Parshas Re'eh: Giving to Man, Giving to God

This week's parshah basically consists of an array of commandments. The parshah starts off with negative commandments; divine commands concerning actions we must stay away from. The bulk of these commandments relate primarily to idolatry, and to staying away from forbidden foods. The next half of the parshah then deals with positive commandments; divine commands concerning actions we must cling to in order to serve God. These include tithes, the sabbatical year etc.

In this second half of the parshah lies an important question whose answer contains an important value in Jewish practice.

These commandments (of this second half) begin with our obligation to bring certain gifts towards a sacred purpose. The first commandment is that of the second tithe: Basically, we are commanded to separate 10 percent of all our crops and eat them by the Holy Temple in Jerusalem (See 14:22-29).

The Torah then goes on to detail commandments directed towards what appears to be “less” of a sacred purpose. Instead of commandments that are directed "Before God" (14:23 and 26) like the tithe, these next commandments are directed towards our fellow man. For instance, the first commandment is that every 3 years, instead of using 10% of your earnings to be eaten in Jerusalem, they are given to the poor and needy. The next law is that of the Sabbatical year, which speaks of the obligation to erase any debts between a borrower and a lender. The subsequent law concerns the freeing of a Jewish slave. At the end of the slave's term, we are not allowed to just let him free "empty handed"; we have to provide him with a means of support, and give him money or part of your flock. So in essence, the Torah starts off by depicting commandments between man and God, and then evolves into a discussion concerning commandments between man and man.

But then a very strange thing occurs! The next law reverts back to a donation directed towards God! It's a commandment that requires us to donate every firstborn animal of our flock to the Temple. But this seems completely out of order because we have already discussed the gifts that are donated towards a sacred purpose (the tithe eaten in Jerusalem) and have moved onto the gifts directed towards man! Why go back? What is the meaning of this order?

The truth is, it's not really out of order. Rather, these set of laws consist of man-to-man commandments in the middle, flanked between two man-to-God commandments at the beginning and end. The reason for this is to express that the commandments directed toward our fellow man are actually at the same sacred level as the commandments directed towards God! On a simple level, this is true because since God Himself issued these man-to-man commandments, then by fulfilling them we are fulfilling God's will. But this idea goes deeper.

Our Rabbis tell us that God created "A world of kindness". The meaning behind this is as follows: If God is complete in every which way and lacks nothing, what was the reason for creating the world? If He has everything, what benefit can the world bring to Him!? Our sages explain that since God is the infinite and ultimate good, he created a world in which he can share this good with others. Therefore when we give from ourselves to our fellow man and are involved in loving and caring relationships with everyone, we are in fact emulating God, the ultimate giver! Therefore, when we give to man, we "give to God" by emulating His ways.

The world therefore can only reach its perfection when there is boundless love among mankind because it is in this state that we are closest to emulating God. It is this very state that we hope to find ourselves in the era of Mashiach (Messiah). In our daily prayers, at the end of the first blessing of the Amidah (the silent prayer), we say "U'Meivi Goel Livnei Bneihem Lmaan Shmo B'Ahava". This sentence can be translated in two ways, in which I think are in fact in tandem with one another.
The first way this sentence is described is that "(God) brings a redeemer … with love". Meaning, that no matter how much trials and tribulations we must go through in order to reach the final redemption, we must always realize that God brings along that path with boundless love.

The second way to translate the sentence is "(God) brings a redeemer … in love". This means, that God will only bring the final redemption in a status of love. God will only bring the era of the Mashiach when mankind is in a state of love with one another.

These two translations are actually one and the same, and it can be said in one simple verse: When we love each other God loves us back. God relates to us in a loving manner when we make sure to treat one another in the same degree of love as well.

May we merit to have loving relationships with all those around us, and may we be showered with God's blessings of love as well.


Good Shabbos,

NZL