Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Everyday Judaism Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody to the Everyday Judaism Podcast. Today we are going to continue where we started off last week in the laws of charity, and now we're up to Halacha 2, and this is in Semen 34. Semen 34 in the Ketzesh Shulchan Aruch, in the abridged and concise code of Jewish law, kol Odom Chayev Litein S'daka Kefi Hasagas Yadom, every person is required to give charity according to what he can afford. Now I want to review something that we discussed last week. I saw the source for it of where, in my mind, this was locked in the Gaon of Vilna.

00:50
In writes when he talks about charity and giving Maaser, he says there are two separate things Maaser, the tithe doesn't belong to you. That's not you being benevolent, kind, magnanimous, and giving Tithe does not belong to you. So if you get a thousand dollars, giving a hundred dollars to charity is not your money to give. It's God's money that he gave to you to give for him. Charity is what you give beyond that of your own, so to speak. The other 90%, that is yours, so to speak. When you give from that, that is charity. I saw this yesterday in the Gaon of Vilna and I wanted to just bring it out again over here that when we talk about charity, we're not talking about the tithe. The tithe is not ours to give. Okay, it's God's, it's his that he gave us to be distributors for Him. The charity is of that 90% that remains that we give to others. Okay, so now continues here.

02:13
The Kitzer Says the halacha. Even someone who lives off the charity funds, that means he's poor enough to receive charity handouts from the community. Even such a person needs to give charity. I think I've shared with you this incredible story. Let's finish this halacha, halacha two, and then I'll share with you an amazing story about charity. Even if a person can only give a little bit, a person should not count himself out of that responsibility. That little, little little bit that he gives is just as valuable as the millions of dollars that the wealthy give, and our sages of blessed memory have said.

03:06
It says, when it talks about the offerings, when one brings an animal as an Ola offering, a fire offering a satisfying aroma. And when it says, regarding the bird of the Ola offering, which is for the poor person, which is cheaper, it also says a fire offering a satisfying aroma. With connection to the Mincha offering too, it states a fire offering a satisfying aroma. This is to teach us. Why does it use the same exact terminology? It doesn't make a difference if a person gives a lot or if a person gives a little.

03:53
The fact that you're giving is what pleases God. God loves when we are giving with all of our heart. When we're giving with love, as long as we're having in mind that we're fulfilling the will of our heart. When we're giving with love, as long as we're having in mind that we're fulfilling the will of Hashem. That is what counts. And if you give a billion dollars to charity but you despise what you're doing, it doesn't have an effect, like the person who gives a dime but gives it with all his heart.

04:25
Aval kol she'en lo'elo de parnasaso eino chayav li'ten stokaf. A person is only barely eking through a living and he's barely able to have his own sustenance covered. He doesn't earn enough. De parnasas atzma kodem is l'chol adam. His own livelihood comes first, his own sustenance comes first and in such a case would not necessarily require charity.

04:55
Now I'm going to tell you a story about this. I sat, I told you this story before. I'll repeat it again because it's such an amazing story. I get these calls many times. People come to Houston. They want to have a place to stay. Someone called me up. He says do you mind?

05:08
This rabbi is coming from Israel, so typically they come to collect charity. Either way, I didn't ask, I didn't want to inquire about any details. He shows up Friday afternoon. We welcome him in, we show him the guest room where the bathroom is, etc. He can, you know, shower, whatever he needs. Okay, great, we spend the whole shabbos together and it's lovely. He comes to my.

05:30
We had a class shabbos morning at one of the congregations. He would come to the class and he was like I love what you guys are doing. This is really really special. Okay, I, I didn't. We didn't really talk to him about why he came to the united states uh, from israel. But at the end of shabbos we were walking home from synagogue and I said to him you know it's already out of shabbos. I said you know, after havdalah, if you don't mind, let's sit down for a few minutes. I'll give you some charity. He looks at me. He's like what are about? I said didn't you come here to collect money for something? He says no, I don't need anybody's handouts. He says but I want you to get your wife and kids together, and I want to tell you my story.

