Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist Podcast.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Good afternoon, welcome to the Thinking Talmudist Podcast and class. Of course, all of our podcasts are live classes. That's the secret here. Secret is I can't talk straight to a microphone. I can't talk to a microphone, I need to talk to human beings. So it's first a class and secondary. It's on video, it's on Zoom, it's on podcasts. But I need human beings to learn with that. Help me focus and help me grow in my learning. It's all a selfish endeavor here. You know that right. So it's for me to grow and to learn and we're all on this journey together, hopefully.

00:53
The Gommar now discusses the rules for administering two charities mentioned previously in passing, and now we're attracted by the Basra 8B. We started last week in 8A, tonerabon, on the rabbis torna. Breisa Kupo shall talk on Nikvez bishnaim. Contributions to the charity box are collected by two people Umischalekes bishloshoa and funds are distributed to the poor by three people. So two people to collect, three people to distribute. The breisa lucidates its ruling Nikvez bishnaim contributions are collected by a delegation of at least two people. She'en osin shurozal tzibur pachos mishnaim. Why? Because there's an own principle that, with respect to monetary matters, we do not establish an authority over the public consisting of less than two people, meaning you can't put a tax on people with less than two people. One person can't say, well, this is going to be a tax and it has to be at least two people. Mishalekes bishloshoa. But when the funds are distributed to the poor people, it's distributed by a panel of three. Bidina mimonos, for the distribution of charity funds, is treated like all monetary laws. Okay, so now the Gomorrah continues. The breisa continues. Tamchoy Nikvez bishlosho. Mishalekes bishloshoa.

02:22
For the communal platter which we mentioned last week, mentioned that there's the platter and there's the charity box. There's certain qualifications that get someone into the platter and some that get people into the charity box that is collected by three and is distributed by three. Shagibuya vichilukah shavim, for its collection and its disbursement are on the same day. People collect the money, they give the money, and that's the way it works. So the breisa now presents distinctive laws of the charity box and of the platter. Tamchoy bisholjom.

03:00
The communal platter, which is the food that's given out like a soup kitchen, was dispersed once each day to paupers who lacked provisions for the next day, kupa. But the charity box may Arab Shabbos, la Arab Shabbos that was distributed one week from Friday to Friday, and paupers who had food for several days but needed additional money to feed their families for the rest of the week would receive supplemental funds from the charity box. Tamchoy laaniye olam again, the communal platter provides food for any poor person who would come. Tamkupa laaniye hyair, but the charity box which provides larger sums of support that would be accessible only to the poor of that city Paupers who are residents of the city, received weekly cash stipends to provide for their families for the entire week. But if you are not a member of that community, if you are not a resident of that community, then every community is responsible for themselves. Go to your community. The community should help you with your needs. But a community was not responsible to help members of a different community who were paupers. Again, if it was a daily thing, they came to the soup kitchen, that's one thing. But if they needed more funds to help with their children's lunches for school and things like that, you know. So now we have to understand that the Torah is very, very concerned about us helping those who are needy. It's a very big responsibility that we have and the Torah charges us with this responsibility that we need to ensure that the poor people are taken care of. And we see this in the Torah, we see this in all of the mission on the Talmud, that there are standards put into place of how we handle poverty in our community.

05:02
The Brayse teaches that transferring money between the funds was permissible and the officials of the city are authorized to render the charity box a platter and the platter a charity box if necessary. Meaning because it's all charity funds. If this one needed more funds than that one, then you can cross them over between one to the other. It's fine. The Brayse adds a general rule that they are authorized to divert excess charity funds to any purpose that they desire If there's no longer a need for funds in the charity box, so they can move those funds to another cause in the community. It means, once it's, let's put it into a framework. Here we're not talking about 501c3 and IRS regulations. Here we're talking about halacha, the laws of the Torah.

06:03
Once the money is charity designated, it doesn't need to be exclusively for that charity. It's meant for the public. People are donating it for the public use. So now, if it's not used anymore, like, for example, if a 501c3 or a charity was disbanded, what do you do? You don't take that stuff the chairs, the furniture and keep it for yourself. You give it to another charity. That means once it's designated for public, it stays in the public For public use.

06:36
The Brayse concludes by enumerating other powers of the community leaders. The Rashaym, bneir, lahatsnos, al hamidos and the city officials are authorized to stipulate regarding the measures the alashorim and regarding the prices the al-sharpolim and regarding the laborer's wages. The asias, kitzotsan and the officials are further authorized to fine those who transgress their stipulations, meaning if someone doesn't pay the taxes, the city has the right to penalize them. That's the way it works in our city. Where did they get that from? They get that from our Torah, and here the commentary says who's they? They are allowed to impose stipulations. They is again, a minimum of two people. A minimum of two people.

