the mitzvoth. This issue has always
caused me some acute disquiet since, as you say in your article:
“God cannot command mad to
celebrate the Egyptian Exodus, until it occurred. So it is clear that the Torah
of 613 commands could not possibly exist in early generations. The Rabbinic
commentaries that state “Abraham celebrated Passover” must be understood on a
deeper lever, since the Exodus did not yet transpire.”
Your observations caused me to
ruminate and investigate exactly what the Hachamim meant when they stated the
Avot fulfilled the mitzvoth and what esoteric message they sought to impart. I
flipped back a few parashot and looked at the Akeida Yitzhak. Specifically, just as Abraham was about to
plunge the knife into his most beloved son Yitzhak and offer his child up to
Hashem as a korban, Hashem prevents this most perplexing of deeds and tells him
in Bereshit Chapter 22 verse 12. “Do
not lay a hand on the boy”, he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know
that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only
son.”
What does it mean that Hashem
only now knows that Abraham fears Hashem? Which Abraham is Hashem referring to?
The Abraham who had already passed nine (9) previous tests in which his fealty
to God was tested and in each and every circumstance his fidelity to Hashem was
proven to be unsurpassed? The Abraham who founded ethical monotheism – an idea
that is unsurpassed in its impact in the entire course of world history? The
Abraham who is 99 years old and has only shown love and dedication to Hashem
since his early age? So given everything that preceded the Akeda, how could it
be that only now Hashem knows that Abraham fears God? Moreover, by all accounts
this fear of God is apparently the apotheosis of knowledge and love of God
since God required no further tests of Abraham. What exactly is this fear of
God that we should aspire to?
If one turns to Devarim 10:12 I
think we may find the answer. There, Moshe tells us: “And now, O Israel, what
does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God.” What is it
that Moshe is asking Israel in asking that they “fear the Lord our God.” What
does that entail? How does one fear God? Simply continue on with the verse and
the answer unveils itself - “to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” And that was
Abraham, to wit, in fulfilling the dictate to sacrifice his own son; Abraham
demonstrated that he loved Hashem with all his heart and with all his soul. He
was the paragon of faith and the quintessential Jew. As stated in your article,
“Abraham possessed the same perfections “as if” he celebrated Passover.”
In allowing himself to fulfill
every command, he demonstrated to the world that he loved Hashem with all his
heart and with all his soul; a level that stands as the ultimate standard by
which we all are to aspire. But the question remains – how do we simple Jews
“serve the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart and with all [our] soul.” While
we may aspire to be an Abraham, we are certainly not there yet. Is there any
message the Torah can impart that can help us reach this most sought after, yet
elusive of goals? Certainly, just continue reading the next sentence – “observe
the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.”
Thus, by observing Hashem’s commands and decrees, or more specifically, the
mitzvoth we too can be on our way towards “serve the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul.”
Which brings us back to the
original question - what did the Hachamim mean when they stated the Avot
fulfilled the mitzvoth? Simple – inasmuch as Abraham proved that he feared
Hashem he had shown that he had indeed “serve[d] the LORD God with all [his]
heart and with all [his] soul” as if he had “observed the Lord’s commands and
decrees.” As you stated in your article, “Most people aren’t an Abraham. Thus,
we need a Torah to assist us towards a lifestyle Abraham led. For Abraham, it as if he followed all the
mitzvoth since he wholly and fully responded to the call of “what does the Lord
your God ask of you.” For us post-Sinaitic Jews, we must follow the mitzvoth –
but not for Hashem’s good but “for our own good.”
Respectfully,
Genes, Genders and Gentiles
Reader: Rabbi Moshe
Ben-Chaim, by reading your site I’ve learned that for Judaism, all human beings
are Gods creatures and that even if the role of Jews are different from that of
Gentiles, we all have the same rights. Have I understood well?
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: Yes, that is correct. However, there are technical
differences that must be understood in each and every case. On the surface,
certain laws might appear racially biased.
Reader: People quote the
Talmud out of context and use them to “demonstrate” that Judaism is a racist
religion. Maimonides states in his Mishneh Torah, (Hilchot Rotze’ach 2:11): “A
Jew who killed a righteous Gentile is not executed in a court of law.” Can you
explain me in what context this affirmation can have sense?
I think it is very limitative to
divide the world in Jews and non-Jews, I think there are very different kind of
persons. When in the Talmud there is a statement about gentiles, does it
regards to all gentiles? Are we considered with free will? Are we recognized by
our acts?
Thanks for your time,
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: Not all Gentiles are referred to in all cases.
There are righteous Gentiles and there are idolatrous and even murderous
Gentiles, as we witness in Iraq and Israel. And a Jew can exhibit the same
exact behavior. But it would be a fair statement to say that observant Jews and
Noachide Gentiles are less inclined to idolatry and murder, than are
non-Noachide Gentiles and non-observant Jews; the latter lack Torah education.
