The rule is, if you do a Hesed, it comes around.
I was in a sefarim store and I saw a Haggadah shel Pesach by Rabbi Baruch Rosenblum. I knew a friend of mine, Mr. Steven Ashear, had a tremendous love for this rabbi, so I bought the Hagadah for him. He returned the Hesed by sharing a beautiful Dvar Torah with me, on the concept of Kimcha D’Pischa (lit. Flour for Pesach, sedaka and food provided for the needy for Pesach). Why is it that we don’t have a term for the Sedaka collected for other holidays? Why only Pesach?
He cites the sefer Kol Eliyahu from the Gaon of Vilna, which says there is a hint to this in the Torah, where says, “Seven days you should eat Matzot… Matzot should be eaten the seven days.”
Why does it first say, “You should eat,” and then say, “Should be eaten,” which means to cause others to eat?
He explains that this hints that Not only do you have to eat matzot, but you have to make sure that others eat matzot. And furthermore, he notes that the first time it says מצת matzot, it’s written without a vav, whereas the second time, matzot מצותis spelled with a vav. This is to indicate that for yourself, you can skimp, but when it comes to others, you have to make sure they have a lot.
That’s a beautiful thought.
Anytime we give Sedaka, we have to think about this concept, about giving the prime to the Ani/poor.
Furthermore, he quotes Rav Chaim Palagi in his sefer Sedaka L’Chaim, which quotes from another sefer called Shimon V’Levi, (with a commentary on the Hagadah) that questions why we have to start giving Sedaka 30 days before Pesach.
He answers that the poor person sees that others are buying, and that is the greatest suffering. He quotes a Rashi in Iyov (36,21) that says when a poor person sees other people shopping and he can’t shop, he has tremendous pain and he complains to Hashem, “Why is it that everyone else is shopping while I can’t shop?“
The Arizal says that when a poor person complains to Hashem, that can arouse the trait of Judgment in heaven, as the poor person complains to God about why He isn’t taking care of him. When we give Sedaka to the poor, we make peace between the poor man and God, and we bring peace to the world.
And in order to make sure that the poor person does not have any complaints, we give 30 days before, so that when everyone else is shopping, he can shop too.
As to why the word Matzot is written without the vav, he says that the word Matzot מצת without the vav can be an acronym for Sedaka Tatzil MiMavet
צדקה תציל ממות Sedaka saves from death.
When you give Matzah to the one who’s lacking, (which is why the vav is missing) that will save you from death. The צ in מצת is for Sedaka. When you give Sedaka it saves from death.
He goes in to explain the four steps involved in the baking of matzot, and how they save the person from the four types of death penalties.
-Grinding the wheat -saves the person from being stoned to death
-Baking the matzot saves the person from burning
-Plucking or patting the Matzah saves a person from the strangulation,
-And when they make the holes, that saves the person from the sword.
So every step of the process will save from a possible death penalty. That is how great Sedaka is. He says it will save someone even from the most strict of sins.
Rav Chaim Palagi adds to his words, “…His words are alive and established, they are trustworthy and coveted.”
These are beautiful words on the power of Sedaka that a person gives before Pesach- and not just before Pesach, but early.
I’m happy to say that thanks to our listeners, the Lev Chana cards are currently in the mail. They were sent to close to 200 families, widows orphans and the like. Baruch Hashem we don’t have the money yet. We haven’t covered it yet, but we have to send it out. We can’t wait until we have the money. B’ezrat Hashem the money will come in. Everyone here is part of the great mitzvah of making sure that there is still time to shop with everybody else.
Have a wonderful day and Tizku Lemitzvot.