07:36
The Gamarra teaches the source of an earlier ruling that we spoke about, am Amar the master, stated previously ayin osan shuroros al atzibur pakhr smishtayim. We do not establish an authority over the public consisting of less than two people. We mentioned that previously. Remember, right at the beginning, Minan Emili. Where do we know this from? Again, everything we talk about, everything we mention, needs to be sourced. Anybody who tells you that, oh, it's just the rabbis made up rules because, whatever they pulled it out of a hat, they want it to make our lives miserable, is ignorant and doesn't know what they're talking about. Everything is sourced in the Torah. Where's the source for this? Amar Rabnachman says it's a verse in the Torah Ve heim yekru asazov and they will take the gold. Who's they? Why they? They means two or more. When they were collecting the tax for the tabernacle. Who collected it? They, it was two or more.

08:40
Scripture refers to the officials that collected donations from the public for the construction of the tabernacle, and it stated they in the plural. This teaches that, with respect to money matters, we may not establish an authority over the public consisting of one individual. There always has to be two people collecting, two people who have oversight. That's why in an organization, you need to have three people. In an organization, by law in the United States, to have a 501c3 nonprofit, you need to have three officers, because you're going to be collecting money and you're going to be dispersing money. There needs to be oversight for it. That's precisely why, and that's the source for it, the Gomorrah infers from this ruling Shuroros Hu Velo Dilo Avde, it is an authority that we do not make of one individual, haimuneh Mehemen. But with regard to trusting an individual, he would be trusted to serve as the administrator of the charity fund. Misa Yailor Avhanina, this inference supports right, so giving it out. He's saying giving it out, you could trust one person. And he brings a proof from Ravchannina Dham. Ravchannina says mas vimina rebhi shne achin ala kupah.

10:04
It was once happened that Rebi appointed two brothers to serve as the administrators for the charity fund. Concerning matters of trust, two brothers are regarded as one individual right Like two witnesses. If they're brothers, they're only counted as one witness, for one may not testify against the other. Hence it was as if Rebi appointed one person to administer the charity fund. Okay, now the Gomorrah stated above that collecting from the charity box must be performed by at least two, because one individual may not be appointed an authority over the public.

10:44
The Gomorrah now inquires Maishurusah what element of authority does collecting donations for the charity fund entail? I mean, we make a campaign, we're raising money for public funds, we're raising money for a community need, so what type of authority is that? The Gomorrah replies the Amr of Nachman, amr Raba Baravua. There is nevertheless an element of authority for Abnahman, said in the name of Raba, the Son of Avua, le fiche, mimashkinin al-Hatsudaka, because collectors are authorized to seize a pledge from an unpaid charity obligation. If I feel better, shabbos and even what is that referring to? We'll see in a second and even on Sabbath Eve, their function entails an exercise of authority, and so, too, collectors must be assigned to this task. Okay, what does this mean? Because when every Jew has the excuse that he is busy preparing for Shabbos and therefore cannot tender his contribution, okay, everyone is busy.

11:58
There's a known one of the laws in the Torah is that someone who is involved in a mitzvah is not obligated to a mitzvah. Ha'osikbe mitzvah, potum in a mitzvah. If I am busy doing a mitzvah right now of preparing for Shabbos, I'm not obligated in another mitzvah. Okay, all right. So here, because they will need to collect charity from, they're gonna need to use their authority. You need to have two people.

12:31
The Gamara objects of Nachman's statement and he says ain't he, and is it so that collectors may seize pledges? Right, meaning someone made a pledge, so let's go pay it up. No, what do we say? He's busy, you can't bother him. Gamara says yes, you can bother him. He's busy doing a mitzvot. You still need, you still need to, and they can bother him.

12:53
The Gamara says if I'll give, it says if I'll call, I'll call and I will visit evil upon all of their oppressors. I'm rabbi, it's like my small, it's like the son of small, the son of Martha Mishmah. The Rav said, in the name of Rav, but I feel all Gabbai tzdokka and God will visit evil upon charity collectors, since collecting that which the people are willing to give is not oppressive. Indeed, it is a great service to the community. Rav Yutzruch must mean that the collectors occasionally oppress the people by overzealously seizing their property for collateral, and for that they will be punished. We see, then, that collectors are forbidden to seize pledges for unpaid charity obligations. So this is an own thing I just want to share.

13:42
Just a thought for a second. You know, whenever someone makes a pledge to an organization you know, right now we're in middle of our campaign at Torch and people make pledges people say you know what, count me in this year. I'm in for 5,000, 10,000, 100,000, god willing, right, but you know, a million dollars or even ten dollars, I'm gonna send you a check. Now, what happens if they forgot to send that check? So I always make sure that I myself, if I make a pledge or if I'm receiving a pledge from someone else, that it's Bliineder without a promise, because one of the worst things a person can do is make a pledge and not fulfill it. But if it's without a promise meaning if I get a chance, if I get, if I have the means, I'll do it, but if not, I'm not. I don't want to be held accountable.

14:36
And this happens many times on Shabbos. On Shabbos, people purchase alias in shul. Why? Because they want a, they want the, they want the honor, either for themselves or they want to honor somebody else. Oh, it's their birthday, I'm gonna buy an alia for that guy. It did someone is someone's anniversary, I'm gonna buy an alia for them, or whatever it is. So the idea is that, yeah, we want to do it, but on Shabbos we can't write. On Shabbos we can't notate our, our account online that we should send the contribution to the synagogue. So comes after Shabbos, somewhere busy with a thousand other things, we may have forgotten to make that pledge, to fulfill that pledge and that could be very problematic, which is why it's proper for someone to say Bli-ned-da without a promise.

