Give to Every Outstretched Hand

Opening There is a well-known rule that the great early rabbis passed down from the Jerusalem Talmud, and Jewish law follows it: “Whoever holds out a hand, we give to him.” At first this sounds very strange. Aren’t we supposed to check? To ask questions? To find out whether the person in front of us really needs help? Some people end up where they are because of bad choices, or laziness, or worse. And you worked hard for every penny. Should you give without asking anything at all? But right here, inside this puzzle, lies something very deep. The Two Qualities the World Stands On The Torah opens: “In the beginning, Hashem created.” The Name of Hashem used there is the one that stands for strict justice. Later the Torah says: “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” There the Torah uses His Name of compassion together with the Name of justice. These are two qualities. They are two ways in which Hashem guides His creatures. Strict justice means reward and punishment according to what we do. It is an exact account, where every detail is measured and weighed. Compassion means giving beyond what justice requires. It is free kindness that has no reason behind it when you add up the numbers. Now, my dear fellow Jew, ask yourself honestly: what do you need from Heaven this week? Good health: did you earn it? Pride and pleasure from your children: do you deserve it by strict justice? A living, peace at home, joy, peace of mind: how much of all this is really “owed” to you? The Talmud says: “Whoever has compassion on others, Heaven has compassion on him.” It means just what it says. The way you treat other people is the way you are treated from Above. Giving Is Not a Question About the One Who Receives Here is the new idea. It needs to break through and reach all the way to the heart. You stand in front of someone holding out his hand, and you start calculating: “Does he deserve it? Did his own laziness bring him here?” You may think you are dealing with him. You are not. You are dealing with yourself. The moment you judge him by strict justice, you are asking to be judged by that same strict justice. As the Talmud teaches: “Whoever lets go of his own sense of what is due to him, Heaven lets go of all his wrongdoings.” This is measure for measure. It is not only reward and punishment. It is a spiritual reality: the one who gives with kindness awakens kindness from Above upon himself. In the words of the Zohar, the classic book of Jewish mysticism: “An awakening from below stirs an awakening from above.” What we do down here opens the channel from Above. Now we can understand “Whoever holds out a hand, we give to him.” This is not a rule about what kind of person the receiver is. It is a rule about the kind of world you want to live in. It is a world where people give more than strict justice requires. If you want to live in a world like that, you have to build it. The Recognition That Sets You Free Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, writes in one of his letters that giving charity opens the channels of kindness and blessing from Above. In the Tanya he adds that love for every Jew is the foundation. That means giving to your friend because his soul and your soul are one at their root. But what gives a person the strength to give like this? Recognition. You recognize that almost all the good in your life is not a “salary” you earned. It is a free gift. Your health, your joy from your children and your living are kindness from Above that you do not deserve by exacting justice. So all the “calculations” you make about the poor man holding out his hand are calculations you simply cannot afford. And know this: the poor person who crosses your path is not there by chance. Hashem sent him to you to open a moment of opportunity for you, a channel of blessing that you can draw into your life and into your home.