06:20
And his story goes back 20 years. He said he was newlywed, he had one child, a second one on the way, and he's a scribe, a professional scribe. He writes Torah scrolls and he writes mezuzahs and he writes tefillin and he writes megillahs. And the biggest challenge for a scribe, he said, was the drawer. What's the drawer? The drawer is where you have all of your scrolls that you wrote ready to go for sale. He says the pile gets bigger and bigger and you don't have a market to sell it to. He says I have the most beautiful handwriting. I can't sell it to anybody because I don't have a distributor. I don't have somebody to sell it to Big challenge. He doesn't know, I don't have somebody to sell it to Big challenge, there's no to-do. He says he literally did not have money for a yogurt, he didn't have money for a loaf of bread, Nothing. And he wanted to know if it was at all possible for him not to be obligated to the obligation of tithing Because he doesn't have anything. This halacha says if you don't have yourself, you don't have to give to others. So he goes to his rabbi and he says rabbi, I want to reprieve from this law that I don't have to give a tithe because I'm so poor I can't afford anything. I shouldn't have to give a tithe. Rabbi says look, this is way beyond my shoulders. You need someone who has really broad shoulders. Go Rabbi says look, this is way beyond my shoulders. You need someone who has really broad shoulders. Go to Rabbi Sheinberg. Sheinberg was a very big rabbi, Broad enough shoulders that he can give such a ruling.

07:53
He goes to the rabbi and the rabbi hears his story and he says to him listen here. He says I want you to do something. He says I want you to promise me that, from today on, you will never give less than 20%, not 10%, 20%, and his eyes pop out. He's like Rabbi, I came here for a reprieve from 10% to nothing and instead you added another 10% and now I'm at 20%. He says let me go home, Let me talk to wife. He says and I will give you a blessing, a promise that's given by our sages, that someone who gives 20% is guaranteed incredible success and an incredible wealth. He says fine, let me talk to my wife. So he goes home and he tells his wife what happened and his wife is like of course you should do it. He's like what do you mean we should do it? She says 20% of nothing is still nothing. So what does it make a difference? Just commit to 20%. You get the blessing of the rabbi and that's it, he said. A few minutes later, after making that commitment with his wife, he said he's standing there in the kitchen and they make a commitment that of every penny they're going to earn, they're going to give 20%, like the rabbi said, and that blessing, hopefully, will be fulfilled.

09:17
A few minutes later he gets a phone call from the first rabbi he went to and the rabbi says to him where are you right now? He says I'm home. He says I need you to get to the yeshiva immediately. How do I get to yeshiva? He says I don't care. How. Go to your neighbor. Borrow money for a cab. You need to be here immediately. So he did that. He's the only told me he borrowed 20 shekel from his neighbor. He didn't have money. 20 shekel is 10, not even 10 dollars. It was what it's six dollars to take a cab from where he lived in nevi akov to central jerusalem.

09:51
And he arrives at the yeshiva and he sees his rabbi standing with somebody in the hallway. The rabbi calls him over. He says I want to introduce you to somebody. He says this guy owns a very, very successful Judaica store in New York and he has one very big problem he doesn't have a scribe to supply him with scrolls for Mezuzah, for Tefillin, for Megillah, for Torahs. He says maybe the two of you should do business together.

10:23
He said it's over 20 years since that day and he's never had a single scroll sit in that drawer. He says I can't write them fast enough. I said wow, that's amazing. I said can I see your scroll? He says I came to Houston to deliver scrolls that were purchased four years ago by someone in San Antonio and I'm going to deliver them. I said can I see your scrolls? I looked at the scroll and it was stunning. It has a stunning handwriting, Stunning. I said can I buy it? He says no. He says if you want to buy something, you're going to get it in four years. He says you can pay now, Get it in four years. That's the unbelievable, he says, and he hasn't missed a single tithe of 20%. So yeah, if a person is looking to not give, there are ways out of it. If a person is looking for a way to give, there are many ways of blessing and success. I think it's a very, very powerful story. I can tell you exactly.

