Rav Kook: The Mitzvah of Tzedaka | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider | July 9 2025

Bookertov. Uh nice to see everyone this morning. Great to uh to be together with you and to be able to learn together. There is uh if you did not pick up a source sheet at the entrance on the table on the way in, there is a source sheet for today's year. Let me begin with the sponsor. We have a regular sponsor for the 2025 academic yeartomo. And we also have an additional sponsor today and I thank Reggie Reggie Commons for the sponsorship and it's an appreciation for the sheer for the inspiring shurim of uh of this past year and thank you very much. All right. So this morning we have a uh we have a great topic uh a topic that I think is close to all of our hearts and that is the topic of saddaka of charity of giving sedaka and to see it from the perspective of a goenuk. We uh we know that always has a unique perspective when it comes to every mitzvah and uh to all of the Torah his philosophy and his insights. So today we'll look at four four or five different insights from Ravkuk um on the idea and the mitzvah of sedaka and I'll begin this way. The garra says that we are a people that are shaman that a Jew is a person that is kind. A Jew is a person who is compassionate. And not only is that that a statement about a Jew, about the characteristic of a Jew, but the Garra and the Schular write that if you meet somebody who claims that they're Jewish and they do not have those qualities, if they're not Rahmanim, if they're not Bashanim, if they're not, the Gamarra says you should check that person's lineage. you should just double check if that person is really Jewish because these are the qualities that are uh that are ingrained that are so much a part of what it means to be Jewish. Okay. I saw something the other day um somebody that posted I think it was on Facebook social media. It said that they asked uh um AI or Chad GPT the question, what is it that is said most commonly by a Jew? What does a Jew say most commonly? And what do what do you say? Barashem. So the I think the number one or number two was oi or ove was the uh that that's the most common phrase that a that a Jew uses. Okay. So now we're going to see the following gamarra which I never took note of before. And the gamarra says it's going to lead us into our conversation about about saddaka about charity. But the gamarra says that it's not a good thing for a Jew to say oi. Actually that's the gamarra. You'll see it right now. So look at the gamarra. This is the gamar in braosal. Let's read the gamarra in the uh just for the sake of time to read it in translation. This is from thealts translation of the gamarra. The gumar relates that ool andista were once walking along the road when they came upon the doorway of the house of Rafana. They were walking, two rabbis were walking along the way. They came to a certain person's home. We're going to see actually that home was destroyed. They saw that the home was no longer there. And Rafista groaned and he sighed. He said, "Oi." He said, "O He groaned the way that Jews have been doing this for a long time. We see that the Gamarra already has an example of this. And Ula asked him why are you sighing? Did not R say sighing breaks half of one's body. In other words, it's not a healthy thing. It's not a good thing to be saying oi and to be saying I it breaks you down. You should be more optimistic. You should be saying things that are more uplifting. Interesting. That's what the Gamarra says that one rabbi turned to the next and said, you know, why you why are you sighing, right? Why are you saying I and they quote a puk for that? And then the gamarra goes on and says that sighing breaks even one's entire body. It's not a good thing to be saying I because you're again you're kind of doing something that's uh that's depressing. Right? Why? Stop saying ive all the time. Right? Say say something that's that's right. That'll live in Israel. U so stop saying I all the time. That's what the garra says. Okay. So then he quotes a he quotes a puk that says that you shouldn't be saying I all the time a puk from that it really breaks down a person it's not healthy for a person to always be saying I that's what the gamarra says but now the gamarra goes on and says that the rabbi who said oi that he felt that it was legitimate that that he was justified for saying I and this is what the gamarra says second paragraph of said to how can I not sigh how can I not say o and why is it because he noticed the following again. They're walking by this rabbi's house and we'll see in a moment that was well known for the saddaka that he gave in the way that he gave saddaka and the fact that his home was no longer there. He no longer lived there. It seemed maybe it was destroyed for some reason that they said oi that this home is no longer there and providing sedaka in the same way. There are four things that are highlighted in the gumar about the saddaka of his home. The name of the rabbi wasabi. So it says the following first line in the second column we see this house where there were 60 cooks during the day and 60 cooks at night who would cook from for anyone in need and Rafana never okay that's one that you had all these cooks 60 cooks that were working all the time this was like a catering hall in his home that people could come anytime and there was food that was available that's what was going on in this great rabbi's home who was uh a great bal sedaka not only that again this is a reference reference to this great rabbi never removed his hand from his pocket because he thought perhaps a well-born poor person might come in in that time that passed until he put his hand in his pocket to give him charity. The poor person would be embarrassed. So this was his custom as well that he would always keep his hand in his pocket very close to his pocket. Thear says in his pocket that it shouldn't take any time for him to give sedaka to the poor person who was knocking at the door. I think about this kamar because it's not uncommon in my home. I don't know if this is your experience. At least two, three, four times a week there are people knocking at the door. People that are asking for saddaka. Very often I don't have scalum in my wallet. My wife prefers that I don't carry the skullum that she that she that she carries all the skullum. So um so often I say if you can give me a minute let me go and