August 13, 2009
One of the themes of parshat Re’e is our duties to the poor and oppressed. The Torah says:
“If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs.”
These verses are the source for the mitzva of tzedaka, our obligation to provide for the poor. I suspect that even Jews who do virtually nothing Jewish still give tzedaka. They may not use that word, and they may not think of it as a mitzva, a religious obligation, but they still give. We Jews are taught from an early age — from the time we are first given a coin to put in the tzedaka box at preschool — that it is important to help those who are less fortunate.
This raises an interesting question: Why is there no bracha, blessing, for the mitzva of tzedaka? After all, many of the positive commandments require one. Why don’t we say something like “…asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al hatzedaka” before writing a check or dropping a few coins in the pushke? Why don’t we take a moment to acknowledge that our action is a response to God’s commandment and not just something we do out of the goodness of our hearts?
This isn’t a new question. Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Avraham Adret, the 13th-century Spanish rabbi) wrote:
“The reason is because one does not recite a blessing on any commandment whose fulfillment requires the participation of another person. After all, if the poor person refuses to take the tzedaka, the person will have uttered a bracha l’vatala, a blessing said in vain, and therefore violated a Torah prohibition.”
A number of later rabbis also gave reasons for the lack of a blessing; e.g., As one can only give tzedaka if there is a poor person to give it to, it is improper to recite a blessing at another person’s misfortune.
Rabbi Mendl of Rimanov gave this reason: A person has to be totally at ease with himself and joyful in order to recite a blessing. In most cases, a person is not totally at ease with giving away his money, and the money is given begrudgingly.
Perhaps my favorite explanation comes from Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Przysucha, who said: If one had to recite a blessing, the truly pious would go through so elaborate a ritual before reciting the blessing — they would wash their hands, say a l’shem yihud [a special meditation stating one’s intention to say a blessing and perform a mitzva] with the greatest of concentration, and so on — that the poor person would, in the interim, die of hunger.
When God first called to Abraham, He said, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” (Bereshit 12:2) Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch points out that the text here does not, in fact, say v’haiata bracha (you will be a blessing), but ve’yei bracha (you, become a blessing). God did not give Abraham a prophecy, but a commandment.
The Torah tells us, “Give to [the needy person] readily and have no regrets when you do so.” When it comes to tzedaka, it is more important to be a blessing than to recite one.
Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a resident of Teaneck, is a former religious leader of congregations in Leonia and Lancaster, Pa.
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