If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman.
This verse, found in our parsha, has resonated with me since I first studied it in high school. I was captivated by the visceral and intensely physical language in the second half of the verse- describing the impulse to give as “not shutting your hand” spoke to me in a way that other instructions to give had not. This commandment is a guiding star for me, the foundation of my sense of obligation toward my fellow, especially when “love” fails to stir the necessary action.
Rashi, basing his reading on the midrashic analysis of the verse, also finds great power here, using the structure of the verse to create a kind of priority map for who our obligations to provide for extend to. “If there is a needy person” teaches us that the most needy has priority. “One of your kinsmen” (אחיך) teaches us that our patrilineal family takes priority over matrilineal family (a matter we can take up with our own family!) “Within your gates” teaches us that the poor of your city has priority over poor of another city. “Do not harden your heart” is meant to address those who might stop themselves from giving, to instruct them to not allow this reluctance to dominate their choices. “Shut your hand against your needy kinsman” guides us lest we become a needy kinsman ourselves. In other words, we learn that giving to those in need is a way to keep everyone from being in need.
This last piece is, I think, crucial to our current circumstances. Giving to those in need is not just about being “good people”, whatever that might mean. Rather, the message Rashi takes from this verse is that giving to those in need is a fundamental activity of all those who wish to participate in a healthy society. Far from being a nice platitude about generosity, not hardening our hearts, and not closing our hands to those in need is about being socially responsible to our fellows for their and our interests.
In practice, this verse also offers us guidance in cultivating our own sense of connection and generosity. It recognizes that giving of oneself is a complicated act- we simultaneously are engaging our empathy for the other and having to address our justifiable instinct to protect ourselves from outside forces. Hardening our hearts is not a symptom of deliberate cruelty, but of taking the effort to protect ourselves too far. The corrective, then, is not closing our hands. By framing the issue in terms of not closing, rather than opening, it acknowledges that we are just as compelled by instinct to give as to withhold. To uphold this commandment then, we need to get out of our own way, to let the compelling connection of someone in need be allowed to act on our sensibilities without interference.
As we continue through this challenging time in our lives, may we grow ever more capable of getting out of our own way, and of being open to the needs of our fellows. Only in this way can we hope to ensure that none of us is left in need.
Note change of class schedule - A Little Mishnah will now take place on Wednesdays and Thursdaysfrom 12:00 - 1:00 pm. Every 2nd Thursday of the month class will be held from 11:00 - 12:00 pm.
Please help generate donations for TBS-EV by purchasing items on AmazonSmile.The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to TBS-EV once you sign up.
Aluminum can donations will help support our General Fund. Please place your CRUSHED aluminum cans (beverage cans only please) in the administration office mail room.
Please donate your used printer cartridges. Place your used cartridges in the box located on the counter in the Administration Office. We have been paying for most of our office supplies for several years through the money we get from recycling printer cartridges. Please help us keep this worthwhile endeavor going.
The Sisterhood of TBS-EV is collecting old eyeglasses and lenses to be donated to the Lions Club. There are donation containers waiting to be filled in the Sanctuary, Social Hall and Administration Office.
Save the Family has asked for help to transition families into homes. Current household product needs include: toilet paper, paper towels/napkins, shampoo & conditioner, toothpaste & brushes, deodorant, mouthwash, body lotion, body wash, diapers--particularly size 4, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products, all-purpose cleanser/comet/etc., laundry detergent/bleach/dryer sheets/fabric softener. There is a bin in the Office. Please help this worthy community service.
Prayers are needed for Chaim Laib ben Esther, brother of Walter Berkey; Alexander Moshe HaLevi ben Rivkah, father of Regina Fischer; Rivkah bat Rachel, grandmother of Regina Fischer; Brenda Carson, sister of Rebecca Toledo;Donnie Carson, brother-in-law of Rebecca Toledo; Roberta Rosenberg (Rivkah Fradel bat Sara);Shimson ben Etel, father of Florence Wibel; Irene Simpkins (Yocheved bat Miriam); Barbara Tricoci (Baila bat Rifka); Elazear ben Dreisyl; Eric Taylor; Sid Brodsky (Zundel Be'er ben Esther); Linda Heartquist;Allen Simon (Aaron Hirsch ben Ceil);Carol Osman Brown, friend of Linda Radke; Rijon Erickson; Chano Ruven ben Shaina Chaya; Matthew Werdean, friend of Regina Fischer; David ben Sarah, father of Rabbi Aberson; Jack Heller; Liba Yetta bat Tova; Ilana bat Bella, sister of Ruti Keren; David Ramirez, brother of Louis Ramirez; Pasha bat Fayge, friend of Gloria Windmiller; Moshe ben Hana, brother-in-law of Ruti Keren; HaRav Haim Baruch ben Chana; Raphael ben Rebekah, friend of Alan Sapakie; Jack Rosenberg (Ya'acov Avram ben Sarah Ruchel); Walter Berkey (Yossel Velvel ben Esther); Warren Stern (Binyamin ben Meyer Rav); Rose Tufarelli; Sarah Caliandro (Sarah Nechama bat Leah); Ingrid Gallegos; Chaim Shneur Zalman Yehuda ben Hinda Yocheved; Alex Shekhel;Avraham ben Chaya Udel;Mordechai Shimon ben Sarah, brother of Roberta Rosenberg; Harve Kimmel (Herschel Yehuda ben Avraham Ya'acov HaCohen).
Louis J. Jacobs, father of Leslie Berkey MartinRobert Stern, father of Warren Stern Michael Takskin, adopted brother of Barbara Tricoci Sylvia Wollner, mother of Debra Wollner Vichea Magier, grandmother of Sidney Brodsky Edith Slatin Bernstein, mother of Arnold Slatin Florence Etkin, mother of Leslie Feldman and grandmother of Mark Feldman Margo Margolesky, aunt of Mark Feldman and friend of Leslie Feldman Jack Millman, father of Steve Millman
HaMakom yenakhem etkhem b'tokh she'ar avelei Tzion Virushalayim.
May God comfort you together with all the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem
