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"Guiding Generations" with Rabbi Mordechai Shifman merges timeless Torah wisdom with contemporary parenting insights. Each episode draws from the weekly Torah portion, offering practical advice and spiritual guidance to help parents navigate the challenges of raising children with integrity, respect, and compassion. Join Rabbi Shifman as he connects ancient teachings to the realities of modern family life, empowering parents to cultivate a nurturing and value-driven home environment.
So it's Parshas is Parshas Behar, and, there's 2 precepts back to back that I think, perhaps there's a common theme between them if we can try and flesh out what it is, but some, I think, interesting insights. The first one says that, that if your brother becomes impoverished impoverished and his means falter and he's living in your proximity, and you shall strengthen him. Whether he is a, convert or a or a resident, and you show that this is in order to allow him to live with you. That's first verse. And the second verse says, to not take from him interest and increase.
Speaker 1:They erase him. He shall fear God. There's the prohibition from taking interest, That a Jew is not allowed to take interest from other Jews. So, Raji says interestingly, Raji says that, that, somebody that is becoming impoverished, you shall support, you shall reach out. Do not allow him to fall because then it's even more difficult to raise him, to pick him up.
Speaker 1:As soon as you see him starting to falter, that's when you have an obligation to support him. And what is this compared to? To a burden that is on a donkey. If you see it becoming loose, but it's still on the back of the donkey, so then, It takes only 1 person to straighten it and to to tie it onto the donkey. Not for but if you let the burden fall to the ground, so then, so it takes 5 people to raise that burden to put it onto the back of the key.
Speaker 1:Similarly, we have an obligation here to try and, catch the person before before, it it it slips off he slips completely. So, I mean, it would seem to be you know, when Rashi tells us something, when the Torah is telling us something, it's telling us something we found some depth to it. But the notion is that, you know, the the the more you let a person slip, the harder it's gonna be to pick him up. It seems to be quite, quite a simple concept. Doesn't seem to be something that requires so many lines in Rashi.
Speaker 1:And not only that, he wants to graphically show you with a case of the donkey so you can understand exactly what that means. So, obviously, if the Torah is emphasizing that and Rashi is reemphasizing that and he's also giving us a a graphic depiction of it. It means that as, rudimentary as it might seem, in practice, that's not the case. Understand why, what exactly is the psychology to that? And then also the next verse that deals with, the laws of interest, which, is really one of the more difficult, mitzvot in the Torah to understand.
Speaker 1:Why can I not charge person for use of my money? I'm renting out my money. And it's fascinating to note that, you know, the Catholic Church, which, pretty much, by creating the concept of a New Testament, negated the requirement to keep most of the precept that are in what we call the old testament, right, or the Torah. The one thing that they took on among themselves in the Catholic church is interest. The Catholics, that's a terrible thing.
Speaker 1:We, you know, we, you know, we what they did was that they didn't charge interest. They made the Jews charge the interest. That's why Jews became bankers in Europe, because they were set up, the Rothschild, or they were set up by the Catholic church. And the way it worked was it was pretty vicious. They took a cut.
Speaker 1:Right? A, it bred tremendous antisemitism because the Jews are the ones charging. They were the the usury. They know the whole concept of Shylock. You know, they all they're they're bred by the Catholic church.
Speaker 1:They took a cut. And when the debt level got too high, they just expelled the Jews and wiped out that. It was it was financially based. A lot of these things were, was, but interesting that that was the one thing that, that they did take on that as the church themselves, and then stop, you could pay interest, but the church didn't charge it. They just they just got their cut for doing it, and they used to wipe out the debt by just expelling expelling the Jews.
Speaker 1:Napoleon, when he came to power, so part of his, his platform of freedom was freedom of religion. He said, under him, everybody is free to it's also very interesting is because his, he went to war against against czars Russia. Right? He went to war against the czar in Russia. And there was a big debate amongst the Torah leadership, what's better for the Jews?
Speaker 1:Is it the freedoms of Napoleon or the, really, the tremendous, tyrannical, subjective, you know, nature that they were in in in Russia. Chabad, the babacher, he they they they said we should pray for the for the tsar. You know? But, very interesting. I mean, just they they did it.
Speaker 1:But one of the things he did was when he was success when he was victorious, he tried to recreate the Sanhedrin. He got 72 rabbis to sign off on this. Some of them were actually, you know, great rabbi, but he took liberal rabbis. Former he took a whole group of rabbi, and he set a bunch of questions for them that he wanted to understand himself. And one of the questions is, why is it okay for a Jew to charge a non Jew interest when it's not okay for a Jew to charge another Jew interest?