11:30
In fact, one of the books we have in the magnificent Don Leavitt Family Library here in the Torch Center is written by that individual, that person that scribe individual, that person, that scribe. And one of the things that he's very, very stringent about in his writing is it says that it's a balnefesh yachmir. Someone who's an elevated soul, so to speak, should be careful. Before writing anything on parchment as a scribe. They should go to the mikvah, and he built a mikvah so that every time before he touches his quill he goes into the mikvah and then he can begin writing Right Every single time before he writes is a very special thing. Not every scribe does that. Some people I'm sure there aren't, but maybe there are some scribes who can sit in their pajamas. They can. Technically it's nothing, no prohibition. You sit after going to the mikvah writing your scroll with tremendous diligence and with tremendous fear of God. That's a whole different level. We'll talk about this when we talk about the laws of writing scrolls later on in our Everyday Judaism podcast. Okay, now we continue.

12:51
My dear friends, halacha number three, Halacha gemel Kamen, oslam lo'ani. How much should be given to a poor person? Dei machsoro ashe yech sarlo. The verse states this is a verse in Deuteronomy whatever he lacks, enough to satisfy his need, whatever he lacks. And this is a verse we see in Deuteronomy 15, verse 8, and the Kitzel will explain this further V'haynu b'oni sh'mekabol b'chashay. To a poor person who accepts charity in secret, m'chuyo v'nan she'er liten lo kol machsoro ka'asher hoyo rogil, His townsmen are obligated to give him all that he lacks, equal to that of which he is accustomed. Mikodim she'he'oni. Before he was impoverished. So imagine this.

13:46
Imagine someone who is used to having a chauffeur. He was a CEO of a company and he had a chauffeur pick him up in front of his house, Take him in his limousine to his office. He had people opening the door for him, Closing the door for him. That's what he's used to. Now he has to go on Metro. Now he has to go on Metro to work. He's humiliated. It's a high level of humiliation.

14:13
Say, just say, that would be the appropriate level of charity for that person. That means for every person. Is a different level of charity For one person? Okay, he didn't really have high standards, so is a different level of charity For one person. Okay, he didn't really have high standards, so you don't have to give him high standards, but someone who had higher standards, what he's lacking, and not necessarily that, that's what the halacha says, that that would technically be required, and even if the example given by our sages if he had people running in front of his horse and chariot, then that's what would be obligated. Now, obviously, no one's using charity money for that, but still, to understand their pain of where they're coming from, demach soro, this person's lacking is quite unique. It's very different than just an ordinary. Let me just give him a buck and let's call it a day, okay, Aval onni ha-machzer al-apsachim.

15:11
However, to a poor person who collects openly, door-to-door, it is not necessary to give as much. Nosen lo matanim mu'etes, lefi erko. Rather, one should give him a minimum donation, something appropriate to his stature. Well, the Chol HaPachas and, at the very least, Yitnu Lo Bechol Ir, the inhabitants of each city, at the very least, should give to this poor person Lechem Mazon Shir Shdes Udos. The people should give him. The inhabitants of each city should give bread and food sufficient for two meals and a place to lodge, a place to sleep.

15:50
We must sustain and clothe poor people who are not Jewish as well, Along with the Jewish poor For the sake of maintaining peace. We don't only take care of our own community or say, oh, you're not part of my faith, sorry, can't help you. That's not the way we act. As jewish people we give charity across religious lines, of course, across religion it's not exclusive. I keep my money with the jewish people and that's it why, because we want peace with our neighbors, we want peace with our, with our community.

16:31
And Halacha Namadal now continues Kagoan how much charity should a person give the first year? The first year a person should give one-tenth of his principal. Thereafter he should give a tenth of the profit that he earned each year After subtracting his household expenses for the profit. So, for example, someone has a principal amount of, let's say, $100. So that year he only gives 10%. But now he invested that $100, that 90, and that 90 now is making residual returns. So you give 10% of those returns because on the 90, on the principle, you already gave your tithe. Now the new money that comes in is what you give 10% from. You give 10% on that. Zohimida beinonis, he says this is the average level of giving Charity and mitzvah min ha-muvcha. However, the preferred way to perform the mitzvah is sheyiten chomesh shana rishona min ha-keren way to perform the mitzvah is to give one-fifth, which is 20% on the principle and 20% on the profit.

