“If there shall be a destitute person among you . . . you shall not harden your heart or close your hand to your destitute brother. Rather, you shall surely open your hand . . .” (Devarim 15:7-8)

You have $100 that you want to give to tzedakah (charity). What’s the best way to do it? Should you give all $100 to one person or give $5 to twenty different people? The halacha (Jewish law) states the best thing to do is to give $5 to 20 people. The reason is because it will turn you into a giver. The more times a person gives, the more likely they will be to give more. If a person often practices opening his hand, he will be more likely to continue to open it for others. By giving only one large donation, the person might be less likely to give to others.

So let’s say you follow what the halacha says and you start giving to many people. Then you find a poor man and you want to help him. One problem: he refuses help. The person clearly needs tzedakah and being that you have turned yourself into a giver, you cannot stand the sight of seeing him suffer. What do you do? Let me share with you a beautiful story I once heard.

There was once a great man that learned the whole day in Lakewood. I don’t know his real name, but we will call him Yosef. He came home with a small paycheck each week to support his family and they were clearly living in poverty. Another man, who we will call Eli (I don’t know his real name either), saw how much Yosef was suffering financially and wanted to help him. Only problem was that Yosef refused to take any tzedakah. Then Eli had a plan. Eli saw that everyday Yosef ate tuna fish for lunch. Eli went to the supermarket and bought fifty cans of tuna fish. He came home and asked his son to bring him a hammer. Eli took the hammer and started banging it into the cans of tuna fish until they were all dented pretty badly. Eli’s son looked at his father wondering what he was doing. After a few minutes, though, he found out why his father was behaving this way.

Eli called Yosef on the phone and told him the following story: There was a truck that arrived at the supermarket this afternoon and unfortunately, when it arrived, the employees dropped a crate of tuna fish cans. The cans all became dented. The staff of the supermarket could see that the contents of the cans were still good, but the cans were destroyed. Therefore, they decided to sell the cans at $.10 each even though they normally cost $1.00 each. I knew you were in the yeshiva at that time and love tuna fish. Therefore, I bought as many cans as I could. If you come to my house, I have fifty cans for you for only $.10.

If you are truly a giver, you will always be able to find ways to give.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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