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Why Tzedaka is More Than a Mitzvah - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship
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Shalom friends so everybody's got their
thing you know their Mitzvah that
service of Hasam that resonates deepest
in their soul and I've always felt that
when people have that kind of connection
with a Mitzvah that it's for a reason
that perhaps they were put in this world
to do exactly that Mitzvah to bring that
light well my father's thing was always
Sedaka it was always charity and he
always made it clear that it wasn't his
personal thing it was an AB bro's thing
I mean it was a Jewish thing but an AB
bramwit thing in specific which is true
my uncles's you know that whole side of
the family it was very much all about
Sedaka and as you can imagine when
there's a family value like that it
isn't born in a vacuum it's
intergenerational I was raised on
stories about how generous my
grandfather Solomon Abram woodz was and
Not only was he generous but he was the
president and head of the uja the head
fundraiser for the United Jewish appeal
in addition to risking a lengthy prison
sentence by smuggling weapons to Israel
during the war of independence he'
raised funds during the turbulent years
of the establishment of the state and in
various Wars afterwards there's even a
famous story about how my grandfather
recorded his own eulogy before he passed
away I think I actually made have shared
this with you it uh it famously began
with him saying many of you have come to
pay your final respects others just to
make sure he was a funny guy anyways
there was a famous line in the eulogy in
which he thanked a guy named Harry
moscowitz or something like that maybe
that wasn't his name at all but anyways
he thanked Harry moscowitz for his
generous pledge of
$50,000 to the uja now this is a famous
story because everyone knew that my
grandfather was constantly hitting up
Harry moscowitz to give to the uja
constantly pressuring him to give and
apparently Harry moscowitz was not
forthcoming with the donation so as his
final his final farewell to Harry mosz
he quite publicly thanked him in his
eulogy for a pledge of $50,000 that Mr
mosquit clearly didn't make anyway my f
my my father was the same way I clearly
remember him losing friends when he
confronted them to let them know that in
his opinion they were not giving enough
Saka or that they weren't giving to the
right places I remember him saying
something like you're giving to the
Houston Symphony you're giving to the
Houston Symphony while your brethren in
Israel are in danger and need your help
or even in the Jewish Day School in
Houston to ensure the Jewish future what
has the Jewish what has the symphony
ever done for the Jewish people I
remember him saying that and and I'm
telling you this because while maybe I
approach things a little bit differently
than my father and grandfather I'd like
to believe that I have the same heart I
definitely aspire to have the same heart
they did for so many things front and
center sedu it's just it's part of my
spiritual DNA if you saw the UL the
eulogy I gave for my father in it I
quoted something he would often say
regarding tadaka he would often say Jews
give tadaka and the bramwood says give
until it
hurts and so my father had a practice
with me that I'm sure his father had
with him a practice that most likely
went back many generations a practice
that not only do I have with my children
but I think many do I have this bag of
change and I try to make it a practice
with relative frequency particularly
before Shabbat before lighting the
candles on Shabbat I make it a point to
take the money out of the bag and not to
put it directly into the charity box but
rather to put it in the hands of my
children for them to put it into the
tadaka box I have it right here I do
this so that they are the ones giving
the tadaka that it's in their muscle
memory it's in their Consciousness that
very early in their lives they already
start identifying
as someone who gives tadaka now I have
to tell you that studying the teachings
of RV Beerman on this week's Torah
portion added such a beautiful
perspective on this practice that I
never considered and that I think will
change my Consciousness forever when I
perform this beautiful little ritual
with my children so the Torah portion
begins with Hashem telling Moshe to tell
them tell the children of Israel
Trum take for me a donation from every
person whose heart inspires him to
generosity to generosity you shall take
my donation so the question that R
Beerman brings from the commentators is
why the first word
is take why does it say take from me a
donation shouldn't it say give a
donation and why does it start by saying
the Hebrew word truma donation and it
ends with truma my donation
and the answer is brought from the G who
so beautifully explains that hasem says
take and he says my donation because
when a person donates it is not really
the person alone giving the donation
it's Hashem giving it much like when I
put the sheel in vash's hand or in
shilo's hand to put it in the tadaka Box
Hashem gives us the money puts the money
in our hands for us to give the Saka he
brings the ver
from P from ethics of our fathers
chapter
3 give to him from that which is his
because you and what you own are his
that's from ethics of our father
similarly King David said for all is
from you and from your hand we have
given it to you that's in Chronicles
this idea that everything is from Hashem
is a deeply ingrained foundational
principle in the Torah and in Jewish
Consciousness when uh when people buy a
book and they don't want it to get lost
they write their name in in it in the
front cover and it's a common practice
in the Jewish world that when you write
your name in a book to mark it as yours
in the top right corner of the inside of
the cover where you're writing your name
you write the letters lamid he
V that meansem
um the world is God's and everything
that is in it that's from Psalm 24 and
we write these letters to remind
ourselves that yes in this world the
book is my property but ultimately the
entire world is God's and everything
that's in it nothing really belongs to
us in the world of Truth it all really
belongs to him that is a truth that we
know but I never quite internalized it
or visualized the truth that when we
give tadaka it is very much Hashem
putting the money in our hands and
telling us to put it into the tadaka box
that's what it really is and so I'll
share with like
this when I now put the money in vash's
hands and she puts it in the tadaka box
that is my experience that I will try to
have when I put my own Sedaka in the Box
because it's from God through me and so
so I want to bless us that we take this
lesson deeply to Heart may we always
remember that the wealth we have is not
truly ours but it's a gift from Hashem
entrusted to us so that we may be his
Partners in spreading kindness and
Justice and Holiness in the world may we
reciprocate the great Sedaka that God
gives us every day by placing sedak at
the center of our Lives teaching our
children by example and ensuring that
generosity remains a Cornerstone of our
families and of our communities I bless
us with that my friends I bless me I
bless you and I bless all of us that we
should keep that front and center to see
the unfolding of redemption before our
very eyes amen
[Music]