Shabbat Shalom! This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Ki
Tavo, continues Moses’s reminders to the Israelites to obey the commandments in
order to be blessed. The Israelites are told that they are about to enter a
land flowing with milk and honey, and that they will have success in their
early agriculture. In return, they must bring their first fruits, the finest of
their labor and toil, to offer as sacrifices to God. They are commanded to
serve God with joy and with a sincere heart. Maimonides comments on both of
these commandments. On the first, he extrapolates that in a time with no
Temple, when we no longer offer physical sacrifices to God, we must still do
anything we do for the sake of God, with a sincere heart, in joy, and to our
fullest. “When one builds a house of worship,” he says, “it should be more
beautiful than their personal dwelling. When one feeds the homeless, it should
be the best and sweetest of their table. When one clothes the naked, it should
be the finest clothing.” On the second commandment, when the Torah says we
should do these things with a joyful heart, Maimonides adds, “For even though
you served God, you did not serve in joy, and that is the source for all your
afflictions.”
I think RaMBaM’s commentaries on this are linked, that we
can serve God by serving each other, and we must continue to do both with
gratitude and joy. But I think we can take away from these related comments two
distinct lessons. The first is the most important and the most in our control.
When giving tzedakah or doing community service, doing a small amount only when
it is convenient does not accomplish much. Giving away torn and worn out
clothing that is hardly wearable anymore doesn’t help those poor and the
homeless that much. Feeding the hungry tasteless or low nutrient food isn’t
real chesed. I’m not saying everyone should go broke giving tzedakah or quit
their jobs to start cooking full time for the local soup kitchen. But, we
should all be willing to set some time and money aside to share our blessings
in a meaningful way. This is the way we can give modern day sacrifices and
serve God in a modern context with no Temple or physical offerings.
If we do this with gratitude for all that we have and with
the knowledge that it is a righteous act, it can be a pleasant experience. If
we appreciate the opportunity to meet new people in our community and to learn
from someone whose life has been very different from ours, it’s a joyful and
holy experience. If you do so grudgingly
and miserably, it will not be fun, you will not appreciate or be able to learn
from the new people you meet, and you will be more likely to notice the money
you are losing by giving tzedakah or the time you are spending not doing
something you’d rather be doing. We can’t always help what mood we’re in at any
given moment, but I think this is what Maimonides meant when he said serving
God joylessly is the source of afflictions. A negative attitude can be
cyclical, and dragging our feet to accomplish important and holy tasks will
only make them harder and less pleasant.
Don’t hesitate to serve God, to serve your community, to
pray for a better world. Go through as much of life as you can with a positive
attitude and finding the good in small things. And may doing so bring you
peace, joy, and God’s blessing. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
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