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Parshat Re'eh
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Uniting with the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

"פתוח תפתח את ידך לאחיך לעניך ולאביונך בארצך"

“And may it be Your Will HaShem my God and God of my Fathers... that You have compassion upon me with Your great and tremendous compassion and kindness and aid me to give much charity to the Land of Israel... and may I by such be able to be included in the atmosphere of the Land of Israel, and by such may we merit to sweeten and nullify all judgments upon us and all Israel...” (Likutei Tfilot I 37).

Indeed, charity given to the inhabitants of the Land of Israel also takes high importance in halacha, as the Shulhan Aruch rules that the inhabitants of the Land of Israel are to be preferred over the inhabitants of the Diaspora for charity. This rule is learned in the Sifri from our title quote of this week's parsha which states that one is to give charity to the poor of 'your Land', that is the Land of Israel. According to 'Yosef Ometz' (19 - see proof-texts there), one of the important works of the Responsa, the principle of precedence of the inhabitants of the Land of Israel supersedes even the principle of preference of the poor of one's personal town, considered otherwise to be one of the most dominant preferences in all laws of charity. In addition, according to the Hasam Sofer, the principle of preference towards the inhabitants of the Land of Israel is tied not only to the laws of charity but also to the mitzva of settling the Land of Israel.

Our Rabbis point to the first time a word (and even letter) is mentioned in the Torah as being significant in the deeper understanding of this word. The first time 'tzedaka' in the context of charity is mentioned in the Torah is when Avraham greets the angels in Hebron and HaShem remarks upon him: 'for I know that he will command his offspring and his household after him to keep the way of HaShem, to do charity and justice, in order that HaShem bring upon Avraham that that He has spoken upon him.' Thus, the sources of charity in regard to thew Land of Israel in this week's parsha and the source of charity as appears in context of Hebron meet together in the context of Hebron being the Beacon of the Land of Israel, to which the entirety of this Land is attached.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #132

"One day we were waiting to hitch a ride from the Gush Etzion intersection towards Beitar (a city not far from Jerusalem). One car, driving towards Jerusalem, stopped, but one man entered the car out of turn before us (the plan was to travel to Jerusalem first in order to travel to Beitar). I tried to argue, saying that we had been waiting first, but my friend pushed me away, saying to stop arguing, for there is a Guiding Hand and everything is for the best. A minute later a different car stopped, and the driver 'apologized' that he was not driving to Jerusalem but rather straight to Beitar..." R.A

Sources: Yoreh Deah 251, 3, Hasam Sofer 233-4, Yisrael Kdoshim 7

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