Speaker 1:That's one of the questions. He has a list of questions. Take a look at Peril Wein has a whole section in one of the history books that he has about, you know, Napoleon Sanhedrin. Those are the questions that he, that he asked. So we need to understand that too.
Speaker 1:You know, what exactly is if it's so heinous to charge interest, what exactly is the, so these are 2 mitzvahs to get some clarification on. One is the idea that when you support and you help, don't wait until it's too late, because it takes too much it's it's very difficult to raise. And the second one is that, is the mitzvah of interest. And when you support a Jew, when you do help them, don't charge them interest. And yet, we see that the other non Jew, you're allowed to charge interest.
Speaker 1:Not only that, in Maimonides and from Rashi it seems as well, is it actually a mitzvah to charge a non Jew interest, which makes it even, you know, compounds the difficulty over here. You have to charge him interest, don't charge other Jew interest. You know, so the Ramon says something in the Mornevukhdom, and the Guides are perplexed. He says that, you know, non Jews charge each other interest. You know, so why should we not charge them interest if they're charging each other interest?
Speaker 1:I can't say, what's the insight over there? What's he telling us? But, let's go to the first part of it. The first part is that what what is the emphasis over here on when you help, try try catch it early because it becomes more difficult later on. So I think there's a a really a phenomenal insight that's being shared with us here.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you something actually actually very relevant, and it's here in Los Angeles. There is a foundation called the Jim Joseph Foundation. Jim Joseph Foundation, put together a Jewish affordability feasibility study on what do they have to do. It was a foundation sitting on 100 of 1,000,000 of dollars. What do we have to do to make Jewish education affordable?
Speaker 1:Second big thing, Jewish affordability. PG is doing it. The YU Partnership is doing it. Everyone wants I understand that one of the main obstacles today is the cost of Jewish education. How do we deal with it?
Speaker 1:So, they came back with very interestingly. They said that the, element, in, in the community that is being most affected and is in the greatest danger of sending their kid to public school as opposed to, keeping them in Jewish school, is the middle income families. Say anyone earning over a 100,000, between a 100,000, whatever the numbers, a 100,000, $180,000, what was their logic? The person is in the higher income families, they can afford it. The lower income families, they get the support.
Speaker 1:The ones that get stuck are the middle. So they create, there's actually a grant, and 5 schools were chosen. For unfortunately, it's for high schools, not for elementary schools, but 5 schools were chosen, and they kick in a substantial amount. And when it goes to these 5 schools, if you fall into that category, there's a subsidy that comes into it. What what the what was the logic over there?
Speaker 1:So the insight was that, I think this is on a on a on a private level too, is that people want to feel the most bang for their buck when you're helping out, you're helping somebody out. So sometimes it's a lot easier to rationalize, and not rationalize, just in terms of our own emotional, understanding. Somebody, like, walks in, you know, with got no clothes and he's got no food and, you know, the guy, you know, sitting there, that's the person you feel that you really need to know, you know. So when he walks in, he's wearing a suit and a tie and, you know, driving a decent car, you know, it's a lot harder to help in such a situation. You know?
Speaker 1:So therefore, from an emotional standpoint, and again, because the focus also is there is a we we we we do get gratification. We do feel satisfied by helping people. So where the greatest need is, that's generally where we wanna be helping. But the mistake is that help is really supposed to be is to allow a person to have independence. You don't wanna create a situation where the person becomes dependent upon you.
Speaker 1:That's not helping. Right? The idea of teaching someone to fish as opposed to, you know, feeding him, you wanna teach you wanna keep him independent, that's what you really wanna be doing. If you nip it in the bud, if somebody's starting to falter, and you can help him, that person has a chance still to be a productive member of society, that person has an ability to still be independent. Somebody that's fallen to the point where you're just gonna have to keep helping that person.
Speaker 1:It's it's much harder to make create a situation of becoming independent for that. So it's true from a from a personal satisfaction, you feel like you're doing more in terms of what you're getting when you're helping put the clothes on the guy's back and the food on the table. But ultimately, in terms of what you wanna accomplish when you're helping, your your accomplishment is let the person become independent. That's really the goal. It's not what you're gonna get out of it.
Speaker 1:It's what he's gonna get out of it, and what he's gonna gain from it. So, obviously, you have to help everybody. You have to try and help everybody. But the focus really is being that those families that in in terms of they are they're not out there without clothes, without food, or put on the table. But at the end of the day, they're gonna make the decision.