get it. You know, let me go and find it. Sometimes I have to go up to the kids' room and find their wallet and bring down money. But here the the rabbi the way to describe this rabbi is he was very mocked. He was very careful that that money was right there. Not only that it was there but his hand was in his pocket all the time so he could quickly give money to a poor person. So this is a lesson that I that maybe I need to work on that I need to learn from as well. So that's what he says. He would keep his hand by his pocket in order that a poor person would not be embarrassed because the moment you say to that person, "Wait here." I mean, it's embarrassing enough that they're knocking at the door, but now they're waiting by that door and waiting for you to come back. Just that time that they have to wait and to feel a little bit more, you know, they're a little less dignified that they have to wait, that already is is inappropriate. Okay. Not only that, moreover, and we're four or five lines from the bottom of that paragraph if you want to follow along. Moreover, that house had four doors open in all four directions. And anyone who entered hungry left satiated. So what does that remind you of? Right. The four doors in four directions. That's right. That's right. It says the medish that Abrainu that his tent that it was open on all four sides. So you have that aspect. And one last item that the Gomorrah highlights is and they would scatter and they would scatter weed referring to the home of this great rabbi. They would scatter wheat and barley outside during years of drought so that anyone who was embarrassed to take grain during the day could come and take it at night. They could come anytime at night. If somebody was embarrassed and not to have somebody that would have to actually show their face, they could come in the middle of the night and was sitting outside in a place that they could easily take it. And the last line of the gumar is now that the house has fallen in ruin. That house is no longer there. How can I not sigh? Again, the rabbi said, "That's why I have a right to say I when I see this house and it's not there because of the great saddaka, the remarkable saddaka that was done in this home." So, this is an example in the gamarra. We'll see another two or three examples. This is an example in the gamarra of really the the most remarkable way, the most beautiful way that one can give saddaka, the most elevated way that one gives saddaka. And Ruf Cook highlights based on really these four examples he highlights four ideas about our own seducka giving how we are to give sedaka. So the first and the text is here maybe I'll uh maybe we'll skip the Hebrew text let me just share with you share with you in uh orally what Ruf cookook says it's from the anayya. What was the first example of the garamar that there were 60 cooks that were cooking at night and during the day? And Rafuk says somebody that has the means. People that have the means. Not all of us have the means. We should bless one another. We should all be multi-millionaires. Um but if you have the means to give, you should give a lot. That's you should give a lot. You should give a lot a lot of your money. You should give away, right? Not to hold on to it, but you should be uh you should share that money. You should be compassionate. That's lesson number one. A very simple lesson. And that's what this this rabbi did. Obviously, he had the means to do it, but he provided a lot for others. The second example is the example of the of the way that he kept his hand close to his pocket all the time to ensure that somebody who's asking that that person should not be embarrassed, that they shouldn't feel a little less dignified when they're doing it. That's something that's very very important to think about when we give saddaka especially I don't know here in shalim maybe more I don't know it's more so here but you have very often we do interact with people that are asking for sedaka I know that happens in shul as I said I have knocks at my door on a pretty regular basis we are interacting with people and the question is you know how to do it in a way that we don't we don't make that person feel bad they already I think they already it's it's uh they feel bad to some degree there's some embarrassment there's some humility in asking for sedaka so that's what he was very careful and again I mentioned just a moment ago maybe I need to be more careful about that that I'm not telling that person at the door if you could wait a couple a minute or two until I find it in the house that's not not the way to do it I have to put aside some money the way the rabbi so we should think about think about that as well the way that we interact with others that are asking for taka that's RV cook says and then the four directions of the home here RV cook says something interesting. Now for directions, we know that idea of uh you know the accessibility that easily people should easily be able to get to us to find us. But Rav Cook says he has another interesting point here and Rufuk says four directions mean when the seducka is coming from different directions. Now what does he mean by that? meaning even if it's something that you don't necessarily are the biggest believer in that saddaka. Again, we have a lot of different organizations that are asking for sedaka. And he says that a person who is benevolent, a person who has an open heart, you don't necessarily, you know, put so much emphasis on what that item is, what the what that person is asking for or the organization. Okay, we can make an assessment. But a person of a of a big heart of a giving heart it's not so much about making that close analysis if this person needs it if this organization is asking. So that's the way that RV uh that RV cook uh the way Ruf cook understands the idea of the four directions whatever direction they're coming from whatever that seducka is. Interesting in the last couple of weeks I've been trying to raise some money for a uh for a particular project which by the way is not not an easy thing to do. I I it's interesting that I have to be, you know, teaching this and the the sense of humility. And so when you're asking for people for money, it's not an easy thing. And um and I turned to somebody, this just happened two, three days, the last day, two days ago. Um I wrote an email to a person who I was sure was going to was going to give. He's a very