Giving

20 Cheshvan 5782

“The maiden to whom I will say, ‘Lower your pitcher and I will drink,’ and she will say, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels,’ her have You designated for Your servant, for Isaac” (Bereishis 24:14)

“Since G‑d lacks nothing, generosity is the primary way in which He relates to the world. For the same reason, generosity is the natural hallmark of people who feel closely connected to G‑d … When Rebecca went beyond fulfilling Eliezer’s specific request by offering to also water his camels, he understood that she was a G‑dly person and thus a fitting match for the son of Abraham.” (Lubavitcher Rebbe)

“For the Lord is good; His kindness is everlasting” (Tehillim 100:5)

Just as G-d is good and benevolent so must we strive to emulate him in our ways. As Rav Shlomo Carlebach says in his famous song “Yossele The Holy Miser,” “What is the most G-dlike act in the world? Giving. When a person has the privilege to give he is so close to G-d.”

“In order for it to be able to absorb this degree of illumination, it must be equipped with the protective and receptive garments of the mitzvot” (Lessons in Tanya, Iggeret HaKodesh, middle of Epistle 29)

Through doing acts of kindness and charity we illicit in Hashem a Divine Pleasure corresponding to the Divine Will, which He laid out in His Torah, “the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, being entirely one” (Tanya, as above). Through our intellectual insights the soul gains an apprehension of G-d’s infinite light. To survive this level of revelation the soul must be garbed in the garments of mitzvos, just like Moshe who “vested himself in the cloud, and ascended, and saw by way of the cloud…” (Tanya, yesterday).