It’s brought down that on Shavuot, it’s a good idea to go though the 613
Mitzvot. People from different communities have different customs related to
this. In the Sephardic community, we read something called the Azharot,
which is a list of the 613 mitzvot. The only problem is, as the Hid”a says, we
are reading the list of Mitzvot of the Rambam. As we’ve mentioned in the
past, there are 613 Mitzvot- that’s a Gemarah in Masechet Makkot. The
question is which of the Dos and Don’ts in the Torah are on the list of 613.
There are many more Dos than 248 and there are many more Don’ts than
365. We have to remove some and add some. For example, there might be 3
different Don’ts about an animal with a blemish- don’t slaughter it, don’t
sprinkle its blood and don’t offer it on the altar. Are those three Don’ts or
one Don’t?
Therefore, many Rishomim wrote sefarim about the number of Mitzvot. The
Rambam wrote a list, the Ramban wrote a list, and many others as well. The
Hida says that it’s a good idea to also read the Ramban’s list. After Rambam
wrote his list, Ramban wrote a commentary and added and detracted and
argued about some of the Rambam’s list.
So, for the first time ever, because I had a little extra this Shavuot, I took out
the Ramban’s list. And I stumbled on a very interesting Ramban. He calls it
The Mitzvot the Rambam Didn’t List, and he says the 17th Don’t is based on
a pasuk in Re’eh, which was, coincidentally, the reading of the second day of
Shavuot- (I was excited to hear this in shul, because I had never realized this
Don’t until now)
The pasuk says that you are supposed to give Sedaka. But in the seventh
year, when all loans are forgiven, what happens? The Torah says
נָת֤וֹן תִּתֵּן֙ ל֔וֹ וְלֹא־יֵרַ֥ע לְבָבְךָ֖ בְּתִתְּךָ֣ ל֑וֹ כִּ֞י בִּגְלַ֣ל ׀ הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֗ה יְבָרֶכְךָ֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּכָֽל־מַעֲשֶׂ֔ךָ וּבְכֹ֖ל
מִשְׁלַ֥ח יָדֶֽךָ׃
Give him, and don’t let it bother you that you gave him, for because of this G-
d will bless you with all your deeds and all of your handiwork.
You might say this is questionable-Is it really one of the 613 Mitzvot that it
shouldn’t bother you to give? Or is it just saying- give him, and by the way,
it shouldn’t bother you.
The Ramban says No- it’s one of the 613. It should not bother you to give.
One might say, yes but this only refers to the specific case of the year of
Shemitah, where you’re afraid you’ll lose your money.
But that’s not what the Ramban says. He says: We should not be upset
when we give Sedaka to the poor. And when we do give it to them, we
shouldn’t give it with an Eyin Ra’ah - an evil eye, or think it’s going to cause
us a loss.
He says, Don’t think that you have lost money when you give Sedaka. Look
at it as a reward, a benefit, and an addition to your money.
We should look at charity as a great investment that we are putting our
money into. It’s like we got an inside tip that we know will go up in value.
Why? Because Hashem says He will pay us back multiple times for our
Sedaka. So, when we give, our mindset has to be that we have just gained.
This is a tremendous eye opener. We are talking about a man who gives
charity, but lacks the proper mindset. The Torah is commanding us on our
mindset. It’s unbelievable.
וְלֹא־יֵרַ֥ע לְבָבְךָ֖ בְּתִתְּךָ֣ ל֑וֹ
It shouldn’t bother you in your heart when you give him.
The Ramban cites this pasuk we just read as proof.
The ending words are: Because Hashem will bless you.
This is an unbelievable Hiddush. What an eye opener! And the Ramban says
it again in his derasha on Kohelet. He says, you are giving the man money,
and yet you look at it as a loss? You have sinned.
This is shocking. If you give Sedaka and think of it as a loss, that’s wrong.
It’s not someone pinching you. You should look it as if you’re putting the
money into the market and it’s going up.
Reframe- and think, “I’m never losing money when I give charity. I am
gaining money.”
It’s a very high level. At the beginning of the pandemic, I got a phone call
from someone who said he knows a man that wants to give Sedaka and
wanted to know if I knew anyone who needed money for Pesach. I told him I
know some people. The man told me that this donor usually gives a nice
amount- a large number. I told the man it’s really not my department; Rabbi
Ozeiry is more involved with this. I suggested that the man call Rabbi Ozeiry.
Well, he called Rabbi Ozeiry. And the rest of the story is unbelievable. I
don’t want to tell it. I wanted to get the exact details straight from Rabbi
Ozeiry. So we are including an additional clip, straight from Rabbi Ozeiry,
which is worth listening to. Rabbi Ozeiry calls this man The Phantom. So
when you see the title The Phantom, click on the link. It’s worth hearing the
story to hear about a person looks at giving charity not as losing, but as
gaining.
We should all learn from this.
Have a wonderful day!
The Phantom
Rabbi David Ozeiry’s , story:
“A few weeks ago, on the first day of Chol Hamoed Pesach, I got a phone call
from a friend of mine. He said that someone would like to give money to
people in need during this difficult time of Corona.”
Rabbi Ozeiry said he had 3 cases. About an hour later, lo and behold, a check
for $10,000 was dropped in his mailbox with no name, and a scribbled
signature. Very nice. He divided up the money and gave it out.
Later that day, another phone call came from this man. The caller said the
person wanted to know if there were any more needy cases. Rabbi Ozeiry
said, yes, he had four more. The caller took down the information, and
presumably texted the anonymous person. A little later that day, Rabbi
Ozeiry got another phone call, that there was a check in his mailbox. It was
for $20,000!
The same thing happened again later that evening- the man called asking for
more cases. The rabbi told him about another 4 or 5 cases, and another check
was delivered, this time for $50,000, bringing the total for the day to $80,000.
Rabbi Ozeiry wondered, and asked his friend-Were the checks any good? He
was reassured that the checks were fine, and the Rabbi deposited them. They
were good.
The next day, it was the same story. Morning, afternoon and evening,
checks, checks, checks. Someone was delivering them daily. Day in and day
out. Soon it was up to one million dollars! The Rabbi still didn’t know who
this man was. He was worried. He sent back a message through his friend-
“Are we impoverishing him? Maybe we shouldn’t take any more?” A very
strong message came back in reply,
“Tell the rabbi my Boss has unlimited funds- he should know that; he’s a
rabbi.” Of course, he was referring to Hashem.
And every day, day in and out, money in came.
The Rabbi continues,
“It’s now been 6-7 weeks beyond, and we have received a total of over
$2,800,000! Almost 3 million dollars!!
This money is given out immediately, to people who are in need; People who
have lost their jobs, people who unfortunately lost their spouses lo Alenu...
People who were suffering before corona, let alone now....Yetomim, Almanot
(orphans and widows) You can’t imagine the difference it has made in
people’s lives.
Who’s doing this? One person has given away close to 3 million dollars
during a time of pandemic, when people think twice about giving away
money. They wonder, “What’s going to be? Will I have a business?”
Yet this man came to the plate and believes that if the Boreh Olam, Hashem,
gave us money, then obviously this is the time when He wants us to give it
out; when obviously so many people are in need.
May Hashem bless him with long life, health and prosperity always- Amen!”