This is not racist, but simply true. It is equally true that religious
fundamentalists are more inclined to murder themselves and others, than are
other Gentiles. This commentary applies to cultures, not to genes emanating
from certain religious groups. This is clear from Esav’s great sins, while his
twin Jacob was a prophet who abstained from sin. There are Jews who side with
Palestinians in Israeli day parades, and others who violate idolatry, deifying
their Rebbe as infallible and still alive, and a worthy recipient of their
faxed message to his grave.
Let us be mindful that before God
gave the Torah, there were 7 Noachide Laws, which applied to each and every
human, including the prohibition of murder. After God gave the Torah, He did
not lessen the evil of murder. It was not ‘then’ permitted to kill people after
the Torah was given! Surely, the Torah came to enforce greater laws, not weaken
laws. Such laws teach for whom we violate the Sabbath to save a life, and who
are not worthy of such acts. God created morality, and He alone dictates what
life is worthy of saving, when it creates a Sabbath violation. It is not our
place to determine the value of each individual life, in any given
circumstance. Those who attempt to do so, in fact, disagree with the Creator of
life.
The author of the Shulchan Aruch
comments on Maimonides’ words, stating that although the human courts can no
longer punish the murderer of a righteous Gentile, the murderer’s fate is
nonetheless handed over to God. Therefore, the sin is equally evil, but the ‘administration’
of punishment has been transferred from human courts, to God. Perhaps this
transfer after Torah was given, was not to lessen the crime of killing any
human, but to elevate the crime of killing a Jew: one who now upholds God’s
complete system of 613 Laws. When one law appears to be lowered in gravity, it
may not mean at all that the crime is lessened, but the lowered status has
another aim: to elevate something relative to it.
As a Rabbi once taught, men do
not ridicule a woman in their morning blessing “Blessed are You that I was not
created a woman”. This blessing is a relative means of thanking God for the
additional laws we possess as men. The very order of the prayers bears out this
truth. We first thank God that we are not without Torah: not a Gentile. But we
do not ridicule a Gentile with this statement. We don’t now why God created one
person as a Jew, and another as a Gentile. A Jew cannot claim intrinsic
superiority over a Gentile. It is one’s perfection that elevates him or her. Many
Gentiles are more righteous than some Jews. I can attest to that personally.
We then bless God for not being
with fewer laws: a slave. And then we bless God for not being created a woman,
who has more laws than slaves, but less than men. The progression of these
three blessings indicates that we are in fact not ridiculing other humans, but
that we are most thankful when compared to Gentiles, less thankful when
compared to slaves, and even less, but still thankful, when compared to women.
Again, the fact that I am a man, in no way means I am more perfected than a
woman, a slave, or a Gentile. We simply recite our appreciation as men, for
additional obligations. God created a system where men and women are essential.
Each possesses their own role for mankind. And just because someone is created
a woman, this does not mean men’s laws are restricted from her performance. For
any woman, slave or Gentile may follow the entire Torah. But again, God’s
wisdom decreed that genders, Gentiles, and Children of Israel exist.
Man could not exist without a
female parent. So it is quite foolish to ridicule women. We also could not
exist, had God not created the first Gentiles! Unfortunately, many egotistical
Jews read one statement, and then jump to suggest it elevates them over other
humans. To those Jews, I remind them of this: Messiah, King David and King
Solomon all descended from Ruth the righteous Gentile. Abraham, Noah and Adam
were all Gentiles.
Some statements do ridicule
Gentiles since they do not abide by God’s laws, and many times violate them.
And the same ridicule is made regarding Jews. In the first letter in this
week’s issue, I respond to a reader who inquired of giving charity to Gentiles,
which we must do. The Torah also teaches that a Jew who sinned and did not
repent is not given charity. A Jew who kills, or brazenly violates even minor
Torah laws, is killed. (Maimonides’ Hilchot Rotze’ach, 4:10)
When one’s father and Rabbi are
both thrown from a ship, and neither can swim, the Rabbi must be saved first. This
displays the Torah’s value system. If someone killed accidentally, the court
does not sentence him to death since he did not comply with Torah laws of
“intent” or premeditation. If someone kills another by not giving him food,
there is a lack of “action”, and again, he is not treated as another, who
killed with a gun, where activity is present. Nonetheless, Maimonides still
calls him a murderer (ibid, 3:11) and adds, “One who seeks out blood, his blood
will be sought out”. The Torah has precise definitions, and can only be
appreciated after much study, since God’s wisdom is not easily apprehended, nor
are people’s emotions easily changed.
I mean by all these examples, to
unveil a very exact system of Torah, one that demands we abandon infantile
ideas, and elevate our thinking, and decide matters not based on subjective
preferences, but by God’s wisdom. This does not happen quickly…but with earnest
study, it can.
A Gentile is required to keep a
very minimal system, and those laws’ benefits are apparent. If a Gentile cannot
abide by prohibitions against murder, adultery, stealing and the few others,
this displays a very corrupt individual. If the Gentile kills by accident, he
has failed more grievously than a Jew who killed by accident. So although a Jew
is not killed for accidental murder, a Gentile is. The rule we derive is this:
that which is more incumbent on an individual, is treated more harshly. Thus,
an adult is punished for his robbery, while a child is not. This displays the
same lesson.
