He Who is Gracious to a Poor Man Lends to The Lord with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] Shalom Alim everybody welcome back to the ER mid where we are guests and um we welcome everyone to a warm welcome home to Torah and we're in pares Mish at um chapter 22 verse 22 and this is not the beginning as those who have followed these shim know that we may deal with just one verse we can talk for hours about one verse and it's very deep first of all I want to wish everybody a right when comes in we uh increase our joy this month shall bring in many blessings hopefully a victory for am Israel and um the safety of everyone the entire nation no matter where you are in the world that our hostages should come home alive hasem and uh God God should continue to give strength to our soldiers who are so dedicated and brave and barem we are um we're with you for any soldiers out there watching this we are with you we're going to deal with two main issues number one oppressing the gar the convert widows and orphans that's going to be the first and it's going to be kind of short but it's fundamental we always deal with fundamental fals here the Grassroots you have to know what the Torah is saying number one fundamentals we're also trying to learn Hebrew and teach you Hebrew so I encourage you down below by the way down below in the U in the description box we have uh links to the Hebrew sheets okay so we want to encourage you to learn Hebrew number one number two there are also links to previous classes okay so let's begin without any further Ado we're going to start with verse 22 but if you look at the English sheet I brought in actually three verses 20 21 and I'm sorry four verses even so in chapter 22 verse 20 you shall not mistreat a stranger the L by the way what is that mean even with words as Rashi says taunting with words nor nor shall you oppress himu why should you not oppress them well first of all they're human beings number one number two You Were Strangers this is empathy the god actually tells you why you should not you experience what they experience right who is a Stranger by the way as Rashi mentioned someone who comes from another country they're not born in this case they're not born Jewish and then they become Jewish now we're talking about people who migrate legally right we're not talking about criminals who the first thing they do when they come to your country is cross over a border illegally we're not talking about criminals just make that clear we're talking about people who follow the rules and want to join your country in this case we're talking about people who become Jewish going through the the bin and whatnot GE correct so you shall not treat a stranger nor shall you oppress him for you are strangers in the land of Egypt now this is going to be most important you shall not oppress any widow or orphan okay um as it says right you're not supposed to oppress any of them now this is where it gets interesting because in the English you would never see this in English it just says if you oppress him beware for he cries out to me I will surely hear his cry the next verse says there's going to be a punishment if you do so and that your wives will be widows and your children will be orphans not a nice uh consequence of Oppression to this group of people I'm focusing on that middle verse because in the Hebrew it actually sayso so I highlighted it's in it's it's a double language usually we would translate the double language as surely if you will surely oppress the person so number one we're going to ask why is it doubled even the next phrase right for surely he cries out to me again a double language surely then God says I will surely hear his cry so there's going to be two major questions we have to ask about this verse number one why is there a double language and number two why does it say o to singular him shouldn't it say according to the clear them oh because we just got done listing stranger Widow orphan that would be a mess of people that would be a a group of people or many individuals which still means them with that in mind let's look at the cleard so in the Hebrew sheets that I gave out on page Shin halfway down the cleard right away says boy shouldn't it have said it certainly needs to have said them at least in context of what we're talking about orphan Widow and stranger so and then the next observation of question the cleart asked is why is it double expression and he lists persecution right oppression crying out a double language and that God will surely hear so the says in a very simple straightforward way one is able to say now thank God for our rabbis who are able to teach us and thank God for us having an open mind explains there are cases right we all hear about bullying in classes in schools on the streets even in in a work environment if someone oppresses somebody someone is oppressing a uh an orphan an orphan now you think you're just a pressing him remember he may have siblings he may still have a mother who is a widow how does the mother feel when her when her son comes home and says he was bullied so here what the clear says the emo how does the mother feel the mother sees her own son being bullied or CLE or oppressed and what is her greatest desire just to save him to to Shield him to guard him but she has she has no power to save her own son from the oppression so who