15:27
Now it could be theft, because imagine this, imagine this there are, there are a few people bidding on a specific honor. So let's say they say, okay, shalish, you can't coin and lavy usually only if there's more than one coin then they can auction it. But if there's one coin, many shuls only have one coin, so you don't auction that, you have to give it to them and lavy as well. So that's that. So they start from the third aliyah. That's usually where they start auctioning. So imagine someone's auction. He says $18. Next guy says $36. The next guy says $54. Now you are the maybe guy, you're the Bli-ned-da without a promise guy and you say, okay, $100. And then you outbid everybody else. So now the other guys maybe would have paid their pledge. But you're saying, well, if I remember, I'll pay it. If I don't remember, then what's the big deal? No, no, no, no. That means you could be held accountable for the pledges that other people would have given that you overrode now with your pledge that you're not going to fulfill. Well, that's a problem. That's a big problem, but it has to be very, very careful. When you make a promise, you have to fulfill your promise.

16:42
Now, when I came to torch 19 years ago and I inherited an organization from my predecessor and we were middle of a lot of things I suddenly start getting phone calls from the hotel where they did the dinner a few months prior saying you know, you guys have an outstanding bill. And then I get a phone call from the printer you know you guys have an outstanding bill. And you go one after another, after another. I start getting all these things and what I told them was like this I said listen, I just took over this organization and I don't know yet how I'm going to pay these bills, but I want to meet with you because I want to reassure you that I will pay these bills. We're an organization of integrity, we're an organization of reliability and if a pledge was made on behalf of this organization to pay a bill, we will pay it.

17:43
And I met with each of them and shook their hand and I said I thank you for doing business with our organization and I appreciate if you'll be able to be patient with us. And every one of the vendors told me you're the first person to ever do that for me. She said usually when they have such a turnover, they like try to erase the bill. They're like sorry, I didn't make this, this agreement with you. It was a previous person and therefore I'm not responsible for what they pledged. You can run after them in personally, but I'm not going to take responsibility. He said here you came down to my office and you told me that you acknowledge this, this bill that you have outstanding, and you took full responsibility. He says as much time as you need, you have it, and anytime they. Later on they said anytime you want to do business with me, we're happy to do business with you because we want someone who's trustworthy. And eventually we paid them all down. Thank God, we paid up all the debts and thank God we've been debt-free since.

18:44
But the idea here is is that we have to undertake the responsibility financial responsibility that we owe someone, something it needs to be fulfilled completely and cannot under any circumstances be blown off. I remember as a child we were taught this in school that if someone is one of the reasons that someone comes and is reincarnated to pay back debts that they didn't pay, it's a very severe thing If someone leaves this world and they owe someone $50, they're gonna have to come back here to repay that $50. Yes, that's why I, every once in a while, I give donations to the Yeshivas I used to go to, I used to learn at, because I'm afraid if I damaged the desk, if I wrote on there I wrote with a marker, I broke a wall and made a hole in a wall, whatever it may be, I damaged their property. I owe them that money, even though I was a child. So I'll send them $100, just like I don't want to come back here as a little cat to have to pay you back. You know what I mean. I prefer not, so you know. So that's not worth it Either way. It's a very serious thing because Hashem gives an allotment of funds and resources to each individual and when we take away the allotment that someone is supposed to have, it's not liked upon by the Almighty.

20:09
Okay, so now the Gomorrah asks how is it possible you're saying that these collectors can go and seize assets for the debts that people have to charity? We know that God refers to them as evil and God's gonna pay them back for pay them back negatively, in a negative way, for mistreating people and going after them for for collecting those, those debts. So the Gomorrah replies lo kashiyah. No, it's not difficult. Haudhah the amid, the haudhah the lo amid. This law of Rabnachman applies when the contributor is wealthy and has not contributed what he is capable of giving. But the law of Rab'yitzchak applies, meaning the law where he says that even charity collectors will be faced with evil reprimand If they go after them. That's referring when they're not wealthy and they don't have the funds, and you're still coming after them and you're choking them. That means there's a difference of how we apply the law based on the resources the individual has. So if a person really has and they're just playing games, so that's a big problem you can go after them. But if they are not capable, they're poor, they lost their.

21:35
I want to tell you an amazing story. There's two people came once to a village back in Europe and they went to the cemetery. Cemetery is where we go as Jews. We go visit a city. Unfortunately, in Europe there's no more Nothing left of the cities. There's only cemeteries, jewish cemeteries. So you go to the cemetery and they go to the cemetery and they see that outside of the main cemetery there's a grave and on the tombstone it says over here lived Yussel of the Mizer, the holy miser, yussel of the holy miser. Right next to him is the rabbi's tombstone, outside of the cemetery. It's like they had an annex. They had to annex it, add it to the cemetery. What happened?

