“Do not harden your heart and do not close your hand from your impoverished brother” (15:7). The mitzvah of tzedakah requires that we open our hearts and hands to help those in need. Not surprisingly, most successful fundraising today is done by playing to people’s emotions: pictures of terror victims, a starving child or a cancer survivor are the (legitimate) “props” used to raise funds. Giving a well-reasoned intellectual argument as to why a cause should be supported is nice, but unlikely to inspire a donor to dig deep in his pockets. A picture of one tsunami victim will raise millions more dollars than anonymous pleas to relieve the suffering of hundreds of thousands of faceless victims.
This fundamental truth of human nature helps to explain why certain disasters are met with an outpouring of help and others are all but ignored. It also helps to explain why the day school system is teetering on collapse. All the research and studies in the world demonstrating the positive impact of a day school education for the middle class do little to inspire the wealthy. Reason is truly no match for emotion.
The Torah, reflecting human nature, commands that we first open our heart to the pain of others; if we do so, then it will be much easier to open our hands. It is our heart that tells the hand what to do. This idea is reflected in the shema where, as we say twice a day, “you shall not stray after your hearts and your eyes”. To paraphrase Rashi, our eyes see what our hearts desire.
Rabbi Jay Kelman explains: “On the most basic level, although we may not fully solve the problem, surely our efforts do help, even if not to the extent desired. Yet even were this not so, tzedakah would serve a crucial role. While we must never lose sight of the fact that the goal of tzedakah is to help the needy, it has an additional function—one that may be, at times, even more important—that of helping the donor. Giving to others helps develop our traits of caring, compassion, and consideration; traits that will serve us and society well in many other areas. Furthermore, it instils the notion that our money is entrusted to us by G-d and is a means, not an end in and of itself. That realization alone, properly applied, makes unethical business practices unthinkable. Undoubtedly, appeals to donors based on the benefits to themselves lacks the emotional pull of helping others. The Torah, so sensitive to the nuances of life, subtly hints at this concept. As noted above, the mitzvah of tzedakah requires both the heart and the hand. Yet when the Torah, a few verses later, notes that poverty will always exist, we are commanded to open our hands; no mention is made of opening our hearts. We must continue to give, even if our hearts can’t get the joy of seeing the fruits of our efforts.”
Prepared by Devorah Abenheim
