Helping the Poor

The Torah portion is actually a double parasha, Behar and Bechukotai,
the very last words of the book of Leviticus.Our reading, for year two of the triennial cycle includes Lev 25:39 - 26:46.

In it, we read the opening words "ve-chi yamuch achicha, umata yado immach, ve-hechezakta bo...ve-chai imach.""and should your brother (fellow Israelite) become reduced (to poverty) and (sell himself) to be controlled (by) you, you shall hold tightly to him ... and he shall live with you."

Imagine such a sentence being uttered today, much less written down! The entire book of Leviticus has been concerned with ritual matters: sacrifices, kashrut, purity and impurity, skin diseases, laws pertaining to the special class of kohanim, blasphemy and more.

And just when we were about to write off this book as hopelessly out of touch with things that concern us today, it goes all moral and sensitive on us.Help the poor?? Hold on to him tightly???? He shall LIVE with you?????????

People view the kohanim and Levi'im as an elite class among Israelites. But now we see that no matter what role a person plays in society because of their job or wealth or yichus, none of us is immune from becoming impoverished by forces beyond our control. And despite how we may feel about that on a personal level, the torah teaches us that it is an inevitable occurrence; we should not be ashamed by lack of success.

I know, from personal experience, the havoc debt can play on one's emotional well-being. It is one of the worst things that can happen to a person, especially to men who have pressure to be the 'breadwinners' in their families. Some people are driven to desperate
measures to escape from the pain, God forbid. But hear the words of the Torah: we, all of us, have the responsibility to embrace the poor, the downtrodden. We must hold on to them tightly, inviting them into our homes and building an infrastructure where they do not despair. They are, after all, our brothers. Maybe they lost all their savings investing with Bernie
Madoff. When we band together, we all live.
Such is a life of Torah. It transforms a cloudy day into a sun-shiny wonder. It opens vistas into brighter futures than were ever imagined in all the worlds of our philosophy. It teaches us to cut some slack to those who just have a difficult time getting things to work, even
(or especially) ourselves.

What greater gift can there be?

Shabbat Shalom

R' David Bockman

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