very wealthy person and a very very kind person. And I wrote him and he wrote back in a minute. I mean, it didn't take more than a minute for the email to come back and said, "I like your, you know, I believe in your project, but I'm giving all of my money to different projects right now." Now, he has a right to say that. Again, it was, you know, it's it's hard to get a a response like that, but this is Riv Cook has I don't know, Riv Cook is making that suggestion. I'm not sure if that's the perfect uh uh parallel or example of that, but not necessarily. In other words, somebody who is a giving person if you have a giving heart. So you really you try to find a way to give to everyone. Again I know that's not not possible but to try to give to everyone and not so analytical is this what I believe in is this my project to get sort of political etc. Yes please requesting money. It turns out I was the only one who got it. It was a scam. So now we have Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. No, no, you have to do your due diligence. My son's You're absolutely No, you're absolutely right. And we all and and we all do have to, you know, assess what is it that we're giving to and how much we're giving and where we're giving 100%. But there is something about that idea and RF cook says when you're a giving person and again this is like the these are examples of really the height of giving sedaka, right? If you're if you're if you have that kind of compassion and the open heart of a of a Jew in in the most beautiful way, it's it's less about making close analysis of what that sedaka is. You want to give you want to be a giver. Yes, Harry. Appropriate. You know what? That's a Yeah, that's a whole um discussion, a discussion as well. How you give, where you give, how much you give. So there yeah there there there's there's what to talk about in that area. That's more you know that's more kind of dealing with the concrete like question of how you go about doing it. This is more of like this is more of a more philosophic or a general analysis uh that we're looking at right now. Okay. Okay. And one other one other point that Riff Cook makes is that the person left that left the uh left it says here that they left the barley that they left the grain outside so that people could easily come and they could receive it without necessarily being seen. And Rifkuk says very often that the giver when they give they do want to give in a way that they feel sort of that satisfaction of being able to give to somebody else. And there are times that even if we don't have that satisfaction that we're giving saddaka because we know the schma that we're giving it for for the uh for the sake of the mitzvah. Okay. So those are some of the comments that Ruk makes on this gamarra. Again, I think this Gamarra is highlighting really the most elevated, right? The most ideal way of giving Saddaka, which isn't always easy to do it this way. Not always practical to do it this way, but these are maybe some of the um some of the uh the goals that we may have in terms of giving sedaka on this on the highest level. I want to share with you the following gamarra which cook mentions as well. This is really a fascinating gamarra which talks about the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and what we can learn from the letters themselves. And this is a gumar that's found in chabisal amal 104a which says the following that there were students that were coming from the uh the base met they were coming from their school from their they came out of the and they shared some of the teachings that they learned and ideas that they had about alfed these are little children and little children what are they learning they're learning the alfaded they're learning the ABCs but they come out of school that day and they say that there are things that we learned from the Alibaban Gomorrah says that some of the ideas that these children shared were really awesome ideas says from the time of Yeshua Benun when when Joshua entered the land of Israel that we haven't heard such beautiful ideas in deterra so what did they say they spoke about the alf and the bet and then they spoke about the gimmel and the daled well let let's just let's focus on the gimmel and the daled which is the topic that we're that we're looking at what does gimmel daled mean now we have the letters. We call them a gimmel and a dalid. But is there meaning to the words themselves? And here we're going to see there's actual meaning to the way that the the letter looks. Right? If we look at the letter, the structure of the letter, that also gives us a hint. So the Garra says the following. What is gimlid? If you if you want to just look at this in the text itself, gimmel daled means to give to the poor. Now how does gimmel daled mean give to the poor? The word gimmel is go is to be a giver. And what does dalid mean from the word dal or dalim? What's a dal? One who is poor, right? One who does not have. So what does gimmel daled mean? Gimmel as we begin the alphabet. Okay. Alfbed actually relates to learning wisdom like the word alf and beina. That's what the gamarra says. So Judaism begins where? It begins with study. We're all sitting together. We're studying. And where does what's the alfbed? What's the the ABCs of what it means to be Jewish? is to be glided. Is to be a person who is gimmel daled. We all want to be gimmel daled. What's gimmel daled? That we're givers. That we give to others. We give to those people that are in need. Now here the gamarra says, and by the way, this came from the children. This is how the children understood the letters of gimlalid. And now look at the shape of the letter themselves. Now here you have it on your page. Page one on the bottom right. This is the way that appears in a safer Torah. This these are the letters. If you look at them as stick figures, think of them as if it's it's a person, like a stick figure of a human being. So what do you see? So the gimmel says the gamarra is like a person that is walking like see that it's as if those are the legs of a person and the the leg of a person is stretched out. So what does that represent? So that represents says the gamarra. Why is the leg of the gimmel extended towards the dali? Because it is the manner of one who bestows loving kindness to pursue the poor. It's as if this is what the children said. It's as if the gimmel is running. When they looked at that