Parshat Behar 5771 “Let Your Brother Live with You”
Parshat Behar 5771 “Let Your Brother Live with You”
Who is called a poor person? We use this term frequently to describe a person with minimal income who is unable to provide for him/her self and the people dependant on him/her. Others believe that a poor person is not someone who is lacking self-esteem, financial resources or a strong social life, a poor person is someone who has a diluted emotional or physical view of the world and therefore has little hope in anything—including his/her own self. Rebbe Nachman teaches that a poor person is someone who has hardened his/her heart and mind to the opportunity of ever becoming rich. This person has been damaged and hurt so much by failed opportunities that his/her “homelessness has become an acquired knowledge. His knowledge becomes filled with confusion and apathy.” [i] This person believes that what is will always be.
This person has no hope for their future. The very idea of redemption sickens them, and indeed, many poor people themselves believe that their homelessness is a unique phenomenon to the rest of the world. Consequently the desire to remain homeless grows stronger, their ability to prevail and grow becomes weaker, and the remedy to such sadness remains clutched in the hands of the merciless observer. What the observer does not know is in addition to the fact that she/he is the only person who can save the poor from being homeless, we should also know that our Torah commands us to do so!
“If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him- proselyte or resident- so that he can live with you. Do not take from him interest and you shall fear your G-d—let your brother live with you. Do not give him your money for interest, and do not give your brother for increase. I am Hashem, your G-d, who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan to be G-d unto you.”[ii]Someone who is destitute grows with anger inside him. In our lives we have all felt such a feeling. We felt lower than the lowest because we incorrectly attributed missed opportunities and failed tests to our inability to be happy. Our accomplishments went unnoticed and our talents never really seemed to accomplish anything. Such grave misfortune and disappointment lead a person to grow with anger and remorse against themselves, causing a physically gaunt and spiritually inept poor person. Our sages teach us, “One who follows like a poor person will travel as a poor person.”[iii]
Rebbe Nachman tell us: “It is because of this [that] we must have mercy on the destitute. We must encourage those who lack to recognize that their well-being comes from the awareness that they are alive and can be victorious over their trials-- leaving their anger, remorse and homelessness behind them completely. Because through this, we can profoundly expand their knowledge, and bring them to the recognition that their ‘acquired understanding’ will go from apathy to energy through expansion of understanding.”
When will we see the world in a better place? When we start to realize that no person is rich! And that each of us are commanded the same way through the words of the Torah—“Let your brother live with you!” If every person lacks something, then every person possesses something as well. What this means is, “If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity” then it becomes our responsibility to help our brother up from the ground.
Friends, our world is crumbling before our eyes and we all play “professor” trying to create logical reasoning for these trying times. Let us remember that the blame-game cannot be played if we too are at fault. The RaMBaM says that the highest level of charity is helping a person find a job and a source of income. So when the Jew AND the non-Jew fall in your midst, and there is an opportunity to reach out, to help a fellow occupant of G-d’s world out of a dark and homeless abyss, not only should you help, but you are commanded to do so!
This week I will try to: recognize that the struggle for peace will only come through the individual recognition that we too can heal people, and we too are commanded to help the poor, the isolated, the stranger, and the homeless through his/her journey through the unknown. I will remember that my freedom is in vain if those who suffer around me are not helped. Help someone (through love) who feels alienated or homeless, to realize how great they are and how great they can be. Let your brother live with you.
Shabbat Shalom!
[i] Lekutay Mehoran: Torat Nun-Zayin
[ii] Leviticus:25:35
[iii] Baba Kama 92a.
Who is called a poor person? We use this term frequently to describe a person with minimal income who is unable to provide for him/her self and the people dependant on him/her. Others believe that a poor person is not someone who is lacking self-esteem, financial resources or a strong social life, a poor person is someone who has a diluted emotional or physical view of the world and therefore has little hope in anything—including his/her own self. Rebbe Nachman teaches that a poor person is someone who has hardened his/her heart and mind to the opportunity of ever becoming rich. This person has been damaged and hurt so much by failed opportunities that his/her “homelessness has become an acquired knowledge. His knowledge becomes filled with confusion and apathy.” [i] This person believes that what is will always be.
This person has no hope for their future. The very idea of redemption sickens them, and indeed, many poor people themselves believe that their homelessness is a unique phenomenon to the rest of the world. Consequently the desire to remain homeless grows stronger, their ability to prevail and grow becomes weaker, and the remedy to such sadness remains clutched in the hands of the merciless observer. What the observer does not know is in addition to the fact that she/he is the only person who can save the poor from being homeless, we should also know that our Torah commands us to do so!
“If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him- proselyte or resident- so that he can live with you. Do not take from him interest and you shall fear your G-d—let your brother live with you. Do not give him your money for interest, and do not give your brother for increase. I am Hashem, your G-d, who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan to be G-d unto you.”[ii]Someone who is destitute grows with anger inside him. In our lives we have all felt such a feeling. We felt lower than the lowest because we incorrectly attributed missed opportunities and failed tests to our inability to be happy. Our accomplishments went unnoticed and our talents never really seemed to accomplish anything. Such grave misfortune and disappointment lead a person to grow with anger and remorse against themselves, causing a physically gaunt and spiritually inept poor person. Our sages teach us, “One who follows like a poor person will travel as a poor person.”[iii]
Rebbe Nachman tell us: “It is because of this [that] we must have mercy on the destitute. We must encourage those who lack to recognize that their well-being comes from the awareness that they are alive and can be victorious over their trials-- leaving their anger, remorse and homelessness behind them completely. Because through this, we can profoundly expand their knowledge, and bring them to the recognition that their ‘acquired understanding’ will go from apathy to energy through expansion of understanding.”
When will we see the world in a better place? When we start to realize that no person is rich! And that each of us are commanded the same way through the words of the Torah—“Let your brother live with you!” If every person lacks something, then every person possesses something as well. What this means is, “If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity” then it becomes our responsibility to help our brother up from the ground.
Friends, our world is crumbling before our eyes and we all play “professor” trying to create logical reasoning for these trying times. Let us remember that the blame-game cannot be played if we too are at fault. The RaMBaM says that the highest level of charity is helping a person find a job and a source of income. So when the Jew AND the non-Jew fall in your midst, and there is an opportunity to reach out, to help a fellow occupant of G-d’s world out of a dark and homeless abyss, not only should you help, but you are commanded to do so!
This week I will try to: recognize that the struggle for peace will only come through the individual recognition that we too can heal people, and we too are commanded to help the poor, the isolated, the stranger, and the homeless through his/her journey through the unknown. I will remember that my freedom is in vain if those who suffer around me are not helped. Help someone (through love) who feels alienated or homeless, to realize how great they are and how great they can be. Let your brother live with you.
Shabbat Shalom!
[i] Lekutay Mehoran: Torat Nun-Zayin
[ii] Leviticus:25:35
[iii] Baba Kama 92a.
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