Letters May 2025
Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim
Tzedaka’s Perfection
Howie: Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, and let there be food in My House, and in this put Me to the test said God of Hosts. I will surely open heaven’s storehouses for you and pour down blessings on you more than sufficient.” Here, God guarantees that one who gives tzedaka, can test God to see that he will receive back great wealth. What is the reason you can test God by Tzedaka and nowhere else?
Rabbi: The most difficult thing for man is to forfeit his financial security: “Man gets excited regarding his money” (Sabbath 117, 120). Tzedaka asks man to operate against nature and his view of reality. Giving money decreases one’s resources, placing man at risk. But God teaches that there is another reality, a greater reality than what one sees. Typically, 100-50=50. So man requires God’s guarantee of supernatural providence which offers man security, thereby allowing us to give and feel confident God will return it. If God did not make this guarantee, man rightly fears parting with his much needed resources. But God’s guarantee assures man that God will override nature. It is the mark of perfection when one acts with greater conviction in God’s words, over his conviction in natural law. Perfected man realizes that God created nature, and therefore God can alter nature when man follows God’s Torah. Perfected man is more convinced in God’s words than in nature.
The Concluding Prayer
Rabbi Israel Chait on the end prayer of Shmoneh essay:
“To those who curse me, let my soul remain silent”
This means that if an entire society curses you, you should be quiet. This is the proper level. One should be unconcerned with what society says. A perfected person needs only to walk in the proper path and that is sufficient for him. He needs nothing more [he does not need society].
“And my soul be like dust to all”
This is an unbelievable prayer. This means that a person should want one thing: to be alone in the world of reality and not care about anyone. Others should not affect a person whatsoever. Chazal say that King David was persecuted not only by evil people, but even by Torah giants of his generation, but he did not care. This prayer shows the ultimate level of the person living in the world of reality and not society.
“And my soul be like dust to all”
If a person truly desires this, that it does not disturb him [that society thinks nothing of him, for he thinks nothing of society] and he does not care about what people say about him, [this discard for society’s approval is a prerequisite for greater attachment to Torah, as the next statement says]:
“Open my heart to Your Torah, then I will pursue Your commandments”
To feel as dust is the basis [for greater attachment to Torah]. That desire to be satisfied and happy, even though others view him as dust, will drive him more towards living a Torah life, learning for learning sake alone. And the Torah says so: “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk modestly with your God”( Micah 6:8).
Torah is Pleasant
It's interesting that every part of the Yom Kippur service except for pushing the scapegoat off the cliff is included in the Written Torah. Also interesting is that when Noach sent out the raven it does not give a reason, but it says when he sent out the dove it was to see if the land had dried. The raven is a flesh eating bird and it would appear Noach was concerned if he had to confront the corpses of the annihilated society. If the raven did not return he would know there were bodies everywhere. That is also why he made a window which was not commanded by God. God said make a “tzohar,” but Noah also made a “chalon” from which he sent out the raven. Torah, following a peaceful path (Prov. 3:17), avoids gruesome or disturbing subjects like the purpose of the raven, which was to find out if there were dead bodies everywhere, and the purpose of the scapegoat which was to be dismembered on the rocky cliff.