Tafsiran Ulangan 12:20: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Alshekh & Chizkuni

“When the Lord enlarges your territory” [12:20]. Rabbi Abahu said: it is written that you should not forget the Levite, to give him food and what he needs. Thus, the Holy One will expand your boundaries, and you will become rich. Concerning this, the verse said, “a man’s gift eases his way” [Proverbs, 18:16]. This means, that which the person gives, causes that God expands his boundaries. A story occurred with Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Joshua, and Rabbi Akiva. They came to a Jew who was pious and had become impoverished. He saw the rabbis coming to his house and he did not have anything to honor them with, and he was very sad. His wife came and asked him, why are you sad? He said: how should I not be sad? I have nothing with which to honor these good rabbis. His wife was very righteous, and she said: we still have a field left. Sell half the field quickly and we will honor the good rabbis. He immediately sold the half field and gave the rabbis to eat and drink. The rabbis blessed that good man that God should give him double. The rabbis went home and he went to plow the half field. The earth opened under the feet of his ox, and the ox broke its foot in the hole. The good man wanted to pull the ox out, and the Holy One showed him a treasure with gold and silver in the hole. He took the silver and gold and became rich. The rabbis came again to the householder and asked him, how is it going? He responded: your blessing came true and the rabbis honored him.⁴Yalkut Shimoni, Re’eh, Remez, 884.

Bahya writes a parable. Somebody says to his friend, lend me a gulden. He responds: I do not know you. He says: trust me once. He gives it to him and he repays him quickly. The rich man says to him: take as much as you want, twenty or thirty gulden. So too is the Holy One. He tests the person and makes him rich. If he keeps his word and repays it, that he helps the poor and feeds them from what God had given him, then the Holy One gives him double. gives him double. The Holy One said: I give a person money so that he should give to the poor. The person who is wealthy is like the communal official who should distribute what God has given him. He should remember, this money is not mine, but the Holy One is the owner of these goods, and has given it to people for a while. Therefore, he should not boast, as the verse says, “let the rich man glory in his riches” [Jeremiah, 9:22]. This means that he should not boast about his wealth, that he would say, this wealth is mine.⁵I was not able to find this in Bahya’s commentary. However, the core of the parable is found in Yalkut Shimoni, Re’eh, Remez, 884, immediately following the previous passage.

“When the Lord enlarges your territory, and you say, I shall eat some meat” [12:20]. The Torah teaches us that when the person is rich, he may eat meat. He should not desire it except when things are good for him. The Talmud in [tractate] Hullin said: Rabbi Eleazar son of Azariah said: if a person has one gulden, he should eat vegetables. If he has a hundred gulden, he may eat meat every day. However, in any event when he cannot afford it, for the honor of the Sabbath he should always eat good meat. Rab said: concerning the words of Rabbi Eleazar, we must defer to him regarding the eating of meat. Rabbi Yohanan came and said: I believe what the good rabbi said. He is healthy and strong. He can eat something ordinary when there is no meat. However, when we have a penny, I and my like should eat meat, so that we can become strong. Rabbi Nachman said: I and my like, even if we have no money, we should borrow and eat in order to become strong in God’s service.⁶B. Hullin, 84a.

כי ירחיב וגו׳ WHEN [THE LORD THY GOD] SHALL ENLARGE [YOUR BOUNDARY … AND YOU SHALL SAY, I WILL EAT FLESH … YOU MAY EAT FLESH] — The Torah teaches the proper rule of life — that one should not desire to eat flesh unless he lives amidst abundance and wealth (cf. Sifrei Devarim 75:5; Chullin 84a; see also Rashi on Leviticus 17:13).