letter, children were saying this. We see in this letter like a stick figure of somebody running. And what does that mean? It means when we give saddaka, it's not only because we're obligated to give saddaka. Not the the or the yoke that we have. You're obligated to give this much saddaka. No, that we it's something that we want to do. We do with elacrity. It's something that's the that's the ideal. That's the beauty of a Jewish person who looks for opportunities to do and to give to others and to give charity to others. Again, that's a not always easy to do, but that's that's the gimmel. And not only that, it is uh ex and then the garra says the following. And why is the leg of the dalid extended towards the gimmel? Now if you look at the dalid, you'll see that it doesn't the dalid that leg doesn't go straight down, but it leans towards the g towards the gimmel. So the gamarra says um it is so that a poor person will make himself available to him who wants to give him charity. Now this is an interesting idea. In other words, that the poor person also feels comfortable enough to be able to ask. In other words, that we develop a society, that we have a culture, that we have a community that a poor person doesn't have to feel embarrassed or a person doesn't feel that they cannot knock on somebody's door. And to know that if I knock on somebody's door that there's a good chance because of our love and our kindness and because people pursue kindness that they're going to receive. So it works both ways that we run after and those that need feel that they have a place in the community. Interesting idea. That's why the doll is moving towards the gimmel. And one other idea that the Gamarra says. So if you look at the daled the daled is looking in the other direction so to speak. If that's the head think of if you think of that that's the leg and the head of the dollid is looking in the other direction. So why is that? And why does the dalid face away from the gimmel? It is to teach that one should give charity discreetly so that the person will not be embarrassed by him. So what's the lesson of the dalid looking the other way is that when we give saddaka if we have the opportunity to give it in such a way that the person is not embarrassed at all or is given somewhat secretly and the person is just provided that's the that's like the highest level of giving or one of the one of the most beautiful ways of giving. They tell a story of Ravk Cook when people would come and visit Ravk and they would ask for sedaka. He would do what he could. Um very often at the end Rafuk would give a person a hug and wish that person well and as the person would make their way out of the home they would they would feel in their pocket that there was more money that was put in their pocket. and RF cook as he was hugging the person placed some money in the in the in the person's pocket that he tried to do it in a way that the person didn't even realize that he was uh that he was receiving the money. So that is one of the the garamar says that that's one of the beautiful ways of giving and just look at the the language of RVuk. This is on the top of page two. There's a translation from uh from the anaya of RVuk. By the way, there's a a nice safer not that well known that came out in English and actually a number of the sources that we're going to learn today is from this book. It's a book called Charity Elevates the People and it's uh it's teachings from Rav Cook about saddaka about charity and they translate and we'll see just a few lines which makes it maybe a little bit easier sometimes to uh to see Rkook's language in uh in translation. So this is what Rufuk how he touches on this idea of this Gamarra and Chabas. Therefore, even when the wealthy person recognizes the important value of the poor person and the poor person is assured of the greatness of the role that he plays, the giver is obligated to protect the basic element of the recipient's dignity in order not to debase the noble value of the trade of charity which is in truth entirely swath in dignity and glory. And that effort must be great. person must make a major effort and utilize various strategimms so that giving charity will not be accompanied by any trace of diminishment of dignity. Very interesting idea. In other words, we just because we give charity, it shouldn't should never be given in a way that we're taking the dignity away from the other individual, the person that's asking. I I mentioned that I was raising money. I was actually in America over Pesak a couple of months ago and I met with somebody and the person was just so kind. I mean, he opened the door and he sat me down. He gave me a drink and let me help you. And and again, it it can go either, you know, both ways when you're asking. Do you do it in the most dignified way, in the most sensitive way? And here the Gamaras is is highlighting that idea and Rift Cook is highlighting that idea which again I think it's a great challenge especially if we're at the coel or somebody knocking on the door and we feel like we're kind of being badgered at times with people that are asking to be very very sensitive in the way that we we treat that person. Yes, I found it very effective to put money in an envelope and put it in the mail. Okay. Then I had a next door neighbor who was going through times and by helping them out, you know, French toast or making light on. So sometimes you do something for somebody and you get rewarded. Yes. All right. Beautiful. Beautiful. there's a uh a story that I want to share with you. Um and this is you know just thinking about this the topic of sedaka and giving saddaka which again it's challenging it's easy to say you know give more and give with with dignity and and uh easy to say harder harder to do at times for myself and for all of us. Uh this is a book that came out a few years ago. Rabbi Adler who I know he's teaches I think he was teaching here this morning just a few hours ago. I don't know if anybody was in his class, Rabbi Aaron, Rabbi Aron Nadler. He has a beautiful safe about Rabbi Salvetic. It's called 70 conversations in transit. He was a driver of Rabbi Salvich who would bring him to the airport. Rabbi Salvich would come in from Boston. He would pick him up for a number of years. So he would ask him a lot of questions while he was in the car with him. Those 20 minutes from LaGuardia to Washington Heights for those that know the uh the New York highways. So as he was making his way to Washington Heights from LaGuardia, he would ask him questions. And this is a book all about these questions and answers and conversations that he had with him. So he heard that Rabbi Salvich gave 60% of his money to Sedaka every year. Whatever his salary, whatever money came in, 60%. Now that is a just think about that 60% is a very very large percentage. What is the obligation that we have in Sedaka? 