Why Tzedaka is More Than a Mitzvah - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

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]