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Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:32pm and ends on Saturday at 6:31pm. The weekly Torah portion is Re’eh and Shabbat Mevarchim Elul. Rosh Chodesh is on Sunday and Monday.
Mincha continues at 1pm at A-P GF/459 Collins Mon & Wed, and Thu 1.45pm at L1 Capital using the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers.
Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm (after mincha) at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: law of neighbours. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Asher Seifman.
The Torah tells us (Devarim 15:11) that there always will be poor people in the land, and therefore we should open ourselves to give support to the poor in our land. The commentator Tur asks about this, given that charity is not a land-dependent mitzvah the way that giving tithes or other agricultural laws are exclusive to the land of Israel. Why then does the verse refer to “poor people in the land” and to supporting the poor “in your land”? The reference to “your land” typically alludes to Israel which is our land.
The Tur suggests that this is related to the halacha which prompts us to always favour those needy people who are family, or who are members of our community, before giving charity to those who are not related to us personally or aren’t members of our community. Hence, if someone contacts me from another city and meanwhile I have poor neighbours or relatives, I first must take care of those closer to me. The Tur, however, suggests that when it comes to the needy of Israel, they might be regarded as our own family or fellow citizens in that they live in “our land.” This in fact was sometimes the ruling in Halacha, that we look at the poor in Israel as being from an exclusive class.
(Historically, the people of Israel were ruled over by hostile governments and were considered like captives in their own home. Therefore, providing them with support was like a fulfilment of the law to redeem captives. There were other sociological reasons to have Jews in the diaspora take care of their fellow Jews living in the Holy Land. This is one of the reasons that traditionally, many people kept a “pushka” for Rabbi Meir Baal HaNess in their homes to ensure that they were contributing to the needs of Jews in Israel, who would get those funds).
This is a way of understanding, then, why the commandment to support the poor mentions the poor “in our land.”
The above is taken from a Dvar Torah by Rabbi Dr Dovid Fox. In the current climate of world affairs, its message appears particularly relevant and important to adopt, not just in financial terms but in terms of moral support too – we need to look both inward to our local community to provide that assistance and simultaneously remain steadfast in our solidarity with our brethren in Israel.