Vayera 5785

In this week’s parsha, the Torah reveals Hashem’s inner thoughts regarding why He disclosed His intention to Avraham to destroy the evil cities of Sodom and Gemorrah. Hashem says (Beraishis 18:18): “For I have loved him [Avraham], because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of Hashem, doing charity and justice (לעשות צדקה ומשפט).” Hashem loves Avraham because he teaches his family and others that it is Hashem’s way to do charity and justice. However, this emphasis on both charity and justice is not unique to the Jewish people. Most societies in the world today consider charity to be a virtue and recognize that justice needs to be administered with benevolence. What is unique about the Jewish attitude to charity and justice that invokes Hashem’s special love for Avraham?

Rav S.R. Hirsch explains that the non-Jewish conception of charity is to relieve the conscience of the giver, who see others worse off than himself. It makes the giver proud that he is helping others by offering charity to the poor. However, this type of charity overlooks the impact it has on the recipient. He often feels humiliated that he needs to take money from those that are better off financially. Moreover, it does little to actually help the poor person improve his life. Charity therefore becomes a purely self-serving act on behalf of the giver. It could even be justified as a utilitarian undertaking to prevent the poor from reaching a stage of desperation where the lower class would rebel against the upper class of society.

However, Avraham’s concept of charity is radically different. Giving charity is an obligation to Hashem, not a concession to one’s conscience. The Torah places charity before justice because it recognizes that charity is a higher form of justice. Instead of feeling humiliated, the poor are empowered with the right to claim charity from others. Hirsch writes that the rich should consider themselves as mere “administrators of a treasury that belongs to the poor.” The Rambam also recognizes that ideally charity should be empowering. The highest level of charity is “to fortify a fellow Jew and give them a gift, a loan; form with them a partnership, or find work for them, until they are strong enough so that they do not need to ask others [for sustenance].” (Hilchos Matanos Aniyim 10:7).

The Torah emphasizes that Avraham taught his children that it is the way of Hashem to do charity and justice in this manner. We should recognize that the true way to improve the world is to follow the ways of Hashem. When we give charity according to the Torah we are emulating Hashem, and in that way we bring Hashem into the world.