is being affected when you affect or you bully one person other people especially in this case so the the orphan in Judaism an orphan is someone who loses just one parent obviously they lose both they they're Al they're also orphans but maybe that would be a counterintuitive at least in the western world do we think as of Orphans as someone who loses only one parent I have no idea but in Judaism we do so the clear says that there are going to be many cases many times where the orphan is being bullied but his mother who's an Al she's a widow is is crying out for him that just by oppressing one person other people in this case the mother the Widow is being affected as well and both of them are crying out now before I read on that doesn't answer why it says in singular H when we say if you do oppress him but at least we're getting an idea of why there would be a double language of the oppression and of the crying out and whatnot so the clear continues and he says that hasem is listening to both cries The Cry of the orphan and the Cry of the Widow and therefore the punishment God forbid is going to be double as we saw at the end end of I think it was verse 23 where it says your wives will be widows and your children will be orphans I mean the person who actually oppresses there is a um it doesn't sound very nice that basically uh you're going to leave over orphans and widows that's what the the double punishment not only is your wife is the person's wife going to be a widow but your children will also be orphans now that would be meaning the simple straightforward way however where 1 two 3 four five lines down in the clear says the ales from a deeper look deeper examination in terms of hinting noar were able to say may are you aware of this in Psalms is number three on the sore sheet oh father of Orphans Psalm 68:6 Hashem he is the father of Orphans aim and he's the DI alote he's the judge of widows it's obviously talking about God or God In His holy Dwelling Place Rashi mentions a few other verses H Turn the Page um who became a father right Hashem the father of Orphans who be became a father to Israel who are orphans and Lamentations Lamentations right in a 5:3 we are considered orphans without a father and he's the judge of widows we in in Lamentations very beginning the very first verse talks about y the Jewish people was like a widow so this is unfortunately it is the case but whatever that God God is the father of Orphans he's our father and uh therefore he what the clear card is going to explain is just like we told we spoke about the the mother who's the widow she experiences the pain of her own child Hashem experiences the pain of his children that being us as it says here it's as if it's as if God God is the pain is being caused to him because of the pain to the orphan now we understand why it says that if you do what if you oppress him there's a double language then you oppress gamoto then it's a double oppression you're oppressing the orphan and you're oppressing God cuz God is the father we already simply understand how the mother could be feel oppressed uh because you're oppressing the the the orphan guess what Hashem is the father of Orphans and of course you're oppressing him now we understand why it says in singular go back to the original verse right the original verse says that if you oppress him and it even says he'll cry out to me wait till you hear this so you're pressing him singular that means you're pressing God the both of them are crying out now at this point we would assume it's the Widow and the orphan but the cleard gets a little bit mystical and he says Mala when we talk about God's um character trait of judgment we're talking about the Divine prosecutor so he's Prosecuting from above I would assume that is a certain type of crying out and the is and the orphan is Crying Out From Below but it says because God is not really the M right little bit of a separation but anyway KES Hashem who is the merciful one he's that he in the end receives he feels the pain of both of them he receives their cries so this should help us understand a little bit deeper we're not just bullying a person or we're not just uh not giving correct honor to somebody this how we act affects God and by the way down below in the in the um description box there are links to a whole series I gave on tomir d'vorah how we act opens up the floodgates of Mercy if we're acting merciful and Hashem will pour this mercy upon the world and God forbid if we don't act merciful then this um the flow is somehow stopped so we we can learn a lot first of all how to bring mercy upon ourselves and to am Israel so now we're on the second paragraph uh verse 24 okay so verse 24 says and I think what we'll do is read 2425 and 26 so it's number four on the store sheet when you lend money to my people notice what I highlighted says my people to the poor person who is with you so I highlighted my people and I highlighted to the poor person you shall not behave toward him as a lender that means a creditor means like don't pressure him to pay it back and not only that don't impose interest upon him right you lend him $100 don't expect 101 or whatever the interest rate is right and then it says if you take your neighbor's garment as security so I highlighted neighbors because in Hebrew we start out with the word ami if money you lend to Ami and then it says