Tzedaka in a Perfect World in memory of Minette Schwartz Radin Kochman daughter of Louis & Bertha on her second yahrtzeit ט״ו בשבט תשע״ז

(11) For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.

(11) כי לא יחדל אביון מקרב הארץ, for it is basically unrealistic to assume that society is 100 per cent righteous, deserving, something which even Psalms 7,20 considered as an impossibility in this life.

(11) כי לא יחדל אביון, “for there will not cease to be destitute people.” This sounds like a contradiction to what the Torah had promised in verse 4, where it stated that there would not be destitute people in our land. The promise in verse 4 had been linked to a condition. i.e. that the entire population observes the sh’mittah and yovel legislation. The critical word there had been the word כי. In our verse here this word occurs again but here it means: “maybe, possibly.” In our paragraph the word כי occurs no fewer than four times. It has a different meaning each time. We have a conditional word כי in כי יהיה בך אביון, “if there should be among you a destitute person;” we have a word כי meaning “but,” in כי פתוח תפתח, “but you shall definitively open your hand;” we have the word כי meaning “because of” in בגלל הדבר הזה, “for the sake of this matter G-d will bless you;” and we have the word כי meaning “so that not,” in כי לא יחדל אביון “if perchance your actions were not charitable enough to prevent the existence of destitute people among you.”

(4) There shall be no needy among you—since the LORD your God will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion—

(4) אפס כי לא יהיה בך אביון, “there will be no destitute among you;” this is the Torah’s promise if the people of Israel will meticulously observe the sh’mittah and yovel year legislation. [The latter occurs only once in 50 years. Ed.] The reason that is so is that the poor who had felt forced to sell themselves or their daughters, will automatically regain their status as free men in the next sh’mittah year, and if they still owe money, that debt will have been scrapped at the end of the most recent sh’mittah cycle. With the advent of the yovel year, they or their heirs will automatically regain their title to the ancestral heritage they might have had to sell earlier. No one will therefore be permanently destitute. (b’chor shor)

§ It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Meir would say: An opponent may bring an argument against you and say to you: If your God loves the poor, for what reason does He not support them Himself? In such a case, say to him: He commands us to act as His agents in sustaining the poor, so that through them we will be credited with the performance of mitzvot and therefore be saved from the judgment of Gehenna. And this is the question that Turnus Rufus the wicked asked Rabbi Akiva: If your God loves the poor, for what reason does He not support them Himself? Rabbi Akiva said to him: He commands us to sustain the poor, so that through them and the charity we give them we will be saved from the judgment of Gehenna.

Turnus Rufus said to Rabbi Akiva: On the contrary, it is this charity which condemns you, the Jewish people, to Gehenna because you give it. I will illustrate this to you with a parable. To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a king of flesh and blood who was angry with his slave and put him in prison and ordered that he should not be fed or given to drink. And one person went ahead and fed him and gave him to drink. If the king heard about this, would he not be angry with that person? And you, after all, are called slaves, as it is stated: “For the children of Israel are slaves to Me” (Leviticus 25:55). If God decreed that a certain person should be impoverished, one who gives him charity defies the will of God.

Rabbi Akiva said to Turnus Rufus: I will illustrate the opposite to you with a different parable. To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a king of flesh and blood who was angry with his son and put him in prison and ordered that he should not be fed or given to drink. And one person went ahead and fed him and gave him to drink. If the king heard about this once his anger abated, would he not react by sending that person a gift? And we are called sons, as it is written: “You are sons of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 14:1).

Turnus Rufus said to him: You are called sons and you are called slaves. When you fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, you are called sons; when you do not fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, you are called slaves. And since now you do not fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, the parable that I offered is more apt. Rabbi Akiva said to him: The verse states: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you shall bring the poor that are cast out to your house?” (Isaiah 58:7). When do we bring the poor that are cast out into our houses? Now, when we have to billet the Roman soldiers in our homes; and about that very time, the verse states: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?”

The Gemara asks: And do we require that one live in a city for twelve months for all matters? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If one lives in city for thirty days, he must contribute to the charity platter from which food is distributed to the poor. If he lives there for three months, he must contribute to the charity box. If he lives there for six months, he must contribute to the clothing fund. If he lives there for nine months, he must contribute to the burial fund. If he lives there for twelve months, he must contribute to the columns of the city [lepassei ha’ir], i.e., for the construction of a security fence. Rabbi Asi said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: When we learned twelve months in the mishna, we learned that with regard to contributing to the columns of the city, money used for protecting and strengthening the city, but not for other matters.

קופה - לצדקה: ד לכ

(1) Every city that has Jews is obligated to set up charity collectors from among themselves - people that are known and trustworthy - to go around to all of the people from the eve of [one] Shabbat to the eve of [another] Shabbat and take from each and every one that which it is fitting for him to to give and that which is assessed upon him. And they distribute the money from the eve of [one] Shabbat to the eve of [another] Shabbat and they give provisions that will suffice for seven days to each and every poor person. And this is what is called the kuppah (container).

(2) And so [too], they set up collectors that take bread and types of produce or money from each and every courtyard from whoever donates it at that time on each and every day. And they distribute that which was collected on the eve among the poor people and give sustenance for the day to each poor person. And this is what is called the tamchui.

(3) We have never seen or heard of a Jewish community that does not have a charity kuppah. But [regarding] a tamchui, there are places where they are accustomed to having it and there are places where they are not accustomed to having it.

(12) We force one who dwells in a city for thirty days to give charity to the kuppah [alongside] the people of the city. If he dwells there three months, we force him to give to the tamchui. If he dwells there six months, we force him to give charity for clothing with which we clothe the poor of the city. If he dwells there nine months, we force him to give charity for burial [costs], with which we bury poor people and take care of all the burial needs.

(7) Rabbi Elazar of Bartosa would say: Give Him what is His, for you, and whatever is yours, are His. As David says: "For everything comes from You, and from Your own hand we give to You" (I Chronicles 29:14)...