The electronic media have peeked into the home of the Prime Minister and his wife, but this week I was privileged to peek into the modest home of a man of great kindness, who lives in a modest apartment in Bnei Brak, and dedicates his life to the sick, and quite a few worldly saints have come to his door and benefited from his advice and resourcefulness in medical matters.
The person who invited me was his wife, Mrs. Paige Firr, who is worth a page in her own right. In my opinion, Paige is the classic example of an authentic Haredi woman. But, as mentioned, I will not discuss her in this column.
I was invited to her humble and simple home to be a co-founder of a friendship committee for the maternity recovery home located in Tilstone, up the road to Jerusalem.
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The house I was invited to is located on the third floor of a building without an elevator. The living room, where the dear women gathered, is no larger than the average children's room in north Tel Aviv. Not to mention the library, which takes up a significant amount of space and leaves too little room for the couple of people of mercy and their ten children, no matter how many.
Refreshment and recovery
This tiny living room has already hosted quite a few people. From the president of the country, chiefs of staff, executives of huge corporations, and lots of ordinary people who needed good medical advice. But, the person who invited us there said: "You, members of the 'Mothers for Mothers' committee, came to contribute and create recovery opportunities for mothers, and in any case, you are much more important than all the important people sitting here.".
Among the committee members is Rebbetzin Yemima Mizrahi, who arrived from the United States after a tour of lectures and encouragement. "I encountered a lot of depression and sadness there," she told us, but she brought with her a breath of joy of the kind that comes with the month of Adar.
The Rebbetzin asked us to be as "respectable" as possible.
""Look, in past generations we had to travel far to encounter sins. Today everything is accessible. That's why we need to be respectful. Someone who is respectful will not find herself falling into the darkness of contempt. A Jew is all respect. All her respect is the daughter of a king within.".
From here she moved on to honoring mothers and expanded the message: "In our generation, the generation of Messiah, all that is needed is to love and respect. To respect our children and love them because that is what they will pass on to the next generation. On the other hand, to remember that today there is no parental authority. If we are not respected in the eyes of our children, we will not be able to influence them.
""We also need to respect mothers who need to recover. Her children should also feel that their mother went to a recovery home because the family respects her health and her need for rest.".
Giving and taking
And in accordance with this week's parsha - Parsha Teruma - the group of women, which included quite a few "rich" and very modest women (who few had heard of Sheman), was intended to constitute the economic infrastructure of "Mothers for Mothers.".
How can we not connect this event with the affair?
The parsha begins with a puzzling word. God commands Moses, our Lord, to "take a contribution for me," but he should have said, "and give it to me." However, the taking in this case is from God's own money, which is all His, and more importantly, it must be "for me" - in my name.
When a person gives charity, it is clear that he is doing so in the name of God, Blessed be He, since this is his "private" money, for which he has labored and strived with all the strength of his soul. It is clear, then, that he is not doing this in his own name, but in the name of God, Blessed be He.
But what happens to the "taker" - the recipient of the donation? After all, he takes it to support his family. And how is this done "in my name" - in the name of God, the Blessed One.
But this is God's will. Let the poor know that the reason God created the poor in the world was so that the world would be a matter of charity and kindness. If there were no needy people, there would be no charity in the world. The verse seeks to teach us that not only should giving be in my name - in the name of God, but also taking.
This should be "for my sake," in order to uphold the cause of charity and kindness in the world, and not just for the purposes of livelihood.
Contribution and elevation
I must sign my defense of the G-d-fearing public, the ultra-Orthodox in the word of G-d, who, despite being among the lowest deciles in Israeli society, are always "sued and given." We can see this again and again on tens of thousands of occasions.
The number of charitable initiatives in Haredi society is immeasurably greater than their weight in the population. The number of volunteers and the amount of donations is also disproportionate to the size of the Haredi sector.
Indeed, for us, it starts in childhood. With a charity box in every room, in the car, in the synagogue, and in public places.
From a young age, we absorb the matter of grace that God has created in the world, in addition to the matter of tithing, which is a type of profitable transaction to which God undertakes, "and test me in this.".
Pay attention to the word donation, it includes both surrender and elevation. Donation – giving – elevates a person and enslaves him to the will of God, from whose good, open, and expansive hand everything is.
• Part of the column is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe | The writer is the owner of "My Choice", an event host, lecturer, and radio broadcaster. | For comments: [email protected]
