"If there is a poor man among you…you shall open your hand wide to him…." (Deut. 15: 7-8)
I heard from the Baal Shem Tov a commentary on the verse "As for me, I will behold Your Face in righteousness; when awakened, I will be satisfied with Your likeness": (Psalms 17:15)7 When a person gives a coin to a pauper, he creates a Unification. The coin is the letter yud and the five fingers of the giver are the letter hei. The outstretched hand of the giver is the letter vav and the five fingers of the poor person are the last letter hei. Through this, he causes a outflow of compassion, because [the Name] in proper order is absolute compassion.
Every good gesture performed below arouses a corresponding movement in the Supernal Attributes….This applies when the giver initiates the act of charity, before the poor man stretches out his hand. Then the [letters of the] Name are in order, which draws compassion into the world. But when the beggar first puts out his hand, then the Name is not in order. This is the meaning of the verse: "As for me, I will behold Your Face in righteousness": When I initiate the act of charity, then I will behold Your face; when I cause a Unification of the four letters [of the Name] in sequence, which is Your face - compassion, but "when awakened", meaning to say, when the pauper awakens me by stretching out his hand for charity, then "I will be satisfied with Your likeness". Then it is only the likeness of the four letters, but not the face. And this is "You shall surely open your hand for him", meaning, you should be the one to open, then the Name will be in correct order.
Every good gesture performed below arouses a corresponding movement in the Supernal Attributes, whether for Kindness or for Judgment, for "G‑d is your shadow". (Psalms 121:6) A human being is made in the Creator's image; if he fulfills "You shall open wide your hand to him," the supernal source will open to pour forth to below.
One who gives joyfully and takes pleasure in giving has no set amount….
They asked the Baal Shem Tov why he gave more than a fifth [of his income to charity], which contradicts the words of our Rabbis, "One who wants to be generous, should not give more than a fifth." (Ketubot 50a)
He answered that the word "to be generous" [in Hebrew, "bizbez"] is from the word "booty" [in Hebrew, "biza"], meaning a person who does not give joyfully, but rather like one who is stealing from himself, opposing his own will to fulfill the mitzvah of his Creator - for him, the Sages set a limit at a fifth. However, one who gives joyfully and takes pleasure in giving has no set amount.
It is better for a person not to do a mitzvah, than to do it out of self-interest. However, with regards to the mitzvah of charity, even if it is not done the best way (for the sake of G‑d), the person should do it anyway, for he sustains the life of the poor.
Reprinted with permission from www.baalshemtov.org
Start a Discussion