Parshat Shoftim in NYC

One of the first gifts our daughter, Ayelet, ever received was a Tzedaka Box.  It was one of the first gifts because it was given to us long before we were ever pregnant.  It was a gift from the manager of the Judaica store from the AJU before we graduated.  Since Ayelet was an infant we began to give her change and have her put money into the Tzedaka box to teach her the value of giving.  Last Thanksgiving we had a Young Family program here at MJC and we made Tzedaka boxes that looked like bagels, this was based on the wonderful book Bagels from Benny. Since she made that one she has wanted to use it every shabbat.  I realized around that time that we needed to teach her more about what this means.  Here was the problem, WE gave her OUR money and SHE placed it into some container that did not affect her at all.  She did not give anything up and she did not see where the money was going or who it was helping.  I began to bring her piggy bank down with us to the dining room and began to give her some money.  I would explain to her: “Ayelet, here is some change.  It is now yours and you can do with it as you want.  You can put it in your piggy bank and save it for you to buy something, or you can put it in the Tzedaka box and give it to somebody who needs help.  You may also choose to save some for you and give some to other people.” I was so impressed that she chose to keep some, because it meant that she understood the principle and that she still gave some away.  The thing about Tzedaka Boxes is that they are often too removed from the actual giving.  We are obligated to give, not because we are good people but because God commands us to do so.  Quite often we have these beautiful boxes that cost an enormous amount of money and we fill them up but we do not realize when we do so that ultimately that money will be given to a needy person or an organization.  It is too divorced from its reason, and we often do not actually play a role in the act of Tzedaka.  Tzedaka is not about charity, it is not about being a charitable person. It is about correcting the wrongs of this world not out of choice but out of obligation to God and to humankind.  That is why it is called Tzedaka/justice and not charity/choice. 

So last Sunday we were in NYC.  We were on 5th avenue, and in case you are not familiar with the types of stores on 5th avenue, they are very expensive ones and very busy ones as well.  Regardless, as in all places in the world poverty is still present and impoverished homeless people are there in large numbers.  As I was walking to meet Carrie and Ayelet I saw a homeless person and I was about to give him money and then I stopped and thought it would be better to have Ayelet do it, and so I waited.  When I found them it appears I was too late, Carrie had already done the same thing.  We had food with us for Ayelet and she was given the choice of keeping it or sharing it with the homeless people.  She asked if they were hungry and we said yes, and she said give them the food.  We had her give them them food as that was what we were trying to teach her.  She brightened their day and she provided them with some much needed food to get them through the day as well.  We also gave her some money to hand to them.  When we were on Madison heading to dinner we happened upon another homeless man.  We offered food and he said he did not want chicken or meat, and we told him we had yogurt and cheese, and he was so happy.  Then we realized we also had animal crackers left as well, and we handed those to him.  He refused them, and said “those are your daughter’s,” and she smiled at him and said she wanted to share them with him.  He was near tears and we were as well.

Here is the issue: we have made it a little to easy to dehumanize the homeless amongst us. We have demonized them, and turned them into pariahs.  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes about the prophets and how they would decry a civilization that condoned one homeless person, what would they say today?  Are there homeless drug addicts? yes.  Are there homeless people with mental issues? yes.  Are there homeless people who have made bad decisions? yes. And if helping these types of people is wrong then I accept being wrong.  But who could argue helping a person with none of the above is wrong.  We must help the homeless reclaim their own humanity that our society has robbed them of, and in return we will regain a portion of our own humanity.

In this week’s Torah portion we learn the famous phrase: צדק צדק תרדוף, Justice… Justice you shall pursue.  Many wiser scholars have written on this verse: why the double of justice and why the pursuing?  The traditional answer is that the double use of justice is that justice must be carried out in a just way.  Robin Hood would not pass this test.  And the pursuing question is traditionally understood to mean that we must go out and make this happen, we cannot wait for the opportunity to perform this commandment to present itself to us, we must make it happen.

I believe these are both correct.  It is a non-religious idea that the ends justifies the means, and we must not allow ourselves to become complacent and to fall into the trap of doing bad because it results in good.  Likewise we must not sit idly by waiting for the opportunity to observe the mitzvah of tzedaka, we must go out and make it happen.  But how about another way of looking at it.  We are commanded to do it ourselves and we are commanded to lead our children to do the same.  Perhaps we could say the doubling of justice is to teach us to go out and double it through doing tzedaka ourselves but also by raising children who will do the same.  And with regards to pursuing, I think we might also be able to say that even if this act of giving could cause me to live without a little, and thus need to pursue more, or worse; leave myself feeling pursued… we must still do it.

Lets make a world worthy of our prophets and through doing so we will make a world worthy of God as well.