Sharing the Community's Pain and the Greatness of Charity

Tanna debei Eliyahu Zuta 1:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

From the school of Elijah the prophet. Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said: A person should always be cautious in the fear of Heaven, soft in his reply, one who turns away wrath and increases peace with his father and his mother, with his teacher and his fellow, and even with a stranger in the marketplace, so that he may be beloved above and pleasing below, accepted by his fellow creatures, and so that all his days may be filled with goodness. Our Rabbis taught: When Israel is steeped in trouble and one of them separates himself, two ministering angels come, place their hands upon his head, and say, "This person who separated himself from the community shall not behold the comfort of the community." Rather, when the community is in distress, let no one say, "I will go to my house, eat and drink, and peace be upon my soul." If he does this, Scripture says of him, "And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine" (Isaiah 22:13); and what is written after it? "And it was revealed in my ears by the LORD of hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die." This is the measure of average people. But of the measure of the wicked it is written, "Come, I will fetch wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink" (Isaiah 56:12), after which it is written, "The righteous perishes, and no one lays it to heart" (Isaiah 57:1). Rather, a person should afflict himself together with the community, as we find with Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, who afflicted himself with the community, as it is said, "And Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon" (Exodus 17:12). Did Moses not have a single cushion or pillow to sit upon? Rather, Moses said: Since Israel dwells in distress, I too will be with them in distress. And whoever afflicts himself with the community merits and beholds the comfort of the community. And lest a person say, "Who testifies against me?" The stones of a person's house and its beams testify against him, as it is said, "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it" (Habakkuk 2:11). The school of Rabbi Shila said: The two ministering angels who accompany a person testify against him, as it is said, "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11). Rabbi Chidka says: A person's own soul testifies against him, as it is said, "From her who lies in your bosom guard the doors of your mouth" (Micah 7:5). And some say a person's own limbs testify against him, as it is said, "You are My witnesses, says the LORD" (Isaiah 43:10). The school of Elijah said: A person should always be like an ox to the yoke and like a donkey to the burden, and like the beast that plows in the valley and the field; so should a person labor and plow in the words of Torah every single day, as it is said, "Happy are you who sow beside all waters" (Isaiah 32:20). And "waters" means nothing but Torah, as it is said, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1). Once a person has read Torah, Prophets, and Writings, and studied Mishnah, Midrash, laws, and homilies, and studied the Gemara, and studied dialectical reasoning for its own sake, immediately the holy spirit rests upon him, as it is said, "The spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue" (II Samuel 23:2). Once I was passing from place to place, and a certain officer met me. He greeted me but did not recognize me, and said to me, "Rabbi, from what place are you?" I said to him, "I am from a great city of sages and scribes and rabbis." He said to me, "Rabbi, come and dwell with me in my place, and I will set you over wheat and barley, beans and lentils, and every kind of legume." I said to him, "My son, even if you give me a thousand thousand golden dinars, I will not leave a place of Torah, and I will not dwell in a place where there is no Torah." He said to me, "Rabbi, why?" I said to him, "Because the world was destroyed only on account of the neglect of Torah, and the Land of Israel was destroyed only on account of the neglect of Torah, and all the troubles that come upon Israel are only on account of the neglect of Torah, for the neglect of Torah is great and weighty before the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "For the transgression of Jacob is all this" (Micah 1:5), and "this" means nothing but Torah, as it is said, "Who is the wise man that may understand this?... Why has the land perished?... And the LORD says, Because they have forsaken My Torah which I set before them" (Jeremiah 9:11-12). At once he said to me, "Blessed be the Omnipresent who chose you out of all the peoples and all the tongues and gave you the Torah, because you trust in Him in every place." The greatness of charity: the school of Elijah said: Great is charity, for from the day the world was created until now the world stands upon charity, and whoever gives much charity is praiseworthy and delivers himself from the judgment of Gehinnom, as it is said, "Remove anger from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh" (Ecclesiastes 11:10), and it is said, "Happy is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in the day of evil" (Psalms 41:2), and "evil" means nothing but the day of the judgment of Gehinnom. For what merit did our first fathers acquire this world, and the days of the son of David, and the world to come? Because they conducted themselves with charity. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon his son were praised only for charity. Whence Abraham? As it is said, "For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice" (Genesis 18:19). And even the Holy One, blessed be He, is praised through charity, as it is said, "And the holy God is sanctified through righteousness" (Isaiah 5:16); and even the Throne of Glory is praised through charity, as it is said, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne" (Psalms 97:2). Great is charity, for it delivers a person from the way of death; great is charity, for it lengthens a person's days and years; great is charity, for it brings a person to the life of the world to come; great is charity, for it is equal to the Torah; great is charity, for it hastens the day of the son of David and the days of our redemption; great is charity, for it raises up the soul and seats it and places it beneath the Throne of Glory.

Themes

CommunityCharityTorah

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