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Jews are commanded to open their homes to visitors, particularly the poor and the learned. Jews are not to convert their homes into fortresses protecting the nuclear family from invasion, but to sensitize their children to other people by inviting visitors regularly into their homes. The house is not to be a refuge but a bridge – if the analogy can be imagined, a kind of spiritually self-aware hotel.
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1. In Rambam's ladder of giving, what role does shame play in his hierarchy?
2. Given his highest level, how should we all be giving our tzedakah money?
1. What is 10% of your income? Would it be possible for you to give that amount each year? What ramifications would it have on your lifestyle?
2. What is the significance of the last line of this text?
Translation | Original |
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Whenever a person can save another person’s life but fails to do so, he transgresses a negative commandment, as Leviticus 19:16 states: “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.” Similarly, [this commandment applies] when a person sees a colleague drowning at sea or being attacked by robbers or a wild animal, and he can save him himself or can hire others to save him and does not. Similarly, [it applies] when he hears [others] conspiring to harm a colleague or planning a snare for him, and he does not inform him and notify him [of the danger]. And similarly this is true if he knows of others scheming to harm a friend and can appease the conspirator and prevent him from carrying out the plot and does not, and all things in this vein, the one who does these things transgresses the commandment of "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor." [AJWS translation] |
כל היכול להציל ולא הציל עובר על (ויקרא י"ט ,ט"ז) לא תעמוד על דם רעך, וכן הרואה את חבירו טובע בים או ליסטים באים עליו או חיה רעה באה עליו ויכול להצילו הוא בעצמו או שישכור אחרים להצילו ולא הציל, או ששמע גוים או מוסרים מחשבים עליו רעה או טומנין לו פח ולא גלה אוזן חבירו והודיעו, או שידע בגוי או באנס שהוא קובל על חבירו ויכול לפייסו בגלל חבירו ולהסיר מה שבלבו ולא פייסו, וכל כיוצא בדברים אלו, העושה אותם עובר על לא תעמוד על דם רעך.
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1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What causes us to attend to the needs of some over the needs of others?
3. How do both acknowledge that we prioritize our giving and at the same time work to end all hardship?
1. According to this text, what constitutes affluence?
2. How does this text map onto our society? In what ways are we all living in affluence?
3. What does it mean to take precedence over? How might we define such priorities today?
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What does the "for the sake of peace" mean?
3. How do we reconcile this text with the common tenancy to care for our own first?
Translation | Original |
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A rich man used to donate money to the community’s tzedakah fund and ask the administrator to distribute it to the poor. Now this rich man had an impoverished brother; in fact, all of his relatives were destitute. The rabbi told the rich man, “The money you dole out to the poor through the tzedakah fund is not tzedakah. Rather, it causes tze’akah, sobbing by your relatives. It is far better that you give these funds to your needy brother and penniless relatives.” [Avraham Finkel] |
1. How should we prioritize our giving?
2. If we only took care of our relatives, those without relatives would have no help. How do we balance these factors?
Translation | Original |
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A rich man used to donate money to the community’s tzedakah fund and ask the administrator to distribute it to the poor. Now this rich man had an impoverished brother; in fact, all of his relatives were destitute. The rabbi told the rich man, “The money you dole out to the poor through the tzedakah fund is not tzedakah. Rather, it causes tze’akah, sobbing by your relatives. It is far better that you give these funds to your needy brother and penniless relatives.” [Avraham Finkel] |
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1. How should we prioritize our giving?
2. If we only took care of our relatives, those without relatives would have no help. How do we balance these factors?
1. What is 10% of your income? Would it be possible for you to give that amount each year? What ramifications would it have on your lifestyle?
2. What is the significance of the last line of this text?
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What causes us to attend to the needs of some over the needs of others?
3. How do both acknowledge that we prioritize our giving and at the same time work to end all hardship?
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The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And, the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. Because of indifference one dies before one actually dies.
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1. What does it mean to "stand idly by"? What if you are not in a position to directly save the life?
2. Who is the "neighbor" the Torah is talking about?
3. What if it seems like there is nothing you can do?