B"H

Monday, Elul 9, 5782 / September 5, 2022

This week's Parsha is Ki Teitzei (Deut. 21:10). One of the many commandments in the Parsha is, "When you shall cut your harvest in your field and you will forget a sheaf in the field, you should not go back to fetch it. For the stranger, the orphan and for the widow it shall be."  (Deut. 23:22).

During the month of Elul, the final month of the year, when we prepare for the day of judgment and pray for a Shana Tova - a happy and healthy New Year, it is very important to be more generous and to give more charity, to help the poor, the less fortunate and the needy.

The following Talmudic story is worthwhile remembering at this time of the year. 

One Rosh Hashana night, the great Talmudic Sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, had a dream.  He saw that his nephews would have to pay 600 golden dinars to the tax collectors. Rabbi Shimon, wanting to save them this aggravation, sent charity collectors to ask his nephews to contribute more charity than usual throughout the year.

"Why do you want us to give more charity this year than usual?" they asked.  Rabbi Shimon answered, "If one doesn't give willingly to the right things, he ends up having to give forcibly for the wrong things."

At the end of the year, a special military tax was imposed on the people of that city. Rabbi Shimon’s nephews were assessed 600 golden dinars. When they refused to pay this large amount, they were thrown in jail.

Rabbi Shimon heard what happened and ordered his nephews' records of charitable donations be brought to him. Upon calculating how much charity they gave, he realized that they were 6 dinars short of the sum of 600. "Bring me six dinars," said Rabbi Shimon, "and with G-d's help, everything will be good."

"But they want 600 dinars!  What goodwill six dinars do?" Rabbi Shimon urged them to do as he said.

With the six dinars in his hand, he went to the tax collector and succeeded in persuading him to take the six dinars and free his nephews. Only then did Rabbi Shimon tell his relatives of his Rosh Hashana dream.  "Had you given the full 600 dinars for charity, you wouldn't have had to go through all this misery," Rabbi Shimon told them.

"If you knew this all along, why didn't you tell us your dream at the beginning of the year?  We would have gladly given the 600 dinars for charity to save us from the tax!"

Rabbi Shimon replied, "One should perform a mitzvah for G-d’s sake and not for selfish reasons. Had I told you about my dream at the beginning of the year, all the charity you gave during the year would have been for selfish reasons. By not knowing the dream, you performed the mitzvah of charity to its fullest."

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY

& SHANA TOVA – A HAPPY HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR