The Opposite Side of the Coin
Based on Ahavas Chesed vol. 2 chapter 7
Until now, the Chofetz Chaim has focused on the tremendous reward awaiting those who perform acts of chesed. He now discusses the evil of a person who closes his eyes to situations in which chesed would be appropriate. The gemara in Kesubos (68a) says that a person who does such a thing is tantamount to an idolator. This is based on Deuteronomy 15:19, which refers to an intention not to lend money before shemittah (when debts are canceled) as “lowly” – the same word used to describe those who lead a city into idolatry (in Deut. 13:14). Consider how it would make you feel if someone called you “lowly.” It would probably get your hackles up, no? So how is it that people can engage in a behavior that causes the Torah itself to call them lowly? Astounding! Such a label will stick to a person when he faces his eternity, much to his shame.
One must also be concerned that a needy person whom he declined to assist will call out to God about him. Deuteronomy 15:9 teaches, “He will call out to God because of you and it will be accounted to you as a sin.” Such a thing can actually bring about a reversal of one’s fortune. The Chofetz Chaim cites several sources to support this idea, including Mishlei 22:2: “The rich and the poor meet – Hashem made all of them.” If the rich man isn’t using his wealth appropriately, God can just as easily make the poor man rich and the rich man poor.
In many places Chazal illustrate how stinginess when it comes to tzedakah and acts of chesed can lead one to poverty. Deuteronomy 28:47-48 says, “Since you didn’t serve Hashem your God with joy and a good heart for the abundance of goodness, you will serve your enemies, whom Hashem will send against you, in hunger and thirst, naked and impoverished.” Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu Zuta (16) explains “hunger” to mean that when a poor man asks a rich man for a beverage and the rich man refuses, then the invading enemy will take the rich man’s fine wines. “Naked and impoverished” means that when a poor man asks a rich man for a garment and is refused, the invading enemy will take the rich man’s finery. Similarly, if one doesn’t serve Hashem “with joy and a good heart,” meaning that he doesn’t want to share what he has with those who need his assistance, he will ultimately lose what he has to the enemy. And if he does a few token acts of charity and chesed, that probably won’t be enough to compensate for what he should be doing. The curse on the resources of such a miserly person is so strong that it may even affect others whose money is tied up with his.
Choosing to refrain from tzedakah and chesed is so severe that it can even consign a person to Gehinnom (Hell). The gemara in Beitza (32b) says that the wealthy of Babylonia were among those who descended to Gehinnom, because they declined to perform acts of charity and kindness. Similarly, Vayikra Rabbah (34:11) describes how one receives 24 blessings for performing acts of tzedakah and chesed, and 24 curses for failing to do so. (The 24 curses are based on a list enumerated in Isaiah 58.)
Holding back charity and kindness causes God to suppress the kindness He would otherwise extend to the Jewish people. In Jeremiah 16:5, Hashem tells the navi not to mourn or eulogize because He has withdrawn His peace from the nation because of their failures in the realms of kindness and mercy (i.e., tzedakah).
The verse in Deut. 23:5 criticizes nations of Ammon and Moav for their failure to greet the Jews in the wilderness with bread and water. The midrash in Vayikra Rabbah (34:8) asks why this even would have been necessary. After all, the Jews had manna to eat and the well that provided water, as well as Hashem’s clouds of glory. Nevertheless, greeting the Jews with bread and water would have been the right thing to do, for the sake of Ammon and Moav’s humanity if not for Israel’s necessity.
Now consider: Hashem said that the men of Ammon and Moav could never join Israel because of their failure to perform chesed that wasn’t even needed. Can you imagine the severity of failing to perform chesed for those who actually do require assistance?
The gemara goes so far as to question whether one who refrains from chesed is even Jewish! In Beitza 32b, those who declined to help a certain person are suspected of being descended from the eirev rav (the “mixed multitude” that left Egypt with the Jews) rather than actual Jews. After all, chesed was hardcoded into Avraham Avinu’s spiritual DNA. Willingness to extend chesed to others is the acid test of whether one is a descendant of Avraham!
The Chofetz Chaim points out that there are so many Biblical verses and so many Talmudic statements that substantiate this point that to list them all would be prohibitive. Let us merely consider the bottom line. Koheles Rabbah (7:4) says, “One who rejects performing acts of chesed is as if he rejects the fundamental truths about God” (i.e., tantamount to a heretic). God is the source of all goodness and kindness. All of creation only exists so that God can bestow this kindness. The Torah and mitzvos were only given in order to increase this kindness, as per Deut. 6:24: “Hashem commanded to perform all these statutes…to be good for us all the days.” One who wants no part of doing chesed is basically saying that he wants no part of all of this. One should therefore strive to distance himself from such base thoughts, since following God’s example in matters of chesed can only benefit a person in this world and the next.
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