22:24
So they go into the shtetl, into the village, and they ask the rabbi what's going on? What's the story here? See, let me tell you, there was a very, very wealthy man who was a known miser. This Yussel Very, very known. How much money he had. He didn't give money to anybody. He says, every single time there was a poor person, the poor person said you know, I'm going to go to Yussel, even though he's a miser and everybody, my story is going to be different and I'm going to be able to persuade him to give me OK. So everyone says good luck, good luck.

23:01
Comes into the house and Yussel would greet him nicely. You'd be like wow, come inside, come inside, let me help you. You know what do you need? Then he would open up a table for him and give him fine, delicious delicacies, you know. And while he's listening to everything that he needs, he'd say you know, I was, you know I got injured or I lost my job, and so on and so forth, how many children do you have? And he would inquire lovingly and kindly about each of these poor people, and one at a time. He would listen to their sorrows and then he would say and where do you live? And you would get his address. And then he would say and how much money do you need? And he would say, oh, I need this. Is, you know, for my family and for our, you know, our, our upkeep. This is what we would need. And then suddenly his kind, beautiful face would turn into a face of anger and he would grab this poor person and say and you think you're going to get this from me? And he would throw him out of the house. Don't ever come back here again. Wow. And then the next poor person would come think he would change his the mausoleum, he would change his luck, and the same thing would happen. The same thing would happen to each and every poor person.

24:12
Now, what happened was is that when Yusla was on his deathbed, the people from the community, the authorities of the community, said listen, yusla, we all know that you have money and we need you to pay for your own burial. He says I don't know, I'm not giving you anything. They said listen, if you don't give us from your own burial for your own burial, we're not going to bury you. So he said I don't care, I don't, I don't, I can't give you. And sure enough, he died on I think it was on a Tuesday, monday or Tuesday and they didn't bury him. No one wanted to bury him. We're not going to bury him.

25:01
But the rabbi had a dream that this was not just Yusla the miser, but this was the holy miser. He was a very, very special person. Why? Because what happened Wednesday morning came around and poor people started knocking on the doors of the rabbi, one after another after another, and he's like what's going on? He says I don't, I don't have money. What do you mean? You don't have money. What did you do last week? He says I don't know. Last week I would get an envelope under the door with cash and one after another, people were complaining that that envelope wasn't coming anymore. And then the rabbi realized that when he threw them out, he wanted them to not know that he was the one that was going to be supporting them. And he would put every Wednesday morning, because that's when you start preparing for Shabbos. He would put an envelope under each door. He would get all the information of how much money they needed. He would get the information of where they lived and he would put the envelope under the door. And this Wednesday morning they didn't get that envelope. Thursday morning, even more people would come to the rabbi. You know we don't have any money, we don't have. You know, our support is gone. And they realized that it wasn't Yusla the Kampz and Yusla the miser, but it was Yusla the very, very holy miser and he was already buried outside of the cemetery but the tombstone they made sure that they did correctly. The rabbi said to honor this holy miser, I'm going to be buried next to him. And the rabbi was buried next to him and generations later this story was always told about Yusla the holy miser.

26:41
We never know what someone has, what someone doesn't have, and we never know what someone is giving to. I can tell you myself that I have been privy to information about charity contributions that people gave. I'm involved not only in torch as an organization, but I'm involved in many communal matters, involved in some of the tomb reshabas, in supporting people don't have food for shabbas and supporting many different projects. And there are many people who no one would ever know are funding institutions and funding projects and funding poor people that they walk around and they drive the simplest cars and they walk around. They're not wearing nice clothes, nice, you know, real brand names, designer clothes, simple, simple people.

27:38
And these sometimes are the most righteous of people. They don't want anyone to know about their kindness. They don't want anyone to know about the things that they're doing. They just want to be private and people go to them. Sometimes it's for loans, for private loans. People you know have a family event coming up, they have a bar mitzvah, they have a wedding, they have a brist, they have a whatever it is a bar mitzvah and they don't have the extra funds. They go and people who know know that there's some people you can rely on that, even though they look simple, they look like they're not well to do. They're the ones who are helping constantly. Every institution that needs assistance, every individual that needs assistance, knows that they have.

28:24
And this is a special part of the Jewish people is that we don't need to announce everything. We give things anonymously many, many times. Sometimes people like their names on things. That's fine. That's also fine, but when people do it with a heart, that's what's most important. It needs to be with a heart.

28:43
I have many stories to share on this matter, but we need to continue the Talmud. Any questions so far? No, you need to have three people on the committee and the Gomorrah is going to explain why. The Gomorrah is going to explain why you specifically need three. It's important For other matters. Yes, usually we go by a majority, majority rules.

29:06
I'll just tell you a quick story. My great aunt may she live and be well. Her name is Bambi and she was the head midwife of Sharia Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. I've said the story a very, very long time ago, so if you've heard it before, I apologize. So she was delivering babies every night. She never, unfortunately. She never had any of her own children and she would be in the hospital delivering baby after baby every night on night shift. For 50 years she delivered over 50,000 babies. She delivered me and she delivered my son. My son, dovi, was born in Sharia Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. She delivered some of my siblings as well.

