I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share with you an excerpt of an article by Rabbi Shaul Rosenblatt entitled "The Pleasure of Giving" giving us a fascinating approach to understanding Avraham's faith in HaShem.
You are traveling in the desert with two friends. It's a boiling hot day. You see some tents in the distance, seemingly a Bedouin camp. Suddenly, running crazily towards you, a 99-year-old man appears. He dives at your feet, face in the sand, and implores, "Please my masters, if I have found favor in your eyes, do not pass by the tent of your humble slave. Stay a while. I will personally wash your feet and provide food. Sit in the shade of my tree - and afterwards you may go." Try to picture it for a minute: What would you think? Most people would be concerned that this is some sort of psychopath [...]. At the very least, there must be a catch, something in it for him. After all, nobody in this world does something for nothing. Does he? I doubt that many would take Abraham up on his offer.
It says a great deal about the society in which we live, that when someone wants to do something for us, we are suspicious. Why would someone want to do something for me if there was no gain for him? And most of the time, we are correct. It's a terrible shame, though, that we need to be so wary. After all, which should be the anomaly: a person who cares about others and gives to them selflessly, or a society that is suspicious of such a person?
Abraham was the person in Jewish history who, above all else, exemplified chesed - kindness. It was not strange for Abraham to run to potential guests and beg them to partake of his generosity. He loved humanity and, above all else, his mission in life was to make people happy. There are few deeper pleasures than of giving to others, and Abraham knew that well. Every one of us enjoys giving much more than taking. Giving expands and satisfies us. Taking leaves us ultimately feeling empty. [...] So why do we not give as much as we could?
We are misled into believing that by giving, we somehow lose out. If I give to someone else, there is surely less for me. It's true, but only in the short term. In the long term, giving gives us back so much more than we gave. Abraham understood this and his life was about giving. We, as his spiritual heirs, have the same trait within us. Giving does make us happy. If we would keep reminding ourselves of this, we could find a lot more happiness. [...]
Now, possibly more than ever, there are so many opportunities for giving. We must take example from Avraham Avinu and recognize that our giving, in whatever way we can, ultimately benefits us. May our contributions in this time help to secure Jewish salvation in the practical and, more importantly, in the eyes of the Divine.
Hoping and praying for a Shabbat Shalom in every sense of the term,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
