Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

213
Re’ei
True Chesed
Dr. David Kallus
“Y ou shall surely open your hand to him; you shall lend him his requirement,
whatever is lacking to him” (dei machsoro asher yechsar lo) (Devarim 15:8).
Rashi states that dei machsoro asher yechsar lo implies that the obligation of tzedakah
goes so far as to require us to give the poor person a horse to ride upon and a slave to
run in front of him.
This is a very difficult Rashi. Rashi one line earlier explains that one would not be
required to make the poor man rich. We can understand that a poor man should
be given support to help him cover his basic needs. But to give someone charity to
support a lavish lifestyle is untenable!
Rav Wolbe in Alei Shur (page 93) explains that in this pasuk and especially in the
words “dei machsoro” is the yesod, the foundation, of chesed. A person who is focused
primarily on himself is hopelessly unable to see that which another person is lacking.
While he may be able to appreciate that another person could miss something that he
himself does not have, the same person cannot appreciate that another person can be
missing something even though in his own view it may be excessive or unimportant.
While we may not identify with the lifestyle of a man with a horse and slave runner, if
tzedakah is about chesed we would be able to understand that this particular person’s
need for these so called excesses could be the same as another pauper’s need for very
basic necessities.