Speaker 1:They don't want to become completely dependent, and then come to a situation where going to, a Jewish school is going to put them into the lower bracket, they're gonna send their kids to public school. That's where the greatest fear was, and that that was the logic behind it. But I think the psychology is true even on an individual level. Therefore, the Torah is going out. They're at the point.
Speaker 1:They're not. Of course, they won't understand. If the flip if the package is on the floor, it's gonna take 5 people. It's slipping. It's not why do you have to keep reiterating it?
Speaker 1:Because we don't think that way. We would rather help with the package being on the floor. We feel like we're getting more. We're doing more for the person, realizing, no, the idea over here is to create that sense of independence. Don't put in a situation where it's gonna take 5 people to help.
Speaker 1:You don't wanna create that. You don't get as much personal gratification out of doing it. I just thought about your own personal gratification when you help the person. It's about what you're doing to allow that person to still have a sense of independence. And I think that that's probably the idea with interest as well.
Speaker 1:When you start paying interest and it's physics or it's like credit card, you never get out of it. You know, you get caught and it's it's a vicious cycle. You know, that's it. You you know, there's there's no sense of independence there. The whole idea of help without charging into it is you wanna be able to keep him independent.
Speaker 1:You don't want to make him become beholden to you. That's the, the notion. But I think there's a deeper message in the case of interest as well. You know, that, please, God, we have our children get married, and today, if I buy a house, you know, who's gonna be able to buy a house? So very often, what the parents are gonna do the kids are gonna do.
Speaker 1:They're gonna come can the parents help them out with the down payment, get them on their feet? I don't know a case yet where a parent will turn around to the child, say, okay, I'll help you with $200,000, but you gotta pay me 5% interest. Interest. Might it might be a case like that, I just that's not the norm. That's not the norm.
Speaker 1:You know? Your brother comes to you and you have the money, he doesn't, you wanna help him out, and good relationships going on. You don't turn around and charge family interest. If you have the money, you don't charge family interest. The message of interest is that we're all family.
Speaker 1:Is that the way Jews are supposed to look at each other is that the same way you would not charge your child or you would not charge your brother interest, we're all family. That's the way it that's the message of of of rivets. So it's not it's a terrible thing, and therefore, go ahead. You can nail nail the nail the gray. You can do it to the don't, you know it's no.
Speaker 1:It's not the point is. The point is your next day neighbor comes to you and wants, you know, wants wants a loan, or you charge him interest. There's nothing wrong with doing that. He's your next neighbor. He's not family.
Speaker 1:Family, you wouldn't do it. Your neighbor, you would. The message of interest is that by Jews, we're all family. Non Jew? Yeah.
Speaker 1:We're not family. In fact, you shouldn't see him as family. That's why the wrong one is saying it's the mitzvah there. The mitzvah there not to do something negative to him. The mitzvah is to recognize the fact that he's not family.
Speaker 1:Nothing wrong with being a neighbor. It's fine. Family is not. It's the, that's the message of of, of of what the message of interest is, that is achicha. Your brother is coming to you.
Speaker 1:Your brother is coming to you to help him out. So help him out. Let him become independent. Catch it early. Help him.
Speaker 1:There's a hierarchy. The Romans is a hierarchy of the way you're supposed to help people. Find them a job. Lend. Like, the lowest is like ghetto is where you're actually giving him something for free because you you're you're destroying his, his sense of, self esteem.
Speaker 1:You're destroying his self esteem. The key over here is keeping that self esteem. Don't make him become dependent. Don't make him into a welfare case. That's not what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1:You wanna be able to build him up, you know. But the idea is, it's your brother. It's your brother. That's the point. You have to realize that.
Speaker 1:That's a very deep message, you know, that that that that that the Torah is is is stating over here. And, again, it's not because we're looking at the non Jew as someone you can take advantage of, but, you know, he's not your brother. He's not your brother. The, there's a Clay Jakar over here, I saw one of the callers on the, you know, Frasco dolos, he says something that I found astounding. He also deals with this idea of and you also have to recognize the time period, you know, the way we interact today, thank God, especially in the United States, with a gentile world, is a little different than it was back in the day, you know.
Speaker 1:But he deals with that question too. Why is it not okay for a Jew to charge your interest? So we gave one idea that you have to see family, if there's an Indian family, and also the idea you don't want to make someone beholden to you, you want to get him, be able to stand on his own two feet. He takes another perspective, and he says like this, he says that the whole idea of Parnasa, the whole idea of livelihood, it is not guaranteed. Livelihood is really the punishment, quote unquote, that Adam got.
Speaker 1:You're gonna have to work hard to eat. It's not coming easy. It's a punishment. And why? Adam showed a lack of, a lack of trust in the almighty, bought into whatever the snake said.