Light Flight
Reader: Dear Rabbi Moshe
Ben Chaim, Thank you for your response. Your raised several points which I will
try to address one at a time. Your first point seems to be that if in fact God
created the stars “with a stream of light already in travel” that the “wisest
of men (Einstein) viewing this object’s light and using reasoning will
miscalculate its age. God is really fooling us.” I disagree. Einstein would not
have miscalculated. He would have calculated correctly with the data and
information he had at hand. His answer was correct assuming that the light he
was seeing had in fact emanated from the distant star and taken all that time
to reach him. My point was that it did not necessarily do so, and that he might
have been operating from a false premise. His calculation may have been
accurate, and his conclusion based upon that data correct, but not necessarily
the truth.
The objection that if God did in
fact create the universe this way means He was fooling us does not seem to me
to follow. Chazal tell us that Adam
Harishon was not created as a newborn, but rather as a fully matured
30-year-old male. I of course was not
there, but speculate that if he had undergone a complete physical at the time,
the examiner would have found a 30-year-old male with all the telltale signs of
his body in fact being 30 years old even if he had only been created that day.
There would have been the antibodies of the seven childhood illnesses in his
system, a degree of tooth decay consistent with that of a 30 year old, as well
as the age appropriate amount of arteriosclerosis in his arteries for example.
Similarly, God could have created
the universe 5766 years ago, that had all the history of a 15 billion year old
universe, with all the telltale signs there for whoever looked for them,
including already existing streams of light reaching Earth from the far distant
corners of the universe with out them actually having traversed those
distances. This hypothesis is
internally consistent, and therefore no less valid than any other.
Finally you state that I
contradict myself regarding when I seem to trust my senses and when I do not. I
see no such contradiction. I do not “Without basis, reject senses and reason in
connection with age issues.” I simply put forth for consideration an internally
consistent alternate explanation, that addresses in a totally plausible manner
(God after all, is omnipotent) the apparent contradiction between a 6,000 year
old universe and a 10 million year old photon appearing on Earth’s horizon.
Sincerely
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: Fred, the one great distinction between Adam’s
adult creation, and the star’s light assumed to be created “touching Earth”, is
that God informed man of Adam’s age, but not of the light’s creation already
reaching Earth. Therefore, the analogy is not accurate.
What I mean about contradicting
yourself is this: on the one hand, you accept the distance of the star based on
laws of vision and physics. On the other, you reject your very same perceptions
of light’s physics, and claim that time was unnecessary for its travel. Without
God informing us – as He did regarding to Adam – that He created the star’s
light touching the Earth, we should not assume He did so.
Song Sense
Reader: Dear Rabbi, While
davening Shachris, I became more aware of the numerous references in our
prayers to Music, Song, Musical Instruments, and Singing. When I returned home I made the following
list of these occasions:
Psalm 30: “You undid my sackcloth
and girded me with gladness. So that my soul might make music to You and not be
stilled, Hashem my G-d, forever will I thank you.”
Baruch She’amar: “We shall laud
You, Hashem our G-d, with praises and songs.”
1 Chronicles 16:8-36: “Sing to
Him, make music to him.”
Psalms 144:15: “I will sing to
Hashem, for he dealt kindly with me.”
Psalm 100: “Come before Him with
joyous song.”
Halleluyah! Praise Hashem O my
soul! I will praise Hashem while I live. I will make music to my G-d while I
exist.
Halleluyah! For it is good to
make music to our G-d,for praise is pleasant and befitting. Call out to Hashem
with thanks, with the harp, sing to our G-d.
Halleluyah! Praise Hashem with
the blast of the shofar; praise Him with lyre and harp. Praise Him with drum
and dance; praise Him with organ and flute. Praise Him with clanging cymbals;
praise Him with resonant trumpets. Then Moses and the Children of Israel chose
to sing this song to Hashem, and they said the following: I shall sing to
Hashem for He is exalted above the arrogant, having hurled horse with its rider
into the sea. May Your Name be praised forever-Our King, the G-d, the great and
holy King-in Heaven and on earth. Because for You is fitting-O Hashem, our G-d,
and the G-d of our forefathers-song and praise, lauding and hymns. Blessed are
You Hashem who chooses musical songs of praise.
And on each day of the week, a
special song was sung in the Temple which we now mimic.
What place does song and
instruments hold in Judaism?
Thank you,
Rabbi
Moshe Ben-Chaim: A Rabbi once explained why the Final Psalm 150 is
about instruments alone. He explained that although we attempt with all our
abilities to praise God, and express ourselves with the highest level of
expression, meaning with songs, our attempts fall short. “We cannot know God
while alive.” Therefore, we cannot praise Him accurately. To demonstrate our
inability to verbalize God’s praises, we end Psalm’s with instruments, and no
words. With our verbal silence, we attest to our inability. Words cannot
describe God, yet we cannot remain silent as sensual and expressive beings.
Therefore, we, in a manner, “clap” using instruments. We denounce human words
and thought as possessing accuracy regarding God’s greatness. Using
instruments, and not saying a word, we simultaneously claim that God deserves
praise, but man cannot accomplish this with words.