10%. That's correct. we are to give micer and that we should be careful about that that we're giving at least 10% of our money. So Rabbi Adler said, you know, as he was sitting in the car, he wanted to verify with Rab Salvich if that's really true. He found that really quite remarkable that he gave that much sedaka. So this is what he writes. I'll just read to you a few lines. In a risky act of kutzbah, I asked Rabbi Salvich if there was any truth in his giving 60% of his money to charity to tedaka. While the ala allows one to go beyond 10%, the talmud in kubot 5a does speak of an upper limit of 20% and no more. Which is interesting. The gamarra says you really should not give more than 20%. By the way, why should you not give more than 20%. Because now you're going to have to start asking for sedaka yourself if you're going to start start giving away all your money. So now you're going to need money. So you should really 10% is the is really the requirement. That's a question 10% of the money every year should be given to Saddaka. 20% is the limit. But here we heard that Ro Salvich is giving 60% of his money to Sedaka. So he writes the following. The RV could have opted to ignore my question or perhaps responded very bluntly that this was none of my concern. However, he chose to respond with a sense of humor by saying that I obviously had forgotten a verse in Cohellet that says there's no righteous person who is not even one sin who has not sinned. The RV added and I didn't want to make Schlommo Schlommo into a liar. meaning that he did sin. He then said that after 120 years he will stand before the divine throne and the charge will be read about this terrible sin of over overspending on charity. The rub said he will break out with a big smile in shm in heaven and declare guilty as charged. Several moments afterwards the rub explained that in his situation he had minimal financial expenses. He therefore saw himself as an agent of God to help others in need. There was his fi uh that was his financial blessing. Many years later, the 60% figure was confirmed to me by a member of the RV's family. So the RV said, "Yes." The RV said, "I've sinned. That's correct. But I'm willing to I'm willing to transgress. I'm willing to sin when it comes to giving saddaka, giving more than the garra says that I should give." So again, if these are the great sadikim, right? These are the great righteous people that we should be inspired by in our own lives. Yes. Giving to children. Giving to children. Okay. Again, these are all these are all hahik more hik. We're not we're not going to deal with that right now. Um but yeah, it's a good question. Paying for education, giving to children, supporting children. Putim on on your home. No, if you're going to redo your kitchen, I don't think you can call that uh No, the kids. Oh, the kids kitchen. Okay, let's look at uh let's look at two two more two more sources together. So the gamarra says the following. This is a gamarra in gamarra shaba 63a and I'll read it to you in the translation. The gumar this is number two. Rabi abbas in the name of shiman bin lakish who's ra lakish. A lender is greater than someone who gives charity. Says the Gamar lending is better than giving charity which by the way that's doesn't seem to be the obvious interpretation or the way isn't giving money better than lending somebody money. Lending money means you're going to ask for it back. Giving the money would seem to be better. But here Rucker says better to lend money than to give charity. And someone who places working capital which means you're helping somebody in business kind of like having a person join you in business uh in the popper's purse is the greatest of them all. Surviv has an interesting comment here and that is he says read this gamarra not from the perspective of the one who's receiving the money but the one who's giving the money. Now he says the truth is it's hard for us and it is it's hard for us to reach into our wallets and give away our hardearned money right the money that we have in our savings the money that we have in the bank it's hard for us to dip into that and it is it's very difficult to do that and it's difficult to do that and for that reason people don't necessarily give or give that much because it really is a challenge not everybody is this great Rabbi Khalili who opened his home and had 60 bakers baking all night long and it was leaving food all over the place and that's not typical. And Riff Cook giving money and sneaking money. That's not typical. So Ruf Cook says the following. If we want to give money and we want more and more people to be involved in giving money, it should be given in a way that people are are going to want to give. Now, you're going to want to give if you know you're just lending the money. and you're going to want to give if you're bringing that person into a business maybe into your business where you're going to gain from it as well. So from that point of view and that's the way that he understands his scamar because otherwise it's difficult to understand what does rakesh mean that it's better to lend than to give but from the perspective of the giver maybe it's not from the perspective of the one who's receiving the one receiving just wants to get money but from the givers's point of view and that we want to have more and more givers in the community in the congregation amongst clalist Israel from that perspective if you know that you're going to be getting the money back Which by the way, giving money, lending money is also a a great mitzvah. And I know in my life of two examples that I lent money and I've not received that money back. I lent two significant amount amounts that I've not received back. So lending, by the way, you never know if you're actually going to get that money back. But let's say you assume that you're going to get that money back. You're going to be prone to give again. And if you know you're bringing somebody into some business dealing that