Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Big Picture

ספר דברים פרק כו : טו
השקיפה ממעון קדשך מן השמים וברך את עמך את ישראל ואת האדמה אשר נתתה לנו כאשר נשבעת לאבתינו ארץ זבת חלב ודבש:

רבינו בחיי על דברים פרק כו: טו
וכן דרשו רז"ל אמר ר' חנינא בר פפא בוא וראה כמה גדול כחן של מתנות עניים, שכל השקיפה שבתורה לרעה וכאן לברכה:

In the final capstone of the formula we say when we declare our Maaser obligations all paid up, we implore Hashem to gaze down from the heavens and send blessing to us and our land. Chazal point out that the term "hashkifa" or gaze is never found in the torah in a positive framework, other than now. The fact that we now ask Hashem to gaze down upon us shows us the positive power of tzedaka ( because we have just gotten finished declaring that we have given all of our maaser – to poor people who deserved it ).

Why does Hashem's 'gaze' indicate divine displeasure or punishment, and how exactly does tzedaka change that ?

When we refer to gazing down – we are talking about the 'big picture', the overview – a kind of analysis of how a society is doing, in a general sense. This is the term used by the Torah when it describes the condemnation of Sodom [see Bereshis 19:28]. This is also the term used to describe Hashem's gaze onto the Egyptian war camp before He kills them all in the Yam Suf [see Shemos 14:24]. In both these cases, any individual acts were overlooked in favor of the ‘big picture,’ the general state of affairs. The people of Sodom were killed because they collectively promoted a society of selfishness and cruelty – not because of the actions of each one (even though their individual actions were indeed cruel and selfish). The same holds true for the Egyptians – we even see that they the individuals had differing levels of culpability and that's why they died at different rates in the waters [see Shemos 15:5 and Rashi ad loc.] – but the common denominator was their participation in the oppressive society – and that was sufficient to condemn them all to death.

So how does tzedaka change this ? Well, in this pasuk we are referring to a very specific type of tzedaka – tzedaka on a societal scale. This isn't something I do when I feel like it – nor is it something that some do and others don't – this is a society-wide phenomenon, to make sure that those less fortunate are taken care of. Here it is specifically the wide view, the overall analysis which shows us how great this mitzva is. My apple tree may only have yielded three bushels – which translates into only a handful of apples for the needy – but if we 'gaze' down at the whole community and see that the needy can get a few apples from me and some wheat from my neighbor and some vegetables from the guy down the block …. Well, that really is powerful.

And how does that change our life ? Two ways.

One: don't discount your own small mitzvos. Don't believe that your little chassadim or your two moments of Torah ( like the amount of time you spent reading this dvar Torah ) are not very significant – au contraire ! They are actually the pinpricks of color that combine to form a beautiful canvas !

Two: learn to appreciate the small acts of kindness that others do – try to see them in a ‘mitzvah overview gaze’ and not a gaze of negativity.

Hatzlacha !!

No comments: