Dear Friends,
Can generosity be commanded? Or is it intuitive?
Yes, a parent can instruct a child to share a toy or to bring a card to a teacher. And, yes, one can learn the value of giving or compromising in a negotiation, which is essentially transactional and may not be truly a freewill offering.
Generosity, therefore, as a core character trait, is not simple.
Some who have much and feel endowed and sufficient may give more readily than the one who scrambles for the daily bread. Or, on the contrary, there are those who have little but who feel fortunate and who give generously, while there are those who have much who are parsimonious.
Hence, we look at this week’s Torah portion and read in its opening verses, “The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts.” (Exodus 25:1-2)
Is this not self-contradictory, that God would direct Moses to have the Israelites bring to God “gifts?” If they are commanded to do so, then does that alter the nature of their offerings? The offerings no longer are “gifts,” but become, effectively, “taxes,” insofar as they are commanded and directed.
Wouldn’t it be nice if generosity, as well as so many other pleasant human characteristics such as kindness, thoughtfulness, helpfulness, and more, could be natural and intuitive? Wouldn’t it be nice if they all were readily modeled by doting parents so that their children did not need instruction to say “Please” and “Thank You,” or to hold the door for the next person? Wouldn’t it be nice if neither a parent, a teacher, nor God needed to guide a child, or an adult, to behave properly?
But, such is not the case. Even the most seemingly natural traits of kindness or generosity commonly need to be taught and directed. Every parent knows it. So does every teacher. And so did God.
Hence, “Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Can generosity be commanded? Or is it intuitive?
Yes, a parent can instruct a child to share a toy or to bring a card to a teacher. And, yes, one can learn the value of giving or compromising in a negotiation, which is essentially transactional and may not be truly a freewill offering.
Generosity, therefore, as a core character trait, is not simple.
Some who have much and feel endowed and sufficient may give more readily than the one who scrambles for the daily bread. Or, on the contrary, there are those who have little but who feel fortunate and who give generously, while there are those who have much who are parsimonious.
Hence, we look at this week’s Torah portion and read in its opening verses, “The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts.” (Exodus 25:1-2)
Is this not self-contradictory, that God would direct Moses to have the Israelites bring to God “gifts?” If they are commanded to do so, then does that alter the nature of their offerings? The offerings no longer are “gifts,” but become, effectively, “taxes,” insofar as they are commanded and directed.
Wouldn’t it be nice if generosity, as well as so many other pleasant human characteristics such as kindness, thoughtfulness, helpfulness, and more, could be natural and intuitive? Wouldn’t it be nice if they all were readily modeled by doting parents so that their children did not need instruction to say “Please” and “Thank You,” or to hold the door for the next person? Wouldn’t it be nice if neither a parent, a teacher, nor God needed to guide a child, or an adult, to behave properly?
But, such is not the case. Even the most seemingly natural traits of kindness or generosity commonly need to be taught and directed. Every parent knows it. So does every teacher. And so did God.
Hence, “Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts.”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