18:20
A person should not spend more than one-fifth of his earnings on charity so that he should not need to come to people for their charity because he had given everything away. This applies specifically during his lifetime. However, in someone's legacy someone can bequeath Yochol Adom Litin Ad Shlish Rechushot Zdokah. A person can give up to one-third of his estate to charity and, I guess, the remaining amount to his family. So if a person is passing on, they should give charity. They should make sure that they include a charity in their estate. All right, Don't forget, torch my friends. Okay, Ein lasos mi maser shalod var mitzvah.

19:13
A person should not use his maser for the performance of a mitzvah, Such as the purchase of lights, candles or light bulbs, or paying for the electric bill of the synagogue or other articles needed for a mitzvah. Rather, it is best for it to go to poor people. Right, Because giving charity to the synagogue is also important. It's important, but it's not the same level of giving to actual poor people. However, if the opportunity to perform a mitzvah arises, for example, the opportunity to be a sandek, a godfather for a, holding the baby, for a circumcision, which is an unbelievable mitzvah. So what happens in such a case? Let's say, to pay for the meal so that you get such an honor, or to marry off a poor bride and groom, bringing them to the canopy, Things of the like. Or, similarly, to purchase books, Torah study books, so that you can learn Torah, and to have them available so that other people can loan them and borrow them.

20:33
Gamach, Interest free, Fee free. If he could not afford it and he would not have performed this mitzvah otherwise, he can use his ma'aser funds for that, he can use his tithe funds for that. If he purchases his books from ma'aser funds, he has to be very careful to allow other people to use those books, Except when he needs them for himself. That he comes first. He should inscribe in those books, he should write in them that they are from Maaser funds so that his children know, when he passes on, that these are not books that are theirs per se, but rather they are books of Maaser and therefore should be used for the public.

21:43
So now this is important for us to understand that there are priorities. When we talk about the laws of charity, there are big priorities that one needs to ensure when they give charity. The number one charity is poor people. Someone who doesn't have food literally doesn't have food to eat. That's the greatest mitzvah for a person who can help. And then again, we said that in this series I will bring the Rambam and we will learn through the priorities of giving charity. It's very important for one to know those priorities and to ensure that their charity is being given to the right places.

22:23
Now in our community we have, for example, something called Tomche Shabbat. Tomche Shabbat is an organization that helps people have food for Shabbat and hopefully for the rest of the week, and this is a very, very, very righteous organization, A very, very dignified organization. You know that the Tomchei Shabbat today they do it in a very unique way. It used to be that they would physically deliver food. They would leave it in people's front doorstep and leave. Nobody knew the people who were delivering it, generally speaking, weren't even people from the community. They would just get an address deliver this box to this person's house, that's it. They had no idea who, what, where, when. Many of the times those people delivering it weren't even Jewish, they were just hired labor. Deliver this box to this address. That's it. Leave it at the front door and go Exactly Uber, Walmart Plus or Amazon delivery. Just drop the box. Today they do it differently. Today, the organizations will give a gift card to be used in the kosher supermarket and so that way it's with dignity. The person can go like everybody else going to the. There are organizations that do the most incredible thing, Like everybody else going to the. And there are organizations that do the most incredible thing.

23:47
Children today who live in regular Jewish communities see their friends walking around with Nike clothes and, okay, very nice, you can afford an $80 t-shirt with dry fit, etc. Etc. But this kid can't. So they created an organization. This is an absolutely remarkable organization that they get closeouts and they get all of these. They buy them for discounted rates for charity and they create it.

24:16
It looks like you walk in there. It looks like a Costco and families can go in, families who are of need. They can go with their children and they walk around like it's a store, like a regular Target or a Costco. They put things into their wagon and then there's a cash register as if they're checking out their stuff so that their children don't know, feel like I'm part of civilization, I'm also somebody, and they don't have to feel embarrassed. They got, they got someone's hand-me-downs. It has tags, it's like, it's like new, it is new and what's the actual total? Whatever you want to pay, and if you can't, it's fine, it's. I don't remember the name. It was created.

