Re’eh
Deuteronomy 11:26- 16:17
Isaiah 54:11-55:5
This week, a puzzle. A halachic riddle, if you will. Why is there no blessing required for the mitzvah of giving tzedakah? The Rabbis ordained that we should say a blessing before fulfilling numerous mitzvot, as for example, lighting Shabbat or Chanukah candles or studying Torah. In chapter 15 of this week’s Torah portion we find the verses that serve as the foundation for the mitzvah of giving tzedakah and for the laws requiring us to feed, clothe and house the poor, Jews and non-Jews alike: “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.”
Since the giving of tzedakah is such a central commandment, why is there no blessing associated with it?
Before reading any further, stop and try to puzzle this out for yourself. You might consider that the act of saying a blessing is one of the centerpieces of the Rabbis’ spiritual program. The idea behind blessings is to contextualize specific experiences and actions within the framework of a relationship with the divine. The blessings before eating facilitate our connecting a simple, natural act with God. The ordinary has become extraordinary. A blessing before performing a mitzvah takes a special action and makes it holy.
When our actions are connected to God the moment is transformed. We touch something transcendent. Saying blessings is, in fact, the simplest way to develop a deep, Jewish spirituality.
Now, back to the riddle. Have you figured out an answer yet? Perhaps you might agree with the Chassidic master Reb Mendel of Riminov, who taught that a true blessing is pronounced with joy and a sense of wholeness. Sadly, he notes, most of the time people give charity out of guilt or coercion, with little joy and certainly no sense of wholeness. A second, less cynical explanation suggests that since the act of giving charity is connected to the reality of someone suffering from poverty, a blessing would be inappropriate.
A third explanation, this one offered by Reb Simcha Bunam of Pshischa, combines an understanding of the poor’ plight with a critique of excessive piety. He suggests that, faced with the mitzvah of giving tzedakah, a pious person will want to engage in spiritual preparations, perhaps washing one’s hands and contemplating the oneness of God, before reciting the blessing. In the meantime, says Reb Simcha Bunam, the waiting poor person could very well die of hunger. Better to feed the poor first than to engage in pious prayer.
A very different answer is offered by Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, a 13th-century Spanish teacher who is among the most prolific and influential of all medieval halachic decision-makers. He writes that, in order for the mitzvah to be fulfilled, it is not enough that we give; the poor must receive. Since we cannot know before the act if the poor will receive our charity, there can be no blessing.
There is subtlety here, reminding us that Judaism is, at its core, relational. The meaning of a mitzvah is in the relationship it creates. Giving without receiving is not giving. Generic compassion is not compassion.
I think that the very act of giving charity is, in itself, the blessing. The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that the act of tzedakah involves taking a small coin. The smallest Hebrew letter is Yod. You place the coin in your hand, which has five fingers. The letter representing the number five is Hey. You stretch out your hand to give the coin to the poor. Your outstretched arm looks like the letter Vav. The poor takes the coin in his hand — the letter Hey again.
So you see, the very act of giving charity materializes the name of God — YHVH — in the world. And what can be a greater blessing than that?
Rabbi Lavey Derby is the senior rabbi of Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon.