Jewish Journeys

Dear TBS Friends and Family,

Many of you might remember a childhood experience of bringing change for tzedakah (charity/justice) to the synagogue, either to put in those rusty blue and white JNF (Jewish National Fund) boxes, or to gather pennies in a glass bowl at the front of the classroom to decide where to send them at the end of the school year.  Others of you may have visited synagogues over the years that have beautiful tzedakah boxes affixed to the wall outside their sanctuaries.  These experiences may only have subtly impacted you, but they communicate a fundamental Jewish value: What happens in the synagogue, does NOT stay in the synagogue! Synagogue life is not only for our own personal spiritual edification, or even directly for the needs of other members, but instead is meant inspire an engaged and charitable relationship to the larger world.  Giving tzedakah in the synagogue is an ancient practice. In the Talmud(Baba Batra 10a), codified in the 6^th century we read the story of Rabbi Elazar, “who would give a coin to a poor person and only then would he pray, for it is written, ‘Through tsedek (righteousness) will I behold Your face (Psalms 15:17).’”

A 20th century commentary on the Tanya, a classic Chasidic text, explicates this idea: “G‑d’s kindness is drawn down through man’s initiative from below. It is thus the coin that one gives a pauper that grants the giver the gift of “beholding G‑d’s face”—the internal aspect of G‑dliness—during prayer. In this way, man’s kindness and tzedakah elicit G‑d’s kindness and tzedakah.”

If this mystical idea is outside your comfort zone, you can follow the teaching of the Shulchan Aruch, one of our most fundamental guides to actions in Jewish life, which says simply,

 טוב ליתן צדקה קודם תפלה:

It is good to give tzedakah (donate to charity) before prayer. (Orach Chayyim 93:10)

Our ritual mitzvot (commandments) are not divorced from our ethical mitzvot; they are intertwined with them.  Living a full Jewish life requires attention to both, and by juxtaposing tzedakah and prayer, we have yet another opportunity to live a meaningful life.

At Temple Beth Shalom, we are excited to reinstate an opportunity to follow this practice.  Knowing that not so many of us carry cash anymore, we are going to offer a contemporary digital version of the tzedakah box! In both the CEC Lobby and the lobby for the main sanctuary, you will see a QR code posted that will take you directly to a link to donate.  Currently the tzedakah donated will be to support efforts of the Tikkun Olam committee, which creates opportunities for our members to participate in activities such as making meals for Crosswalk, sandwiches for families at Ronald Mcdonald House, or offer supplies to the warming shelters. We will not encourage use on Shabbat, but please give when you come into the building for any other time—weekday afternoon minyan, Sunday school, Hebrew school, meetings or social events.
And for those of you who are joining us for Purim celebrations (March 23rd at 8pm for a traditional megillah reading, or March 24th at 5pm for afternoon service and Purim Schpiel), remember that one of the four central mitzvot of Purim, the holiday on which we celebrate the survival of the Jewish people, is matanot l’aniyim, gifts to the poor. Our QR will be ready and waiting for you!

I’m looking forward to seeing you all soon.

L’shalom,
Rabbi Tamar