Rabbi Mark Fasman

Early in my Israel year of rabbinical school, I was at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem one morning. I was trying to daven, to recapture the experience of my first visit five years earlier. Every couple of minutes a man in a black hat (a different man each time) would come and stand next to me, with his hand outstretched towards me. It was not to offer me a handshake, but to ask for tzedakah. I had a number of coins in my pockets, so I would give a very modest amount, typically a shekel (worth 20-30 cents) or less to each of these men.
And I was annoyed each time that I was interrupted, particularly by these shnorrers.
And then a little old man came to me with his hand outstretched. With a sigh I reached into my pocket, and found that all that remained was a 10-shekel coin. I placed it into his hand. He smiled and walked away. I returned to my davening.
About a minute later, there was this same man again. He was still smiling as he took my hand and placed some coins into it – 9 shekels and 90 agorot. That is, he returned everything but about 2-3 cents. I told him that he could keep the entire amount.
He smiled. And he said to me, in broken English, “You don’t understand. I don’t want money. I am just giving you the chance to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah.”
I was very moved (and a little ashamed). This simple act, at the most sacred place in the Jewish world, taught me an important lesson: all Jews have an obligation to give tzedakah regularly, whenever asked. The amount is not important. The act is.
One of the obligations of Purim is to send gifts to at least two families (mishlo’ach manot). As part of your mishloach manot “basket” this year you received a gift from me: a tzedakah box, a pushke. You may not consider this a gift – after all, this is a gift that will cost you money. In my own way, I am trying to remind you that the amount of tzedakah is not important. But the act is. As far as I am concerned, the tzedakah box is a gift … no less a gift than given to me by that old man at the Kotel.
At my ordination, Rabbi Harold Kushner spoke. Among other things, he said that contemporary American Jews do not understand the concept of commandedness (mitzvah). We do not have a king. We are not slaves or servants to any master; we don’t have to serve a master who has ultimate authority over our behavior. We are Americans. That’s just not the way we think or the way we behave.
Thus it is difficult to understand the concept of mitzvah (divine commandment) in the sense in which it was understood by our ancestors. And it is difficult therefore for us to truly understand the Jewish concept of tzedakah as mitzvah – as divine imperative. We Jews are very generous, very philanthropic. However, at best we give because we should, not because we have no choice.
And that’s really not so terrible.
Giving is not natural. We have to learn to give. We learn from our parents – putting tzedakah in the pushke every Friday evening, just before lighting the Shabbat candles. We learn from our teachers. We learn from our community.
It is important that we treat tzedakah as an obligation, a core principle in living a Jewish life, in expressing our Jewish identity. Even for secular Jews, giving tzedakah is one of the main things that define who we are (more than going to synagogue). We need to practice giving. I don’t think that it ever gets easy to give money away. But it does become more meaningful when we understand that the money is ultimately not ours. Ten percent of what we earn belongs to the deserving poor. We have the choice as to how much we will give to whom. But we do not have the choice whether or not to give.
So perhaps the tzedakah box you received in your Purim basket will remind you of what it means to live with Jewish values. Place it somewhere that you will see it regularly. And put money into it – not just as a place to collect spare change, but as an act of tzedakah (your coins now belong to others). Put money into your pushke in front of others, especially children and grandchildren. Put money into it each time you do something Jewish (going to the synagogue (except on Shabbat, of course), going to a USY event, socializing with Jewish friends). Make tzedakah part of your life. Make it a habit. Make it something that defines who you are.
Tzedakah is given to others, but it is important to remember that the recipients do not owe us thanks; rather, we should thank them. They give us the opportunity to give, and thus they remind us what it means to be Jewish.