it's to the poor person the word oni is different than Ami and then by the way don't don't um don't act as a creditor and don't charge uh interest but then it says if you take a pledge we'll call it a collateral now the collateral you're taking is not when you first gave the loan it's after he doesn't give you the money on the date it's due you go and you confiscate or you take a pledge some kind of collateral on the on on the fact that he didn't pay on time whatever but he's now called re so maybe you didn't notice this but there are these three stages different types of pronouns that the Torah is describing this person as so there's a lesson to be learned by each one I don't want to go into Rashi now although I think it is important to understand what Rashi is saying I just don't want to get lost in the Rashi um um but let's do it anyway because we have to know that lending money is an absolute obligation in chapter 20 verse 22 of Exodus it tells you you have to do it uh in chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 15:8 rather you shall open your hand to him you shall lend him sufficient for his needs whatever is lacking that's an obligation okay what does it mean my people right we we highlighted my people my people means you have an obligation to lend to a Israelite a Jew um what if a Jew and a non-jew apply for a loan so the member of my people takes preference if a poor person and a rich person apply for a loone the poor person takes preference and if the poor of your city or the poor of another city apply for a loan the poor of your city takes preference okay now let me just say outside why is it actually forbidden to lend to a gentile so I have some insight now we're not talking about a gav aav you have to support and aav is a non-jew who went in front of a bon and basically proclaimed publicly he's keeping the seven noide laws and he's living amongst the Jews we have an obligation to support such a person so we're not talking about that type of non-jew okay so this non-jew and let me just explain aren't we called the light unto the Nations what we do as a microcosm how we behave towards each other how we behave as a society is supposed to shed light on how they are supposed to treat each other once you understand that point hear me hear what I'm about to tell you now this was not my idea I heard this from rokan Miami Beach should live and be well listen to this point imagine if the Jews gave interest fre loans to anybody and everybody so now two two non-jews living in let's take Texas okay they say hey I want to go into business I want to start a business but I have to go to the bank and who knows if I'm going to get the loan and I have to pay uh I don't know whatever 20% 18% who knows whatever interest or even to a loone shark it's a lot of money they're going I heard the Jews give interest free loans I'm going to go to them in fact let's say he he doesn't know that so he goes to his friend he says you know I don't want have to pay back the so he says you know go to the Jews I'm not going to lend you the money cuz I I I charge interest 20% for me it's as a business it's great but for you as the as the barer it's not so great go to them so what they would do you know it's just logical they would come to the Jews and there's only 15 million of us and there's 8 point somewhat billion of them so they wouldn't in other words they wouldn't get the message the message is see how the Jews treat each other that's how we're supposed to treat each other so it makes sense not to extend this free loan you start out with your closest relatives as we said and you know um your people the uh you always have this obligation you have to lend to your own relative before you lend to someone else as well okay there's a whole list in the ramom I don't want to get lost in in this uh in this Rashi uh but later on you're not supposed to lend you're not supposed to behave toward him as a lender meaning that you shouldn't demand it forcibly whenever you give this loan in fact that's the highest level you would think charity is the highest level but the ramom says no give it as a loan because at least the person walks out thinking that he's not a charity case when you give it as a loan you should in your own mind be willing to lose that money in other words don't give a loan that you cannot afford to uh to lose so keeping that in mind why is the word interest similar to the word nesek means to bite so Rashi says in the word interest it means biting interest which is like the biting of a snake which bites by making small wound in a person's foot and then the person does doesn't even feel the wound and suddenly it spreads and swells up as far as his head meaning you know people take because they need the money and they pay very little interest sometimes in the beginning but of course it it adds up and there's compound interest you know you don't even feel it it's not noticeable until the interest accumulates and cost him a considerable sum of money as we mentioned about the security the collateral this is not this is not given at the time of the loan but what is extracted later from the debor when the debt becomes due and he doesn't pay um okay let's get back into the clear okay so where how far are we we're actually on the first line right the first line of the that paragraph So the cleart is quoting our verse right so when when