(9) Do not oppress a stranger; for you know the heart of a stranger, as you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (10) And six years you shall sow your land, and gather in the abundance of it; (11) but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beast of the field shall eat. Similarly you shall deal with your vineyard, and with your olive grove.
Yaffa Eliach tells the following story about survivor Tula Friedman:
A waiter came to the table with a basket of bread. Tula closed her eyes and inhaled the aroma of the freshly baked bread. She passed the basket to me without taking any…. She said, "You know, in camp I used to dream that one day I would marry a baker, and in our house there would always be an abundance of bread."
"For this basket of bread," another woman across the table said, "you could buy in camp all the jewelry you see at this bar mitzvah. Once in Bergen-Belsen, I exchanged a diamond ring for a thin slice of white bread."
The bread on the table was still untouched. The waiter came again to the table. "Ladies, I see that you are not hungry today."
"Not today," replied Tula, "and not ever again."
The waiter was about to remove the bread. "Leave it on the table," said another woman. "There is nothing more reassuring in this world than having a basket of freshly baked bread on the table in front of you." (The Five Books of Miriam, Ellen Frankel, Grosset/Putnam Books, New York, 1996, p.192.)
If there will be among you a needy person, from one of your brothers in one of your cities, in your land the Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother. Rather, you shall open your hand to him, and you shall lend him sufficient for his needs, which he is lacking. Beware, lest there be in your heart an unfaithful thought, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release has approached," and you will begrudge your needy brother and not give him, and he will cry out to the Lord against you, and it will be a sin to you. You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; for because of this thing the Lord, your God, will bless you in all your work and in all your endeavors. For there will never cease to be needy within the land. Therefore, I command you, saying, you shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor one, and to your needy one in your land.
On Giving
You give but little
when you Give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself
that you truly give.
You often say, "I would give,
but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so,
nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live,
for to withhold is to perish.
See first that you yourself
deserve to be a giver,
and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life
while you,
who deem yourself a giver,
are but a witness.
- Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer (1883 – 1931)
A Love Like That
Even after
all this time
the sun never
says to the earth,
"You owe Me."
Look
what happens
with a love like that.
It lights the
whole
sky.
The earth
would die
if the sun stopped
kissing her.
Hafiz (1325-1389) from the collection The Gift. Hafiz was a Persian poet, acclaimed in his lifetime, and still beloved and quoted throughout the world.