Shalom to my Bnai Shalom family!
The end of the Unetaneh Tokef prayer imagines God as a heavenly judge, deciding our fate in the coming year, are the words, "Ut'shuvah, ut'fillah utzedakah ma'avirin et roa hag'zerah," meaning that t'shuvah (repentance or returning), t'fillah (prayer), and tzedakah (righteousness) can transform the harshness of our destiny. We often focus on t'shuvah and t'fillah, but those are just the beginning. Tzedakah, our commitment to others, must follow.
We often think of tzedakah as charity, giving money to people in need or to causes we care about, but it is much, much more. Tzedakah comes from the same root as tzedek, justice, and tzadikim, righteous people. Our Talmud tells us that tzedakah is equivalent to all the other mitzvot combined and that even a poor person, who is sustained by receiving tzedakah from others, must still perform tzedakah. Tzedakah is not optional for us. It is foundational. It is not about having enough money to spare for others. Everyone participates, no matter how much or how little they have.
Why is the mitzvah of tzedakah elevated to such an important role? One answer is in the language itself. Rather than "giving charity," we "do or perform tzedakah": "la'asot tzedakah". Charity is a chance to choose generosity. Tzedakah is an obligation to act. Our Torah calls us to care for the poor and needy among us, the stranger, the widow, the orphan, not by choice but out of a righteous and just obligation.
The value of tzedakah to the person receiving it is easy to see. But tzedakah also transforms the person performing it. Research has connected charitable giving and volunteering with lower blood pressure, higher self-esteem and greater happiness. Perhaps our Torah and our sages knew that the mitzvah of tzedakah does more than help someone else; it changes our lives for the better. And when we combine that with t'shuvah and t'fillah, something shifts. We look inward, then upward, then outward. We connect with ourselves, we search for meaning, and we commit ourselves to making our world a better place. And only then are we ready to leave behind the mistakes of the past year and move toward being the people we are called to be.
L'shanah tovah tikateivu v'teichateimu. May we all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.
Rabbi Adrienne :)
Rabbi@bnaishalomeaston.org
Cell Phone: 609-577-6842
SERVING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF EASTON SINCE 1839