29:51
In the United States, I remember my mother was once going to labor and she was visiting there collecting for her charity Bambi. So my mother says why don't you come to the hospital with me and you deliver the baby? So my mother says to the doctor this young doctor probably delivered 16 babies. And he says to like, what are your qualifications? She says, whatever. I only delivered like at the time, probably 35,000 babies. She's like oh, I'm sorry, please go right ahead. You know, it's like so really an unbelievable woman.

30:23
But one of the things that she would hear from the ladies who were giving birth is sometimes women were facing challenges at home with finances, poor family, having a baby. Mother would be crying I don't know how I'm going to support the baby, I don't know where we're going to have money from. And she started a matan besetha which is giving anonymously. An organization that is such a holy organization because you'd give money to the organization and the organization would distribute it anonymously. Nobody knew. So the giver doesn't know who's the recipient, the recipient does not know who's the giver and they would support hundreds of families that needed on a regular basis a little bit more for the holidays, for basic necessities. Very, very special organization. She was here in Houston a couple of times and we had a fundraiser for her.

31:22
I want to dedicate the learning that we learned today to her honor and to her. You know well-being that she should be well. She should live many, many, many years in good health. I mean, she's already retired from the hospital and Hashem should give her continued strength. So now the Talmud continues Right. So, look, people have to be responsible, that's for sure. I'll tell you, I had a guy who came over to me one time and he says Rabbi, I need to meet with you immediately.

31:57
He says I'm about to close. We met at Starbucks and I remember this as clear as day. You remember the story I told you. And he says I'm about to close a deal. I need your blessing. I closed the deal. I'm going to give you $50,000. And, sure enough, I didn't hear from him after that. And I met him a long time later I'm like he's avoiding my phone calls and he told me that. You know, yeah, we closed the deal and I decided, instead of giving you that money, I'm going to invest it for you. I knew right away that it was not a genuine pledge and some people like I believe in his heart. He really meant it. He really meant it, but in reality he couldn't hold up to it. So you know what do you do. That's what you do. You know what can you do. That's the way it is.

32:55
Either way, hashem has been very, very, very gracious with us and very kind with us. That you know what. When someone says that they can't, we accept it and we will acknowledge them just as kindly as we would. To me, it doesn't make a difference if someone gives a million dollars or gives zero dollars. Every person gets the same type of treatment. We smile and we greet them warmly and lovingly, regardless of their financial status and regardless of their financial capability. That's not what we're here for. Look, yeah, there are organizations that will run after you till your death to get you to pay that $10 pledge that you still owe them. But it is what. It is Okay. Either way. We have to learn that. Torah teaches us to be considered of others, and that's what we need to be very, very conscious of.

33:56
The Gomorrah relates an incident to illustrate that wealthy people are treated differently. They were treated differently, they were treated differently, and we see that the rich may even be compelled to contribute. From this story, ich pei lirav nason bar'ami. When Rava was collecting for charity, he coerced Ravnason bar'ami, who was a very wealthy man, vishokul minay arba'ami'azuzil etzduk'o, and he took from Ravnason 400 zuzim for charity. Similarly, collectors are permitted to seize collateral from wealthy contributors. So we see that he was. He went after him, meaning not after him. We think of it going after him as like we're going to pursue them. He went and he was able to collect from him 400 zuzim for charity. Why? Because he was a wealthy guy. Someone who can do more should give more. Someone who can do less Gives less.

34:58
The Gamarra extols the virtue of charity collectors. Okay, so this is for anybody who has issues with torch collecting money. Just know that there's some virtue to it. Veha maskeelim yizharu yazhiru kezayar rikia, and the wise will shine like the radiance of the firmament. Ha maskeelim yizharu kezayar rikia. Zeh dayan sheddan din emislamito. This refers to a judge. Well, who's going to shine like the radiance of a firmament? A judge who renders an absolutely truthful judgment? His virtue will cause him to shine. The Gamarra expounds, upon the end of the verse umatz dikei ra'rabim kakochavim la'olam gabayit. And those who make the many righteous, meaning those who bring merits to others, they will shine like the stars forever and ever. And who is that? Elu gabayit stakoh. This is referring to the charity collectors who, in the merit of causing the many to be charitable, will shine like the stars. So there is.

36:12
We think many times and I said this, I was someplace this week and we were talking as a group. You know that people come and collect charity in our homes, in our neighborhood, people knocking almost every single day Knocking. One is collecting for a charity in Israel, one is for collecting had. A guy came to me this week from Columbia. He runs the Jewish Jewish institution. It's an orphanage, it's a school, it's a, it's a synagogue, it's all, all in one. It's a study, like a torch center out there in Columbia, and he's collecting funds and a mikvah all it's like a one big community center taking care of all the needs of the community. He came here to collect money, see. So we were talking, discussing among, among friends.

36:58
We were talking and someone stressed an irritation that they had. Oh, people are knocking on my door every day. I said you don't understand. Do you know who's really knocking at your door? Hashem is knocking at your door.

37:10
We brought that Rabbenu B'chai, rabbenu B'chai in the introduction to Parshah's Kisavo in Deuteronomy. He says that when someone is knocking on your door for charity. It's the Almighty knocking at your door for charity. You have the opportunity to greet the Almighty and to show what type of kindness you want from the Almighty. We knock on the Almighty's door all the time. The Almighty says okay, let's switch roles. Now I'm going to be the. I'm dressed up like a guy from Columbia collecting for an institution. No, it's really me, hashem. Let me see how gracious and how kind you are. So it's not always pleasant to be on the asking side, but the Gomorrah is encouraging that if you can get involved in your synagogue, get involved in your JCC, get involved in your Federation, apac you name the institution get involved in something. By the way, everyone's welcome to help torch, but get involved and don't be afraid to ask. You're giving someone else the merit that they can support a good cause. You're giving someone else the privilege and the opportunity and if they yell at you, your level of reward goes up a notch.

38:38
The Gomorrah presents a different version of the above. Be masni satana, it was taught in a Brisa of how masculine Yisra, kaza'irikia and the wise will shine like the radiance of the firmament. What does that mean? Zedayanchadandin emeslamito vigabayit stako? This is referring to a judge who renders an absolutely truthful judgment, and to charity collectors. Vimatzdiqia arabim kahukhavim la olavayid. And the second part of the verse which says that those who make the many righteous will shine like the stars forever and ever. Who's that referring to E'elu melamdei tinokos? Those referring to the schoolteachers who teach the children Torah? That is, by the way, not frequently rewarded appropriately.

39:32
It's not common that a rabbi who's teaching the schoolchildren every day. It's a grind. First grade, second grade, you're teaching them how to read the alif bet. You're teaching them their first verses in the Torah. You're teaching them the first mission that they learn. You're teaching them the first Talmud that they learn. It's a grind, it's not easy, it's not always rewarding. You don't always see the results until they are out of high school and you see them in Yeshiva. Studying Takes many, many years to see the fruits of your labor. Guess what? That reward may not come in this world, but in the world to come, that you will shine forever, never like the stars, that is a great reward.

40:12
The Gomorrah asks Kigonman who is an example that fits the description of such a teacher? Amarav says Kigoyn, revshmuel Bar-Shilas. A teacher such as Revshmuel Bar-Shilas, who is extremely dedicated to his students. Such a teacher is going to shine like the stars forever and ever. The Gomorrah illustrates an incident that illustrates Revshmuel's extraordinary dedication. D'rav ashgikhhe l'rav shmuel Bar-Shilas.

40:47
The havi ko beginso, for Rev once found Revshmuel Bar-Shilas standing in a garden. Amar lay shevaak ti lehim nusach. Rav said to him have you abandoned your trust, meaning your children? Amar lay revshmuel said to Rav Ha tleisar shnind lochazili. It has been 13 years that I have not seen this garden. Ve ha'shto nami daite alvoyo. And even now my mind is on the children that I teach Torah. I haven't seen this garden 13 years, but even now that I'm here by this garden, I am still thinking about my students.

41:34
Revshmuel was so dedicated that he taught and supervised his students constantly. Rav was therefore amazed to see Revshmuel alone, away from his students. According to Rabbeno, gershon Rav questioned whether Revshmuel had quit his job. What does it refer to when it says he was in his garden? He was so busy with his students he didn't even take time off to tend to his own garden, his own flowers, his own plants. He didn't take the time. He was busy with his students all day. Okay, a teacher who always thinks of his students is truly making the many, the future generations righteous and therefore he will shine like the stars forever.

42:20
I want to share with you an incredible story that one of the rabbis who was teaching in a day school in a Yeshiva in Israel was very frustrated with one of his students and he wanted to throw the student out of school. He was misbehaving, acting in a way that was not appropriate for the school. So he went to one of the leading rabbis of the Jewish people, rabbi Aaron Leib Steinman. Rabbi Aaron Leib was known for his soft, delicate, compassionate nature, and he listens to what the rabbi says. He says to him what's the student's name? Oh, sorry. What's the student's mother's name? He says the mother. No, I'm talking about the student. He says no, no, no, no. What's the student's mother's name? He says I have no idea. He says you mean to tell me you have a student that you're considering to throw out of Yeshiva and you've never davened for the student. You've never prayed for the well-being of the student, you've never prayed for the success of that student. He says if you haven't prayed for that student, you haven't even begun teaching that student. Very powerful lesson.

43:36
I want you to know that my students are privileged to have rabbis and teachers, rabbis and teachers here in our school in Houston that every year before the school year, they send out a survey to the parents asking for the parents name as well. Not only the child's name, but what's the parents name? Because now every teacher has a list of their students to pray for them. You know what the child has behavior, issues in class. Why don't you pray for the student? Sometimes teachers, just like I, don't want the problem in my class, not my problem. No, no, no, no. You're there to be their mentor and their guide, to help them. Maybe they're facing a struggle. Maybe they're facing a life challenge. Maybe the parents are going through a divorce, maybe they just moved homes. Maybe there's something that's traumatic for the child that you don't know about.

44:33
As a rabbi who's caring, and concerning pray for your student, I want you to know that I pray for every single one of the torch students, not only those are here in the class today and those who are listening. I do. I pray because everyone needs success, everyone needs assistance, and you know what? I also pray for their livelihood, for their success, because that's part. We're a family here. We're a family here. It's not like I have my job, you have your job. No, no, no, no. We're one team and we're united one another.

45:08
Yes, the Christians who say I pray for you is I pray that you come to the recognition of my Lord and Savior and that you accept Him. That's what they pray for. No, no, no, no, no. It's not that simple. I pray that every person succeed and maximize their potential in every area of life. In their marriage, they should be successful.

45:35
By the way, I've had people come to me and tell me here in this torch center, say, rabbi, I've had enough, I want to divorce my husband. I want to divorce my wife. I wanted this, I wanted that. You know what I do. I don't have the answers. I go and I pray for them. I want to pray for them. What else can I do? I don't have the magic bullet, I don't have the answers, I have no idea what to do. What am I supposed to say? I pray for them. Yes, there are some special people out there. There's no question. There's some special people out there. That, yeah, yeah, okay.

46:08
So now, after revealing the tremendous honors these worthy people will receive, the Gamora asks for a bon on mai. And what is written about the rabbis who study Torah constantly. What's their reward? We know about the school teachers, we know about those who collect charity. We know about those who give truthful judgment, but what's about the Torah scholars? The Gamora answers on the ravina.

46:37
Ravina said that the honor to be accorded the rabbis is described in the following verse the O Havav ketses ha-shemesh begvur aso, but those who love ha-shem shall be as the sun going forth in its might. The light that Torah scholars merit is the most brilliant light by far. So here's the amazing thing. I don't know if I'm a Torah scholar, but I know that I spend a lot of time teaching Torah and this organization. Imagine teaching Torah, having students and being a collector of charity all in one. You get all of those merits by supporting Torah. Is that incredible? Hopefully we're Torah scholars. Hopefully I try. I every day try to learn more and more to advance my knowledge of Torah, to teach students which we do, plentiful of that and to be collecting charity. I'm not a judge yet, but I think it's a very, very special thing that people can support us.

47:44
I want to share with you now the next Gamorah. The Gamorah discusses various laws designed to protect the reputation of charity collectors. Very important being transparent and being extra cautious with every single penny. And I'll show you why. The Gamorah says here Tawna Rabonon. We've brought this example many, many times, but now we're going to learn it inside Tawna Rabonon. The rabbis taught in Abraiza Gabbai tzdokon, enon, reshoim, lifrosh, zee azeh.

48:20
Charity collectors are not permitted to separate from one another while collecting, for one person, collecting alone might be suspected of stealing. Avol po'reish zeh lishar vzeh lichonos. However, this one may split off to the gate and this one may split off to the store. So long as both are seen together, they will arouse no suspicions, meaning, if they're visible to one another and people recognize that they're together, they're not going to assume that one is going to steal right in front of the other guy. One is by the entrance and one is inside the store. That's not. You're not going to suspect that they are stealing.

49:02
A second ruling Motsomoz bashiq ushbashuk. If a charity collector finds coins in the marketplace while collecting, so he's collecting charity, for the charity or whatever the cause it is. And while he's there he finds $20 on the floor, lo yidnem betochkiso. He must not put them into his pocket Lest observers suspect that he is stealing money that belongs to the charity. Elinosin letoch arniki sheltz doko. Rather, he should put the coins into the charity funds purse with a kashiyevala besu yidlam and then, when he reaches his home, he may take that money. Kiyotsubo, similarly hoya nosay noshe bechavero mano ufroo bashiq.

49:53
If a charity collector was owed a money. So you loan someone money, you loan someone money, you're the charity collector. You loan someone privately, you loan them $100. Now they come, you're in the marketplace collecting the charity, and they say oh, I was looking for you, I wanted to give you back your $100, thank you so much for loaning me the money. Here's the $100. Now I'm going to put it in my private pocket. It's going to look to the onlooker that it's going to be me taking the money, putting it in my own pocket, money that was designated to charity. He says lo yidnenilotochkiso, do not put the money into your own pocket.

50:30
Elinosin onlessoch arniki sheltz doko.

50:33
Rather, he should put the money into the charity funds purse with a kashiyevala besu yidlam and then, when he reaches his home, he may take his payment.

