eikev: by my power
Sholem aleichem,
Before we dive in, I wanted to let y’all know that I’m putting together an online chaburah (learning collective) to learn Rebbe Nachman's Elul Torah during Elul this year (starting on August 25th). Join us to learn about the process of perpetual repair, the two essential skills in a life of teshuvah, and what it really means to say the words "I am ready to become".
More info and sign-up: https://drive.proton.me/urls/QNT9BRDNE0#QDy6LIqp41GZ
Moshe warns us (Devarim 8:17-18)
וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל הַזֶּֽה
[Be guarded lest] you will say in your heart: my strength, and the bone of my hand, has made this wealth for me.וְזָֽכַרְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּ֣י ה֗וּא הַנֹּתֵ֥ן לְךָ֛ כֹּ֖חַ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת חָ֑יִל
You will remember haShem your Elokim, because Voi is the one who gives strength to you to make this wealth
This is not just a warning, Ibn Ezra teaches, but a practice:
וזכרת הטעם אם עלה על לבבך לאמר כחי ועוצם ידי זכור הנותן לך כח
"You will remember” - the meaning [is this]: if it arises in your heart to say “my strength and the stuff of my hand [has made this wealth for me]”, [in that moment] remember the One who gives you strength.
(Try this now! Take something that you think of as yours and ask yourself: what aspect of this was a gift? Take something you think you achieved, and ask yourself: did I do this by myself?)
This is why someone who tithes is required to make a verbal affirmation in addition to tithing (Devarim 26:12-13):
כִּ֣י תְכַלֶּ֞ה לַ֠עְשֵׂ֠ר אֶת־כׇּל־מַעְשַׂ֧ר תְּבוּאָתְךָ֛ בַּשָּׁנָ֥ה הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֖ת שְׁנַ֣ת הַֽמַּעֲשֵׂ֑ר וְנָתַתָּ֣ה לַלֵּוִ֗י לַגֵּר֙ לַיָּת֣וֹם וְלָֽאַלְמָנָ֔ה וְאָכְל֥וּ בִשְׁעָרֶ֖יךָ וְשָׂבֵֽעוּ
When you will finish tithing all of the tenth part of your produce (in the third year, the year of the tithe), and you have given to the Levi, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, so they will eat in your gates and be satisfied
וְאָמַרְתָּ֡ לִפְנֵי֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ בִּעַ֧רְתִּי הַקֹּ֣דֶשׁ מִן־הַבַּ֗יִת וְגַ֨ם נְתַתִּ֤יו לַלֵּוִי֙ וְלַגֵּר֙ לַיָּת֣וֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָ֔ה כְּכׇל־מִצְוָתְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֣ר צִוִּיתָ֑נִי לֹֽא־עָבַ֥רְתִּי מִמִּצְוֺתֶ֖יךָ וְלֹ֥א שָׁכָֽחְתִּי
you will say before haShem your Elokim: I have removed the holy portion from the house, and also I have given it to the Levi, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, like all your commandment that you commanded me. I have not transgressed your commandments, and I have not forgotten.
Forgotten what, exactly? To remember, as ibn Ezra teaches, the One who gives.
This affirmation reminds the person giving tithes that it is not their produce that they are choosing to give away. It is haShem’s holy portion, that they are obligated to pass on.
As with tithes, so with tzedakah/charity. The Maharsham, for example, teaches that there’s no blessing for tzedakah because
We are just agents of G-d who are holding the money that G-d gave us for safekeeping until a poor person comes along and G-d commands us to give it to him.
It’s easy to forget this. To treat this money as our money, the giving of tzedakah as our choice (or, gd forbid, an advertisement opportunity). So, perhaps when we give tzedakah, we should also make a verbal affirmation before haShem our Elokim:
I have cleared from the house the holy portion you entrusted to my care, and I have given it the poor and the stranger, the widow and the orphan. I have done this as you commanded me, and I have not forgotten.
The language in Devarim, which I’ve copied here, is davka “the house”, not “my house”. Because even those possessions which I am not obligated to tithe or donate do not belong to me to do with as I please: they too are given into my care.
As the Mei haShiloach teaches on our sugye:
זה הוא עיקר לזכור את הנותן בכל דבר
This is the essence: to remember the One who gives in every matter.
He goes on to say that this is what it should really mean to call ourselves b’nei Yisrael:
וזה הוא מעלת ישראל שזוכרים תמיד במשפיע
And this is the level of “Yisrael”: that they remember always the One who causes shefa [the flow of abundance]
May it be so.
good shabbos,
ada