you lend money to my people the poor person who is with you ke he actually says it seems here that it is redundant ke usually means in this case redundant it's extra because what could it have said what the Torah could have said it could have just simply said when you lend money to the poor person what does it mean my people well the Torah Begins by calling so you have a list already it has to be my people a Jew and then it says the poor person usually means someone who is a Torah observant Jew but we'll just leave it as your the third time this pronoun is used is talking about your friend now in verse 25 it says right if you end up taking your fellow's garment as collateral so what are we learning from this we're learning some major principles that I want to describe that there is this the Torah wants you to know that you're actually commanded regarding two concepts and he's going to give an introduction meaning the Torah itself is introducing these ideas so from two different aspects you're obligated to lend the money what's the first concept okay you it's like I would say drum r at this point but don't don't don't don't don't hit the table from the aspect that he is part of your people part of your people he's included in your people a king think about a king a king is the king of a people if you don't have people you're not a king so you have people the king is obligated just like the word bit right our King our mashiach is born doesn't mean he's born in bleim he's born through Yehuda David who's born in bleim that's a big misconception amongst Christians they think that the Messiah has to be born in bleim it means that he comes from the house of bleim because the the king is obligated to provide bread sustenance right in other words security and uh you know two chickens in every pot you understand the idea b means he's there to provide security and and food so here's this hear this out at a time where the people under this King are lacking Provisions we'll Turn the Page than any human being any person so if you provide like in place of the king you're provid providing Provisions to the people you're basically trusting that the king will repay you because his obligation is to support the people at the moment he is not available he doesn't have the money whatever these people need Provisions you're able to provide he will repay you I'll because that is what the king is supposed to do it's placed on the king the obligation to provide sustenance for the people and anybody who can provide for them it's as if you're actually giving to the king himself therefore what you are assured you are um yeah assured that the the loan will be repaid so too when you provide sustenance or money for this poor person he's he's part of your people who in which he is dwelling so basically the person is placing his trust in Hashem um and therefore listen to this verse in Proverbs 1917 you turn uh to number six on the sore sheet what does it say he who is gracious to a poor man I would say at this point drro please lends to the Lord and who Hashem will repay him his reward so you're lending to God you're like the king like the analogy here you're lending to the king and the King's going to pay you back how much more so if you're lending to God you're trusting God will pay you back so that's going to be the first principle the last one thing he says so when you have mercy you're giving to the poor person you're lending God you're not even lending that person you understand that the second thing who that the poor person the one receiving your money he's doing more for you than what you are doing for him it's gamor and Baba bashra at page 10A you could see this in number seven I'll read the Hebrew first and then we'll look at the English was basically an opponent an opponent came to rby Mayor bringing an argument saying you know if your God loves the poor people right you have to love the poor people and God loves the poor people how come he doesn't support them how come you are doing the Dirty Work you're giving your money away God loves the poor people why doesn't he support them himself and the basically answer is so that we the ones giving will be credited with the performance of the Mitzvah and be saved from okay so that's the the short of it so what's the credit by giving charity or loans to poor people that we are going to be saved from geham I don't even want to translate G because I'm not sure what it means what are you doing you're providing this is part of the question you're providing this poor person with what some temporary reprieve maybe the hunger or getting his electricity to stay on whatever it is but but what is he providing for you he's providing you with eternity right what did you give to him you gave him a dime Hashem is providing you with so many more times you know whatever U you know not just double but more than double that's why it says look in Ruth it's number eight on thei now it's a little bit cryptic in English I don't think you would ever get it and her mother-in-law Naomi said to her where did you you know where where did you work today where did you glean now in the Hebrew it's very interesting because it clearly says what she did it says um in the Hebrew a right Le where did you like collect the the grains where did you glean and where have you worked and what did you do like where did you again work but the answer