50:44
Why? So that it shouldn't look like something which is unscrupulous, something which is untrustworthy. It shouldn't look like he's playing games with the funds of charity. This is a very, very powerful thing for us to realize that there needs to be. In an organization that collects charity, in any charity, there needs to be oversight. Oversight not because we suspect so that people should be able to rely on it. People should know this money is being handled appropriately because there is oversight and therefore we have confidence that it's being done properly, and so that the people who are collecting the funds should not again, should not be suspected by others of being dishonest. Because that's the biggest fear. The biggest fear is that someone's going to say oh you know this wall-b-guy, I don't think you should trust them because there's no oversight Like this. People know there is oversight and there's an internal audit annually and there's someone who's overlooking everything. Oh, that's something I can trust and that's very important. It's very, very important for us to have the proper oversight over the things that go on in every institution, in every charity. So now the Gamora quotes another Brysa that further instructs how to protect the reputation of charity collectors G'abbi Tzdokosh'enleh'en, aniim lechalik, administrators of a charity fund that have no poor people to whom to distribute money and thus are left holding the surplus of coins in the fund.

52:30
So now they raise $100,000. They only needed $50,000 at the end. Now they have an extra $50,000 sitting in the fund and they don't have four people to support anymore Because, thank God, everyone's got a job and everyone's got to find livelihood. Now, what do they do with that surplus of money? Partin leacherem, they should exchange the copper coins for other people, ve'enpartin leacherem, but may not exchange them for themselves, lest people suspect that the collectors are allowing themselves a favorable exchange rate and are thereby stealing from the charity fund.

53:07
So you want to pull it out of cash, right? You don't want to sit there with dollar bills. You want to put it into the account of the or put it into coins that those days didn't have banks. So they put it into bigger coins. But what's the rate for those coins, for those silver coins, the copper coins, whatever it was? So the exchange rate, you wanted to make sure that it was in general.

53:30
By the way, if someone is being asked to exchange money, to take out money from a charity, you don't. It's the same thing. By the way, the halacha says that if someone is in the marketplace and they're the charity, the person giving, collecting charity or giving out the charity, they can't exchange it from their own pocket. They should right it it to be very careful. G'abay tamchuy, she'ayn lehen, ani'in lechalik. Similarly, administrators of a communal platter that have no poor people to whom to distribute the foods that was collected the food that was collected mayochelachem should sell the surplus food to others and hold the proceeds for purchasing for other food as needed. They ain't mochelachem, but they do not sell it to themselves, for they may be suspect of buying a deflated price. Let me give you an example. Perfect, I have a great example for this. So what happens?

54:26
We, as torch organ, as an organization, we used to do dinners. You remember those dinners, so beautiful dinners. And the reason we don't do it? Because it's not profitable anymore. It's not the way we do. The current fundraiser is such a low cost to run such a fundraiser online.

54:43
You do a fundraising dinner. It's a massive expense. It's not and it's it's mom and haggish. It's holy money. It's money of the community, we. There's no justification for spending such kind of money.

54:55
So what would we do? We would order wine and we would order a lot of things that we had to go through proper channels for TBC, for the alcohol and whatever beverage commission. So you had to order it through the hotel. But when you let, we had leftover wine bottles. What do you do now with all those leftover wine bottles? So I would love to be able to buy that wine. We bought it wholesale.

55:20
You can buy it from torch and then use it for my own self, but the Allah says here, the Talmud says you're not allowed to do that. You can sell it to other people, but you can't sell it to yourself. Why? Because people might suspect that, oh, he's giving himself a discount on it. Instead of it being $10 a bottle or $20 a bottle, he's buying it for half price from his own organization, meaning from his own charity. Got it? You understand the case.

55:54
The idea is that should be transparency, and nobody should ever come to a point where they can suspect that you're doing something more favorable for yourself than if you were selling it to someone else, right? So again, if there's transparency meaning let's say you have the two cases of wine, you put it on the table, you have a board and you say, listen, I want to know if I can buy this at the fear market value, right, and if they agree, then you'd see like buying it like anyone else's. But the idea is you shouldn't be doing this as, like me myself, I'm just going to up, put some money in the charity box, nobody knows and take the bottles and bring them home. That's got to be very, very careful with that, because that could be looked at as suspicious behavior, and we want to make sure that members who collect charity are on the up and up of integrity, that no one can even suspect that they were doing something which was questionable. So now the Bryce teaches a third law Charity funds should not be counted two coins at a time, allah akhas akhas.

57:05
Rather, they should be counted one by one to avoid giving the appearance of a dishonest accounting. Okay, you got to be very careful of that. What does that mean? That means that if a person is counting coins you know we count coins sometimes, we count them two at a time. You count them two at a time, so it goes faster. Not with charity money. Charity money, you count one at a time, so nobody should suspect that you're counting it inaccurately.

57:33
So, my dear friends, it's a very big responsibility that each and every one of us have to ensure that we are really, really, really careful with our own reputation as well as the reputation of any charity, that when we are dealing with money of the public, that we are doing so with utmost caution, that not only we shouldn't do something which is dishonest, we shouldn't do something that looks to be dishonest, that's how careful we need to be. So, my dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos, thank you so much for joining us, and I hope and pray that we continue to succeed in our Torah study and in our teaching of Torah, and in our collecting of charity and our giving truthful judgment, because those who do these four things have the eternal light of the Almighty shining on them, and we all want to be part of that. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos. Thank you, shabbat Shalom.