This week's Torah portion, parashat Re'eh, seems to contain a blatant contradiction. Within a matter of a couple verses, the Torah appears to make a 180-degree turn in terms of its thinking regarding poverty and the Land of Israel.
Initially, the parasha paints a rosy picture of a land devoid of poverty - "There shall be no needy among you." A mere three verses later, however, the parasha introduces the possibility of deprivation in the Land of Israel, saying, "If, however, there is a needy person among you?" And four verses later, the parasha portrays Israel as a land whose inhabitants are destined to be needy: "For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land."
Struggling to resolve this apparent contradiction, many commentators view the first verse as reflecting the ideal situation, in which the Jewish people live a life free of sin, while the second and third verses describe what happens when the Jewish people fall astray.
Another way of resolving this contradiction, however, is by reading the verses as prescriptive - rather than descriptive - statements. Instead of describing what will happen to the Jewish people, the verses tell us how the people ought to behave.
The first verse, "There shall be no needy among you," shows how people ought to view themselves. No matter how bad Israel's economic situation, its inhabitants should never view themselves as being needy, for they possess the greatest treasure of all - "the land that Hashem your God is giving you as an inheritance."
Likewise, the last verse, "For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land," shows how people ought to view others. No matter how good Israel's economic situation, its inhabitants should never forget that there are people who are less fortunate. As such, Israel's inhabitants must be constantly involved in acts of tzedaka and chesed.
May we never regard ourselves as needy and may we always remember to help each other.
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Dyonna Ginsburg made aliyah close to three years ago and currently serves as the Director of Yavneh Olami, an international religious Zionist student organization.
Initially, the parasha paints a rosy picture of a land devoid of poverty - "There shall be no needy among you." A mere three verses later, however, the parasha introduces the possibility of deprivation in the Land of Israel, saying, "If, however, there is a needy person among you?" And four verses later, the parasha portrays Israel as a land whose inhabitants are destined to be needy: "For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land."
Struggling to resolve this apparent contradiction, many commentators view the first verse as reflecting the ideal situation, in which the Jewish people live a life free of sin, while the second and third verses describe what happens when the Jewish people fall astray.
Another way of resolving this contradiction, however, is by reading the verses as prescriptive - rather than descriptive - statements. Instead of describing what will happen to the Jewish people, the verses tell us how the people ought to behave.
The first verse, "There shall be no needy among you," shows how people ought to view themselves. No matter how bad Israel's economic situation, its inhabitants should never view themselves as being needy, for they possess the greatest treasure of all - "the land that Hashem your God is giving you as an inheritance."
Likewise, the last verse, "For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land," shows how people ought to view others. No matter how good Israel's economic situation, its inhabitants should never forget that there are people who are less fortunate. As such, Israel's inhabitants must be constantly involved in acts of tzedaka and chesed.
May we never regard ourselves as needy and may we always remember to help each other.
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Dyonna Ginsburg made aliyah close to three years ago and currently serves as the Director of Yavneh Olami, an international religious Zionist student organization.