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

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

פתוח תפתח את ידך

'And grant us with Your great mercy to give charity to the properpoor..." (Likutei Tfilot)

One of the attributes tied to Hebron is the attribute of kindness and charity. One of the reasons for this is the fact that Avraham welcomed guests at this location and gave them food, drink, and rest. Another connection of Hebron, City of the Patriarchs, to the attribute of kindness is hinted to in our prayers when we say 'And He remembers the kindness of the Patriarchs and brings a redeemer for their descendants for the sake of His Name with love'.

This prayer can bear two explanations: one explanation refers to the kindness of God sworn unto the Patriarchs, as we read in the last parsha 'and HaShem shall keep the covenant and the kindness He swore unto your Patriarchs.' Another explanation of this sentence in the Amida refers to the kindness done by our Patriarchs before HaShem, as it says that when Avraham believed in the prophecy pertaining to 'counting the stars', at the Covenant of the Pieces, as being indicative of the multitudes of his descendants - 'and (HaShem) considered his (faith) to be benevolent [tzedaka - the same term used for charity]'. Interestingly, the first time the term 'tzedaka' is used in the Torah is in this very episode of Avraham having faith in HaShem's promise.

This matter sheds light on the concept of tzedaka as charity in general. Indeed, this parsha teaches that a dominant component of the commandment to give charity is the psychological state of the giver, as it says, 'and your heart shall not be sour when giving to him, for on this matter HaShem will bless you in everything that you do'. Also, it should be noted that this verse appears in our parsha in context of the absolvement of loans at the end of Shemita year, saying that one should not detain oneself from giving the poor loans before Shmita year because this loan may be absolved. As we have explained in the past, although the absolvement of loans of Shmita applies globally, nevertheless it is definitely tied to the Land of Israel, as our Sages teach, 'when you observe the Shmita of the Land, then you need to also observe the shmita of money (loans).'

Aside of the halachic implications of this teaching, we can also gain meaning in to the spiritual ramifications of the Land of Israel on the nature of faith, good-will, and charity that we just linked together through the episode of Avraham at the Covenant of Pieces. As can be seen in the last parshiot of Dvarim, the Land of Israel is the Land of Faith and also the Land of Divine Providence. Therefore, it follows so naturally that the ability to give charity with full faith even in the Diaspora comes from this inspirational air of the Holy Land. In other words we can say that the Torah wishes that we tap into this inspirational air of the Holy Land especially in context of the Shmita year, when this inspirational air is brought to an ever higher level, in the accentuated light of the Holy Presence that presides in the Land on this year (Arizal).

One of the locations in Hebron today which reflects its attribute of kindness and charity is 'Hachnasat Orchim Hebron' ('Hebron Guest House') found in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. This Guest House is a center of kindness for visitors to Hebron and in this way follows in the age-old tradition of kindness of Hebron, stemming from our father Avraham at his tent in Elonai Mamreh - Hebron.

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #231

'My Rabbi told me that I must take a certain sum of money for the work I do, even though I had been doing this work for free till now. It was hard for me to listen to this advice, so several months passed till I actually made the efforts to make arrangements to be paid. The very day I did this, another Rabbi, unrelated to my Rabbi (mentioned before), told me that 'you must take money for the work you do.'' I.G

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