25:05
It's in Brooklyn, New York. It's an unbelievable place and they have shipments coming there stocking up the shelves with all of these clothes and the children come with their parents and they go and they're like oh, I would love to get that T-shirt, I'd love to get those sneakers right, Otherwise parents wouldn't be able to afford it. And like this, it's with dignity and the children don't have to feel like we're poor, so to speak, and we can't afford it. It's such a special thing. It's not only again.

25:35
Remember how the Kitz HaShochan Aruch over here tells us how we do charity. Dei Mach so Ro over here tells us how we do charity. It's very personal how he feels a lacking. They're lacking Because this person's lacking could be very different from that person's lacking, and the majority of what people lack is that sense of their dignity is gone.

26:01
I have to now ask for charity, I have to ask for a handout. If there's a way for it to be less embarrassing, that is the mitzvah as well. That is a mitzvah as well for it to be done in the most beautiful fashion, Not just hey, listen, you need help, Ask for help. It's not a big deal, it's fine, we're here to help you. But it's like I used to be the one on the other side giving. Now I have to be the recipient. I know because I've had experiences where people came to me and they said listen, so-and-so needs money. I know this. I don't want them to know that I'm helping them out. You get them the money, okay, and the person would give me an envelope. He says this is for that person in the community. I know he lost his job, he hasn't been able to pay his mortgage, he hasn't been able to pay his rent, he hasn't been able to pay his electric bill.

26:55
Do me a favor, figure out a way to help him out and I would have to figure out a creative way, with him not knowing where the money's coming from, of how to get him the money so that and they were so grateful to me later on that it was done privately, that it was done in a dignified way. They never knew where it came from. I just said, listen, I have saying, you know, I know what's happening a little bit in our community and if there's a way that I can help, I want to help. And you know, in many different ways, that's what we're about as a community. When we talk about charity, it's not only money changing hands, it's about dignity being preserved. That is the essence of charity. Be God-like. How does God give us food? Be chayim bechesedu v'rachamim. With grace, with a smile, god doesn't just say, oh, you need bread, you need water. Okay, here's your bread and water. No, you go to the supermarket and you see all the beautiful fruits and vegetables. God gives it to us with such grace, with such beauty, with kindness. God gives us money so that we can then go and spend it like we. Oh, me, I'm going to buy, god says. I'm going to play this game so that you feel dignified. You feel dignified, you feel dignified. We have to recognize that. That's our responsibility. Let's do one more halacha and then we'll open up the floor to questions.

28:29
I wrote to Liz Kos, one who wishes to acquire merit for himself. He should subdue his evil inclination and be open-handed. And be open-handed Anything that he does for the sake of heaven, for the sake of the mitzvah, performance should be from the best and finest. In Bonner-based tefillah, if he builds a synagogue, it should be nicer than his home where he dwells in. It means make your synagogue nicer. He feeds the hungry. He should feed them of the best and the sweetest that is found on his table. If he clothes the unclothed by providing them garments to wear those who are needy, he should cover him with the finest of his garments. If he dedicates an item to the synagogue, he should dedicate from the finest of among his possessions, and this is what it states in the Torah, in Leviticus, chapter 3, verse 16.

29:51
Kol chelev la'Hashem, all the choice parts for Hashem. The choicest, the finest goods. That's what you give to Hashem. And when you give charity, you're giving to Hashem. The choicest, the finest goods. That's what you give to Hashem, and when you give charity, you're giving to Hashem. This is the incredible gift that we have. My dear friends, hashem should bless us all to be so much on the giving end that we should be able to give and give in the most appropriate, in the finest way possible. My dear friends, this concludes this episode of the Laws of Charity, part 2. God willing, next week we'll be able to resume and maybe even finish this chapter and book of the Kitzeshon Hanoch. My dear friends, have a magnificent week.

30:43 - Intro (Announcement)
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