you're also benefiting from so you're going to bring that person in. So in that sense there's a benefit. That's the way that Rook understands that. Gamar yes to enable the recipient also to in other words they can also I I don't know if that's the I'm not sure. or I'm not sure if you have to give you know to to that degree even though yes we do say a poor even a poor person has obligation to give a to give a minimal amount yes no that that's true okay so that is that's uh another interesting idea an interesting perspective when it comes to sedaka the advantage of the kind of saddaka where the one where the giver is benefiting to some degree or he doesn't feel the pain of giving it all away because if it's always painful that's of Cook says if mitzvot or the mitzvah in this case if sadak is always painful we don't we don't tend to go towards things that we that are painful right we tend to stay away from things that cause us that cause us we're not all sadikin and maybe maybe I should speak for myself right I'm we're not all on the level that we're that we're giving everything away okay next line of the garamar and here I think he has also very interesting comment so this is also a bit of a surprising a startling line of the garamar is found in braos Rabba Lazar said, this is the bottom of page three. Rab Lazar said, "Fasting is greater than giving charity." Now, that's a surprising statement, right? A fast day or taking on a fast for yourself, that's greater than giving saddaka. Why? It is because one involves a person's body and the other involves his money. Now, what does that mean? That doesn't seem to really clarify things. So, this is the way that Riv Cook interprets it. I think it's again this is a certain perspective which I think is very very important. Let's read Rkook in the translation. When a person perfects his closeness to Hashem as a result of serving Hashem, his nature becomes straight. His human nature is aligned with the divine good and he is primed to perform many good deeds and acts of kindness and charity. So what is Ruf Cook's argument there? That's all we're going to read from that. What is Rufuk arguing? Why in a sense is fasting considered to be greater than giving saddaka? Because fasting means that we are working on ourselves. It means that we're doing chuva. It means that we're getting closer to Hashem through that fast. It's not just fasting because this is like a nice way to start a diet. Fasting in the sense that you're using it as a way that you're going to you're improving your mito. That's why you're taking on a fast. You feel that you need to improve yourself. Now the more that you improve yourself, Rivkuk says the more that you're going to give saddaka. In other words, so in a sense again from that perspective the fasting that's the way that he understands the line in the gumar fasting is greater than giving to sedaka. Now there's a gamarra in and I think this will clarify in the following way. Gamar and kidushian it's dam you don't have this on the sheet. The Gomorrah asked the following question. What's greater action ma like doing mitzvot or talm tora? What do you say? That's the garamar's question. Great question, right? What's considered greater? Masim good deeds or learning Torah? What do you say? Both. Both. By the way, the gamarra says both. Or the language of the gamarra is the following. Gdola Torah. Greater is Torah learning. Sheme because it brings you to ma because it brings you to do good deeds. So what's greater Torah or Masim to so I don't I'm not sure it it it's both to some degree. In other words, you need both. And in this the way that's formulated in the Garra, the more learning that you're going to do, the more good deeds you're going to do. So you would say, well, the good deeds is really what's most important. On the other hand, you need the study of Torah. study of Torah is really most important because that's what's going to bring you to good deeds. So it kind of like works. Yeah, it's kind of circular and both are true and how that's how Rafuk understands this gamarra as well. The gamarra says better to be fasting. It's not really better to be f I mean again it's better to be fasting at times and when you need that in order to improve your midote and your sensitivity to others by the way when we lack that sensitivity and compassion so we're not going to give and if we're not in if we're not working on our midot if we're not improving so then we're going to stay where we've been our entire lives and this is all I give right I give this much to Daka and I'm kind of satisfied with that how do we improve ourselves. Surviv Cook says that's the meaning of this line in the GMA. Rebel Lazar says fasting is greater in that sense from that perspective from that perspective if you need for for that needed growth that spiritual growth so that you're more compassionate that actually brings about even more saddaka that you're going to give more sedaka. Okay, great. One more source that I want to share with you and we'll close with uh we'll close with this an interesting source. This is also a gamar in braos. Look at this gumar. We're reading in translation 54b and 55a in brahos. Rabhuda said three things that a person does at length. If you do these things for a long time, it prolongs his days and years. In other words, the the following three things are good are good to do for a long time. to do it to spend time minutes doing it. spending a long time in prayer. It's good to spend a lot of time davic saying the estra you're going to there's there's great benefit in that. Spending a long time at the dining room table having long meals at the table is a good thing to be doing. Okay. Question is what does that mean exactly? And spending a long time in the privy in the bathroom. That's what the gamarra says. I'll let you look up the rest of that gamarra on your own, but it says spending a long time in the bathroom is good. That's that's that's the Gamarra statement. But we're not going to focus on that. We're going to focus on spending a long time at the table at the dining room table. So this is what the Gamarra says. Spending a long time at the dining room table that is in case a poor person comes in. In other words, why spend a long time at the table? And by the way, there's a min to keepa on the table till the end of the meal. I don't know if anybody's familiar with that. There was when you're clearing the table and you're taking