Speaker 1:God has now put a vehicle in. It's a built in vehicle. Yeah. You know what? You're gonna have to be, you know, for most of us, we never know what's gonna be tomorrow.
Speaker 1:We never and that so therefore, the person's livelihood is that which solidifies our bond with God. It puts our betas on. We have to pray to God that everything will work out okay. We're not in control. We never know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be the mark, what it's gonna be. So, therefore, that livelihood is the tool to have that sense of that we put our trust in him to make up for the fact for the lack of the original sin that there was their lack of that trust in God. That was the punishment. You are going to have to work for your food, and it creates a tool that now that's your that's the way you can calibrate your relationship with God too. You have a point of connection that, you know, you pray that please God, I should have food to put on my table, put on my family, clothe my family, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1:So he says that the one type of Parnosa, one type of livelihood that takes away from that pitasson is the the easy money of interest. He says is that when you have, you know, you have 10 people paying you interest, this is that almost this is that takes away from the idea. The reason why the Torah doesn't want a person to charge interest is because Edward B'kmora says B'kmora says that one of the there was a Roman noble woman that saw, fascinating Gomorrah that saw one of the, Mariah, I think it was Rabbi Yehuda, and his face was had a countenance. He was a luster. He was healthy, very healthy.
Speaker 1:So she said to him, she said, you do one of 2 things. He says, you either you're you're a person that lives off interest, you're an interest broker, or you raise pigs. And he said to her, he said, no. I don't do either. He said, but I go to the bathroom regularly.
Speaker 1:Importance of go to the bathroom regularly. That was the answer that he gave to her. But the the point here is that's considered to be easy money. It's considered to be an easy a cushy type of job being able to charge interest and, therefore, exponentially, your money comes back. So he says it's a lack of pitach on it.
Speaker 1:That's what it is. It takes away from that. Right? He said the second part of
Speaker 2:it, again, you have to
Speaker 1:put in the context of where he lives. He says to them, why is it okay to charge a gentile? So he said, by a gentile, you're hap you're lucky to get your principal back. That's that's the way he hence, what he puts in there, the comment that he puts in there at the time, I guess, that was true. Because, again, there was interest in your own money.
Speaker 1:They just kicked you out of the country, you know. So that wasn't they didn't feel that that was something that there wasn't that wasn't a cushy job, having to get your money from the tyrannical, nation you're subjected to them. Okay. That's the point. What I thought really, the interesting thing is, we spent our entire lives trying to guarantee our Parnasa.
Speaker 1:Think about it. Everything we try and do is to make it easier for us in life to create a livelihood. Anyway, setting up the, 401 ks, the IER. We're all everything is focused to try and guarantee.
Speaker 2:But the truth of
Speaker 1:the matter is that that's not what the system is. The system is again, there's nothing wrong with a person being able to earn a lot of money and a great earner, but the point is that shouldn't come at the expense of having that relationship with our Kurdish waterfall. That shouldn't come at the really at the expense of that. Something we spend our whole lives trying to make sure that we don't have to worry. The worrying is part of the process.
Speaker 1:That worrying, at least, the verdict appropriately, is that recognizing that God controls our parossa, not that we ourselves control, that it comes from God. And that's that is the message of of of rebus is that and I think so, therefore, there's also an interesting contrast over here is that we need to make sure our dependency is on God. That's where the focus is. We should be dependent upon God. That's what the the message is.
Speaker 1:And I think, therefore, the last thing also is that's why you wanna help another Jew or help another person, you don't want them to become dependent on you. The message needs to be that you're not dependent on another person, you're dependent on God. That's what the message has to be. I think that's also a juxtaposition between those 2 those 2 cards. Just to basically a to to revisit, the idea of helping somebody early enough is that even though we get a great satisfaction of helping people that are clearly indigent and clearly don't have anything.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, what help means is helping a person become independent. That's what help means. And it's much more difficult to do it in that situation. So much much better to help somebody before he gets to that point, than have to wait until he hits Rothfotten, and then and then help him out. And that's the message that Raj has given.
Speaker 1:The second thing with the idea of interest, a, we are family. Family, you don't charge interest. Gentile, your neighbor. It's not your family. There's no con there's no problem doing that.
Speaker 1:And, also, if you want the idea to be is that dependency should be dependent on God, not dependent that somebody should become dependent on you. That's not the the the way the system works. And we're understanding Parnosa is from God, and we need to recognize that it's not going to be it's not our we've spent our whole lives trying to control our Parnosa. We have to recognize is that Parnosa comes from God. He controls it, not us.
Speaker 1:We don't control us. Have a good day.