she gives her okay let's continue in the English may he who took heed of you be blessed so Naomi was basically blessing boas without even knowing yet who it was so she told her mother-in-law so Ruth tells Naomi we're on page four uh with whom she had worked worked and said this is the important part the name of the man with whom I work today is Boaz so in Hebrew I did with him it but she could have used the word gleaned or or harvested any other word but she's it's performed she performed something for him and all she did was worked what did she do she gave him by working by because he extended his kindness by allowing her to pick the grains he was doing charity with her okay he saw that she was MC right she came all the way back toel and he extended kindness to her and she says I did with him I I performed something for him so that is the key here as the clear is now explaining and that's what saying that the poor person is performing more is doing more with the person giving the charity then the person giving the charity is doing with the poor person that's why it says here remember our original verse verse 24 it says the poor person who is with you now included in the of with you because he is doing for you he is with you in every way I'll came day only now this is very strange what I'm about to say it's as if he sacrificed himself through his poverty to bring you more Merit he suffered in his poverty in order to give you Merit so you again we're going to realize why it is you should not charge him interest how dare you he is doing so much more for you than you're doing for him and you're going to try to extract more money out of him you're already getting so much how dare you which we'll see shortly so the cleard says in parallel to these um Commandments he commanded regarding two things so I believe I I outlin them in number 10 so in number 10 I listed number one the obligation to lend the money and number two is basically not to act as a creditor nor to charge interest or uh pressure for repayment so these are like two major Torah laws and these are commandments so parallel to what it says k masan when you lend to my people you're not supposed to Lo don't act to him as a creditor now it's as if low can no say low you will not be a creditor to him now didn't we say that you're actually Ling God are you can you possibly be a creditor to God God you owe me no you know God is doing so much more for us than we're ever able to do for him I mean that how you know the name Jew we are Jews we are grateful right Yehuda was named by le as a fourth son because she she realized I got more than what I deserved how do we feel as Jews that we are receiving much more we owe God God God doesn't owe us he low low so what happens is you should not be a creditor to him you should not act as a creditor to him it's obviously we're talking about even right you're lending to God remember we said the one who lends to the person to the poor person it's called as if you're lending to God you're not lending to the person you're lending to God and therefore you should be you should have the trust that your ma the master of all activity will pay you on account of his people because you lent to his people therefore you should never press the person to um therefore don't pressure him by the claim of your by the strength of your claim Kashi like Rashi says why would you ever pressure the person remember it wasn't even him that you lent the money to you lent the money to God so that's the first ideed what does it mean parallel to what to the poor person who is with you we said over and over again that the poor person is doing more for you than you're doing for them and that's why it says don't place this pressure and don't charge interest what what is the whole point of Interest the interest is you're profiting from your money right it's your money on the dollar you're expecting you know a certain return is it such a small thing in your eyes what this poor person is doing for you where no the opposite he's doing so much more for you than you can even imagine remember he is allowing you he is giving to you because of you're lending him money you're gaining so much reward it's you cannot measure it and then you're going to try to squeeze even more you don't realize the the the reward that you're getting that you're going to try to squeeze more out of this poor guy and the other idea is hey remember we said he actually became poor for your sake for your benefit and you're going to again squeeze him even further remember he's saving you from the the pits of the fires of hell you know however you want to translate he's saving you from the Judgment of GMO now we understand why God remember we said why was God remember rebbi mayor and Hashem himself is not supporting this person we said why above with all this that impoverished person and all the hardships that he is carrying is with you for your sake in order to give you Merit if that's all true how would it ever come upon your mind in order to get more profit this guy's already suffering for all your benefit you're not just you're just not realizing how much benefit you're getting and you're squeezing him even more and this is a wicked heart to charge interest so far so good and the last piece maybe we'll end early remember it says don't Place upon him any interest it's imp plural meaning they shall not