May 16 • 2019 29
jn

T

zedakah can seem unnatural. 
Why would we want to give 
up what we have? 
When we have a lot, we say, “It’
s 
mine; I (or my parents) 
worked hard for it and may 
need it at some point.”
 When we have (or think 
we have) little, we say, “It’
s 
mine; I need it, so I can’
t 
give it away.” The instinct to 
protect or even hoard our 
resources runs deep; but 
Judaism offers practices to 
unlearn this mentality.
Parashat Emor teaches 
the famous mitzvah: “And 
when you reap the harvest 
of your land, you shall not 
reap all the way to the edges 
of your field, or gather the 
gleanings of your harvest; 
you shall leave them for the poor 
and the stranger: I am the Lord 
your God” (Leviticus 23:22). 
When reading the Hebrew, 
you’
ll notice the first verb is in 
the plural and the following are 
singular. Rabbi Moshe Alshech, a 
16th-century commentator from 
Tsfat, offers a radical reading of 
the verse that dispels the myth 
of ownership that underlies this 
instinct to hoard, in this case the 
harvest. He writes, “Do not think 
that you are giving to the poor 
from your own possession, or that 
I despised the poor person by not 
giving him as I gave you. ... The 
Torah uses the plural to designate 
the common ownership of the field 
by the owner, the poor and the 
stranger; for in truth, they share 
in it.” 
Ultimately then, I am simply 
giving the poor their share. I may 
have a deed to the land. I may have 
sown the seeds. I may have plowed 

the field. But the harvest does not 
belong to me. And so the verses 
remind us to curb our proprietary 
reaction to acquiring wealth. 
Alshech seems to be saying 
that it isn’
t just whether I give 
that matters; it’
s how I relate 
to the act. I don’
t get to feel 
righteous; that would be like 
patting myself on the back 
for not stealing.
There seems to be more 
at work in this mitzvah 
than wealth redistribution. 
The commandment could 
have dictated one section 
be designated, but rather 
the borders of “private 
property” are challenged at 
every corner. The law could 
have directed the owner of 
the field to simply deliver a 
certain quantity to the town square 
or a neutral zone. But the needy 
actually enter the landowners’
 
domain: not receiving, but 
reclaiming. 
What are the psycho-social 
implications of the blurring of 
these boundaries? The owner can’
t 
hide from the poor. The Torah 
can’
t imagine a secure fence, let 
alone the level of insulation and 
segregation we experience today.
The corners of our field do 
not belong to us; they never did. 
We cannot glean all the way to 
the edges of the field even if the 
produce yield is low. Let us struggle 
to rise above the natural reaction 
to hoard out of pride or fear 
and,rather, sanctify our harvests 
through giving the poor what is 
rightfully theirs. ■

Alana Alpert is the director of Detroit Jews 
for Justice (detroitjewsforjustice.org) and 
the rabbi of Congregation T’
chiyah in Oak 

Park.

The Meaning of Giving

Rabbi
Alana Alpert

Parshat 

Emor: 

Leviticus 

21:1-24:23; 

Ezekiel 

44:15-31.

spirit

torah portion

10 NELSON LEGACY
TH

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