Weekly Davar - The Gift Of Giving - Vayakel

When Moses requested donations for the Tabernacle, the Princes of each Tribe did not give immediately. They figured they would wait until everything had come in and then fill in whatever gaps remained. It sounds like a noble idea, but unfortunately there were no gaps and so the Princes found themselves unable to participate.

The commentaries view what they did as a mistake; a subtle mistake, but a mistake nevertheless.

I have told the story before of the Roman governor who approached Rabbi Akiva asking if God was so great, why could He not provide for poor people. It’s a reasonable question. Rabbi Akiva answered that God allowed some people to be poor so that others could support them and human beings could learn to have compassion for each other. In Jewish law, even a poor man is obliged to give at least some charity in order to learn how precious and fulfilling it is for us to care about others. Why should a poor man miss out on that?

In other words, God’s purpose in charity is not for the benefit of the recipient, but for the benefit of the benefactor. More so than the one who gives is doing the poor man a favour, he is doing a favour for himself.

This is apparent in practice as well as principle. If a wealthy man gives a poor man a meal, the poor man will remember the kindness until he is hungry again. But the wealthy man will feel good about what he has done for days, weeks and months. Years later he will still be able to look back on what he did with a feeling of pleasure.

More so than charity is an obligation and a responsibility, it is an opportunity. A world to which we had nothing to contribute would ultimately be meaningless and unfulfilling.

The Princes saw giving to the Tabernacle as a responsibility, so they would fill in the gaps at the end and make sure the job got done. They should, instead, have jumped at it as an opportunity and given immediately – then filled the gaps later as well.

Seeing charity as a good deed for someone else can make us feel self righteous. Seeing charity as a responsibility can turn it into a burden. Seeing it as an opportunity will help us to give more, give more willingly, give with more compassion and will open our hearts to the eternal pleasure that is available from one of life’s most wonderful blessings –the opportunity to share what we have with others.