Place interest on him who's they who they it's plural this is a like a commandment a warning for all those involved in this loan H the one who lent the money the Lo who Bor the money you noce even if I'm borrowing money say go charge me interest it's it's forbidden the One Lending cannot charge the one borrowing cannot give the AR the ones who are guaranteeing the loan no interest involved and the aim the witnesses the witnesses below everybody is not allowed nobody is allowed if you want to look I have here in Bia 62a it's number 12 on the source sheet it basically says it's the question why would the witnesses they didn't do anything I mean the one borrowing sorry the One Lending so he demanded interest okay what about the guy who Bor so he's giving interest doing something the guarantors are guaranteeing with interest but what about the witnesses they just signed a piece of paper they were there because that's like an appraisal they're actually appraising the contract and therefore they they would be guilty of being part of this conspiracy for interest H I want to wow I want to go at least to the bottom of the page right remember if you took the pledge if you took the pledge meaning took the collateral it was after the person didn't pay up we say this is a lack of faith that the king Hashem will pay back new basically you're you're not a Believer you don't believe that you're going to end up being paid back by the Heavenly treasury or the Heavenly treasure uh that was set aside for those who do Saka on this Earth then this will be your punishment we always talk in terms of punishments being measure for measure you create your own blessings you create your own own punishment the person took the uh the the collateral he will be in a position where he will need to take again for himself he will become impoverished measure for measure he impoverished he oppressed and he shouldn't have as a result he will be impoverished and oppressed by needing God will make him impoverished let's just read it again so he says I this will be your punishment because in the end you will end up taking remember we said at the the the pronoun your friend you're going to be begging your friends for for clothes or for whatever it is you need that you're going to end up um becoming impoverished yourself you actually become a friend meaning just like him in his poverty and you are a companion in his poverty and it will be when you forced you're going to be for you will be forced to take from him as a punishment a pledge meaning that which clothing or whatnot after the fact you become impoverished just like him again when it says taking a pledge it's also the the word is used twice as if God is saying I'm warning you that means like if you took a night garment you have to return it before Sunset so he has his night garment this is interesting because we're going to we're have to skip some of this but basically when we talk about the sun setting on a person it means while you're alive and then you go west you go east whatever you want to call it you go south it means you you pass on to the next World when your sun sets so we're going to get into some deep stuff and I'm going to just have to sum it up but anyway so that's what the verse says you have to return it before the sun sets because you already passed over you already veered off the right path you should never have taken this collateral you already took it from him you have to make sure at this point to return it him before the sun has set it seems from these ideas at least it seems like what you took was his night garments and that's why it actually says in the verse with what will he sleep but the clear and we're going to have to skip all this I I encourage you to learn this on your own basically some really deep Concepts but I'll I'll I'll tell you one of them anyway and that is you know what a living will is so basically think of it like this we're here to do sadaka and charity imagine if I leave in my will someone leaves in their will all kinds of Charities what does it help he dies it's not even his money money that's being given away is not even his and what's it help while you're alive is when you're to do Mitzvah so there's such thing as a living will if I'm not mistaken you have you see a h Authority that basically it would be retroactive so like sometimes it get when a person's in the Army so if they don't return Then retroactively they were single the woman's single here retroactively in other words five minutes or 5 hours or 5 days before my death the person's death that money is already granted to the charity so the person will get credit while he's alive while it's still his so it's before his son has set meaning before he passes on that the The Pledge was returned and whatnot um because unfortunately what people the CLE car has claimed people have left in their Wills you know they have a collection of collateral they collected from poor people for loans and they tell their children to return it after they died and unfortunately they missed the opportunity to return it while they're still alive anyway so I encourage you there's a lot here um unfortunately because time is uh of the essence I want to just mention to everybody to have AES have a shabbat shalom and a great life and we're here every week and you're encourage to come back tune in and enjoy this spiritual journey [Music] you