The Importance of Charity

The following is a parable and lesson from the great Ben Ish Chai, I recently read this in a book called "Parables of the Ben Ish Chai", by Yaakov Kahn:

"Ten birds roosted upon our roof," the father said to his clever son. Along came four hunters and each shot one. How many birds were left on the roof?"

"Four!" replied the boy.

"Why do you you say that?" asked the father. "Don't you know your arithmettic? If four were killed, six were left."

The Boy calmly explained, "When the hunters fired their rifles," he said, "they must have made a  loud noise, frightening away the other birds. Thus, only the four dead birds who will no longer be frightened by any noise in the world remained. We can sell the birds and use the money!"

How right you are my son," beamed the father. "You are a clever lad!"

A person, with his limited vision, tends to think that the money he gives away to charity is gone, lost forever - 'dead', while the money he still owns is all his. It is 'live' money, to do with as he pleases. The father hinted to his son that the six birds on the roof were alive and his to enjoy, while the clever boy pointed out that the live birds could fly away and were not necessarily theirs to keep. The only ones they could be sure of were the four dead birds which would never 

fly away!

This is exactly how it is with money. The money a person thinks he possesses can easily leave him and go to another person while the money a person gives to charity is his eternally; for the reward of that good deed is set aside for him in the World to Come.

"If you lend money to My people, to the poor man in your midst..." (Shemot 22:24) - If you lend the money and give charity to the poor, that money will remain in your midst', that is, in your possession, forever! Such money cannot fly away to any other person for it is yours eternally and will accompany you to the World to Come.

Rabbi Asher Vaknin, our Rabbi who gives lectures for our Moishe House Monthly program in New York, also discusses the importance of giving money to the needy. He stresses that individually, the next time we come across someone asking you for some money, if they are asking for a small amount, we should not hesitate, and we should just give the money; rather than trying to convince ourselves that maybe the person is trying to scam us. The fact remains, that the person is asking for money.

As a Moishe House, after reading the parable and these lessons, I hope that we can all be inspired to run a Moishe House event that would focus on raising money for a specific charity or even as a fundraiser for Moishe House.  

I wish you all a Happy Passover,

Joey Yadgar

Moishe House Great Neck