off the dips or taking off the fish from the first course and somebody says, "Well, let's take the kala off. We're done with the kala." The is no, you keep it on the table till the end. Why keep kala on the table till the end in case a poor person comes? That there's food on the table. There should be kala. There should be the main food that you can provide right away. Again, that idea right away you shouldn't have to go into the kitchen. It should be there and they're comfortable and it's there. So that's the ala which many many follow that ala. But spending a long time at table is also good. Extend your meal. Again, for us today, I think you know it's a little bit different for us, but maybe not. You're in an apartment building, people knock on the door, you're still at the table, you have them sit down. So that's what the says. So extend your meals maybe specifically shabas yiff and we where we tend to have longer meals so that we'll have the opportunity immediately to give food to the poor person. And the verse states that the altar was of wood three cubits high and concludes and he said to me this is the table before Hashem. This is Apostle that speaks about them is and then uses the wordhan that it was a shulhan. How is it that although the verse opens by speaking of an altar of it concludes by referring it referring to it as a table? Well, what does it mean in the where it talks about the misbayak an altar and then uses the word table? That's not the right word to use when you're talking about a misbak and benazer both provide the same explanation. As long as the temple was in existence, as long as we had the b mikdash, the msbayak would grant atonement for Israel. But now a person's table grants him atonement. Meaning why does he use both terms? Because our table now becomes like a misbeh when we use our table in a way that we're providing for others that we invite people who need a meal people who are who are alone that need companionship and we invite them to the table in the same way that the misbayak was also kapar that was a way of of offering to hashem and doing a beautiful mitzvah before hashem our tables can be used that way as well. So that's what the Gamarra says a beautiful explanation and I think we've we we were familiar with that idea that the dos that our table is like the misb that's why people use salt at the table some have the actually putting the salt on the table itself just like every carbon that there was salt on every carbon so that the table that we are reminded that this is a place of holiness is a place where we can also serve Hashem as well it's not just a place to to smoo and have have sushi have a steak and that's not the Jewish way way of eating. The Jewish way of eating is always there's always compassion. There's always sensitivity, inviting others and thinking about others. So that's his beautiful teaching the Gamarra that the misbayak is also our table is like the Msbayak and that same word is used to describe the Msbayak. So this is what Rafuk says. This is by the way that's a very beautiful idea and I've always thought about that idea misbeak and our table is like the msbayak but Rafuk kind of turns this around a little bit turns it on its head and he says the truth is our table being like a misbayak that's really that's not really the ideal the ideal is that we have a misbeh what does msbayak represent msbayak represents that we have amrael the Jewish people in the land of Israel and as a nation that we are together that we come together, that we're unified around the MSBA. When we're unified as a nation, when we work together as a nation, he says we can do a much better job of taking care of those that are impoverished in our society, those that are in need. He says it's a lot harder for us to do that if everyone's just relying on each other's tables. In other words, everyone individually, like I said before, I asked this guy for Seducka. He says, "Well, I have other projects that I'm working on." Right? That's not it's not so easy when we're going to individuals and asking individuals to to help us. There there can be success there and we've had great success there. But if Cook says there's even greater success when we as a nation are working together and as a nation we're providing for the needs of the community. When my wife first gave birth here in Israel, we were in charad we had a couple of children shared. We came back in the last we also had children here, some in America, some here. One of the differences here in Israel, there's a lot of differences giving birth. Has anybody here given birth in Israel? A lot of differences you have. Okay, we'll talk about it afterwards. So, one of there's a beautiful, beautiful difference of giving birth in char at some point. It was, you know, the following day somebody came in. They came in rolling one of those metal carts where usually, I don't know, you have food on that or whatever it was, but they had like a book that they came in with. They opened the book. It was a checkbook. the woman, this nurse, I don't know, maybe may may not have been a nurse. The woman came in with a checkbook, opened it up, and was writing a check and said, 'Well, the policy here in Israel is when you have children, you receive a check, you receive funding from the government, and the more children that you have, right, the more money that you receive. So, that was really a beautiful thing. you know, you're sitting there and she actually wrote a check on the spot and gave us the check for having having a child and having children in Israel. So, that's a value. That's a value here in we know in China you're not allowed to have more than it's one child or two, right? Here it's have children, we're going to pay you. The more children you have, we're going to pay you. So, we can set up a system. Again, we're not relying on just individuals, right? When we have a government, when we're living in a country, we have an economy. And again we need to have a the alic sensitivity. And by the way in the al so we have all these of of anda and of the field and what we give to kanim and levim and messer and all of this is to take care of others in society. Surv says the truth is that we've lost that misbeh and the table is in place. That's a beautiful idea. But he says our dream is to get back to that misbeh. The table is only in place of right. That's what we call avid. That's not the ideal. The ideal is Msbayak. The