RABBI SHMUEL BLOCH

Pesach is upon us.

We are all familiar with the cleaning, cooking and other preparations that are taking place now in order to be ready for Pesach. At the same time a different type of preparation is happening. In every single Jewish community worldwide, people are mobilising and preparing to ensure that every Jew however poor they may be, will celebrate Pesach in honour and dignity with enough food to last through the entire festival.

It is true that there are extra expenses involved in Pesach. It is also true that there are many Jews who are struggling to make ends meet. It is also absolutely true that the money needed to ensure that everybody has enough for Pesach is an astronomical sum.

Nevertheless, every person has to make an effort to contribute during this time. “Maos Chittim” literally “wheat for making Matzah” is the tzedaka that is traditionally collected at this time. In olden times, people donated wheat to the underprivileged so that they themselves could have Matzah for the festival of Pesach. While times have changed and we do not contribute wheat to people who need it, we still can buy extra Pesach food or make a contribution to organisations that are helping others make their Pesach as special and meaningful as possible.

I will never forget the time, while living in Israel, I saw a huge number of Israeli soldiers arriving in my neighbourhood. They kept coming and soon there were hundreds of them. They cordoned off an area near the main shopping centre. There was a flurry of activity and truck after truck started arriving with the soldiers unloading huge boxes of these enormous trucks. I could not fathom what was going on.

Suddenly, I understood.

Working at an in intensity and pace that could only be described as frantic; the soldiers were packing parcels with Pesach goods.

Then suddenly the people came. There were children with their parents. There were teenagers. There were the elderly and there were children in prams being pushed. The soldiers handed each person a carton with Pesach provisions with a smile and a warm hug. Nobody felt embarrassed or uncomfortable. It was self understood that the entire Jewish people are one unit and family helps family.

In another area of town there was another organisation which donates shoes and other necessities to people that really need it. Again, great pains were taken to ensure that each recipient who arrived never felt humiliated.

There are local organisations here in Johannesburg that operates in the exact same way and it is our duty and our privilege to assist them in any way that we can.

The classic expression “Mi Keamcha Yisrael” – “Who is like the Jewish people” comes to mind when witnessing the sensitivity and care that people have to guarantee that others have what to eat on Pesach.

When it comes to donating money or food for Pesach, one should try and contribute with passion and enthusiasm. The actual amount that one gives will vary from person to person.

We learn from last week’s parsha that it is critical to generate an attitude and desire to help with speed and alacrity when the need arises.

The Jewish people were busy collecting all the materials that were needed to construct the Mishkan. A call had gone out from Moshe for donations from the Jewish people. The leaders (literally princes) of the tribes, the Nesi’im donated the precious stone need for the Ephod and the breastplate. “The leaders brought the shoham stones and the stones for the settings for the Ephod and the Breastplate” (Shemos chapter 35 verse 27).

Rashi quotes Rabbi Nassan from a Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 12:16) who states that the Hebrew word “leaders” is written defectively missing two letters. This implied a rebuke for their actions. The leaders decided that only after the entire nation had contributed all they had to give, would they fill in the gaps and give whatever was necessary for the completion of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). However they misjudged and underestimated the remarkable generosity of the Jewish people. The nation brought all that was needed. All that was left for them to contribute was the precious stones for the garments of the Kohen Gadol. Rashi says that since they were lazy and did not contribute immediately, the Torah spells their title in an imperfect and flawed way.

Rabbi Alter Henoch Leibowitz z”l, the previous Rosh Yeshiva of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva in New York, poses the following question.

He asks can we really find fault with these great men?

 Imagine a meeting to generate funds for an important project like the construction of a Mikveh or a Yeshiva. Some communal leaders get up and announce that the project must be completed and they will cover any shortfall that occurs. They would be hailed as genuine heroes!!

However we learn from this episode of donating to the mishkan how important it is to give charity immediately as soon as there is the need. The Nesi’im were great men but they are rebuked for not doing this. The Torah’s clue of a grammatical deficiency in word Nesi’im teaches us that their reaction to donating was based on a tiny lack of zeal and a small bit of laziness.

How often are we approached to contribute to a worthy cause?

Yet, people sometime say “Have you asked someone else?” “Go to him first and then come to me afterwards”.

Our Sages teach us that this is not the proper response. We need to come forth with whatever we can offer and not wait even if our intentions are good. In reality, “magnanimous” procrastinators through their actions can lose precious involvement with a Mitzvah opportunity that may never return.

The Nesi’im learnt their lesson and when it came to the dedication of the Mishkan, it was they who were first to jump forth and joyously contribute as we learn in Bamidbar chapter 7 verse 2.

Pesach is almost here.

A tremendous opportunity exists to lend a hand to your fellow Jew like never before. Take this opportunity with swiftness and enthusiasm. Then, when you sit down at your Seder, you will surely know that you have tangibly changed another Jew’s Pesach and changed the world as well.