ideal is basdash. The ideal is a nation living in the land of Israel and we're going to provide for everyone and we're going to make sure that everyone everyone's needs are taken care of and I think is Israel tries to do that and maybe you know maybe we can you know like everything there's there's more work that can be done. All right I'll just conclude with the following just quickly three anecdotes. One RVuk so Ravk was where did he come in Israel? first came to Yafo and he was hired as a rabbi in Yafo. He would receive a salary. I think it was very small salary. At some point his wife went to Mayor Diesing. Has anybody ever heard of Diesing? We know the square or the street Diesing. But that was a that was an individual. You can look him up. I looked him up quickly. A great Zionist great Zionist leader. So he at the time I guess he was in charge of giving out the salaries and Rufuk's wife went to Mayor Diesing and said why is it that my husband Ruf Cook is not being paid. So he said no I'm paying him I'm paying him every week. He just received his payment. So his wife went to her husband Rufk and said are you receiving that money? And Ruf cook said yes I'm receiving it every week but I give it all away every week. That's why you don't see it. But why do I but why do I give it away? Because I can go into a maklet. I can go into a supermarket and they will, you know, take the credit. They'll write down, you know, what I owe them. But a poor person who goes into a maklet, right? They're not going to they're not going to give him they're not going to give him any credit. So I have the credit. So I can keep taking stuff even though I'm not paying. I'd rather give the money to somebody who can't possibly buy anything. By the way, I don't know if you remember this from Aulitz. I remember from 20 30 years ago that they had like a box and index cards and everybody would come in. Nobody was paying for anything. Everybody was they were just like writing down. They were just the You don't see that today, but anybody remember that from the old days? Yeah. Yeah. What? That's right. That's right. That's right. At the end of the month, you pay part of it or whatever it was. That's how everybody was paying for groceries here. There were no credit cards and every and nobody had money. So you would just have they would have like a you know an index card they'd be keeping keeping track. So that's uh that was RV cook um Balik you know that name Balik. So he came to Israel and he actually moved into that area of Tel Aviv in Yafo. He was a friend of Ravk uh one day he describes that he was he was near Rkook's home and there was another great rabbi that was there as well. His name he was known as the Riddbaz. He was the rabbiat. And actually there was a very fierce disagreement between even though they loved and respected one another. A fierce disagreement when it came to schmita the laws of Schmita and the heter that Rufk believed that you could sell the land and allow you know Jewish workers to work the land to make money in the year of Shmita. So they were arguing with one another and at some point he heard from the window that uh in very strong terms that that the rabbi said to cook I see that you're undermine undermining all of the Mishnaote in Shiz all the we have in the Mishna about that you're you're not following any of those. So then Ruk said to him, "But I see you're undermining all of me saddaka." And so the rabbi said, 'There is no m saddaka. There is no track date saddaka. And Rufk said all of the Torah is m saddaka. All of it is about kindness and compassion. That's the very basis. That's the very underpinning of of the Torah. And he was concerned with a compassion for those all the set all those that were settling the land of Israel that we need to find a way that they can put food on their table. We need to find some haka some way in order for them to survive in the schmita year. And one last one last line. This is uh for this week's para. You may have heard this vort. It's a vort that's become more popular. The rebi the rebi oftram Yeshua hesshel of apt. Uh he was known as the oh visel. was the name of his safer o of Israel. One of the classic and one of his great teachings in that safer in his life was the importance of loving every single Jew. Compassion and love for every single Jew like Rkook this great teaching. So on the Shabas this coming Shabas the Shabas of Parsha's Balak. So one of the got up at the tish and said where in this week's para do we find the idea of loving of having compassion on another Jew? We don't see that in Balok. You said you can find it in every para and you write about it but I don't see it in balok. So the Rebi said it's so simple the name Balak itself right is a hint to the idea of loving because balak isaam that's balaka rea and the then turned to the rebi and said that's not right is with a v and balak is with a bet with a bet and kam is with a and balak is with a kof it doesn't sell that doesn't say that. So the Rebi said, "If you're going to be so exacting about things, you're never going to love another Jew." Right? If you're going to be so precise, you're not going to ever love another Jew. We can't be so precise. We can't judge people with a uh in in such an exacting way. So this is the idea of saddaka. Saddaka for of Cook. We see some of the beautiful ideas of uh living up to a great ideal of saddaka, of giving, of being open, of being compassionate like the gimmel and the daled. What a beautiful expression that is that came from children. And I think Rook, he says that that's because it's something that's so innate. It's something that's so basic. The idea of that's who we are as Jews. uh we should be za that hashem gives us a lot of shea braha give all of us a lot of braha that we can share a lot with others that we should be able to give a lot of saddaka saddaka comes in many forms yes it may be with our children and with our grandchildren and with our community and with learning Torah we should be zoka all of us to uh to give saddaka heashem should bless all of us we should also be blessed it's been a difficult couple of days with soldiers that have been killed five soldiers soldiers that are being buried married this afternoon. Right now I think uh the soldier from Ramape she his funeral is this afternoon. So we pray for peace and hashem should be charitable with amrail. Amen. All right. Wish everyone a uh a good day and a good week.