Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 15:7

כי יהיה בך אביון IF THERE BE AMONG YOU A NEEDY MAN — The most needy has preference (Sifrei Devarim 116:4);

כי יהיה בך אביון, "If there will be a destitute person amongst you, etc." Why does the Torah have to write בך, "amongst you," when it already wrote "amongst one of your brethren?" Perhaps Moses alluded to something we have learned in Baba Batra 10 where the Talmud said that the reason G'd chooses to afflict some people with economic hardship in this life is to afford their wealthier fellow Jews the opportunity to assist such a destitute person to support himself in dignity. The words בך אביון may be read together meaning: "on your account, i.e. for your sake," there will be a destitute person." The Torah writes מאחד אחיך, "amongst one of your brethren" to remind you not to evaluate people on the basis of their economic prosperity. The fact that he is destitute does not make him a lesser person, He is still your brother. This is quite independent of the explanation of our sages (Baba Metzia 71) that the reason the Torah mentions different levels of poverty is to teach you to attend first to the local poor before tending to those elsewhere.

Among your brothers. The distinguished among your brothers, meaning a worthy poor person, who does not go collecting door to door, but someone who is important, but has lost his money.

לא תאמץ את לבבך, “do not make your heart hard;” do not fail to also try and speak soothingly to those less fortunate than you. Our sages in Baba Batra 9 said that comforting someone with words is the greatest gift of all.

The neediest [lit., whoever desires most] should be given preference. The most destitute among them. In other words: If someone needs a particular item then give it to him first, since he desires it most.

V. 7. כי יהיה בך אביון kann mit Entschiedenheit nur zu einer Gesamtheit gesprochen sein. Man kann nicht zu einem einzelnen als solchem sagen: wenn unter dir ein Armer ist. לא תאמץ לבבך und so auch die folgenden Aussprüche treffen nach der ganzen Wahl der Ausdrücke zunächst das Individuum. Das Gesetz hat also hier gleichzeitig die Gesamtheit und den einzelnen vor Augen, und die hier zum Ausspruch kommende Verpflichtung zur Fürsorge für die Armen trifft gleichzeitig die Gesamtheit und jeden einzelnen und bleibt auf beiden zugleich beruhend. Damit ist aber ein wesentlicher Grundzug dieses Gesetzes charakterisiert. Es gibt wenige, vielleicht nicht eine einzige andere Aufgabe, die also eine unausgesetzte gleichzeitige Tätigkeit der Gesamtheit und der einzelnen beansprucht, wie nach diesem Gesetze die Pflichtfürsorge für die Armen. Was — wie wir sehen werden — dieses Gesetz fordert, kann weder durch den einzelnen allein, noch durch die Gesamtheit allein gelöst werden. Beide müssen mit einander konkurrieren, beide neben einander wirken, wenn das von dem Gesetze vorgesteckte Ziel erreicht werden soll. Den Armen abweisende Schilder an Häusern, deren Bewohner zu der öffentlichen Armenkasse steuern, hat der durch dieses Gesetz genährte jüdische Geist nicht erzeugt (siehe V. 8).

ולא תקפץ, “and do not shut (your hand).” This expression occurs in the same meaning in Psalms 107,42 as well as in Job 5,16.

מאחד אחיך ONE OF THY BRETHREN — thy brother on thy fathers side has preference over thy brother on thy mother’s side (Sifrei Devarim 116:5);

ולא תקפוץ את ידך, “and do not close your hand into a fist.” For he is your brother, he is destitute, and in need of everything.

Your paternal brother should be given preference over your maternal brother. Otherwise why is the term מאחד (among one of) needed? Rashi interprets the word מאחד as מיוחד (a particular brother), which is referring to your paternal brother. For it is written below (25:5) says [a related term, יחדו regarding paternal brothers], “When brothers dwell יחדו (together).”

One may also see in these various levels of poverty described as עני, אביון in verse 12, different degrees of G'd's decrees against the poor. We have dealt with this subject on Exodus 22,24 where the Torah told us to extend loans to the poor. We explained there that sometimes the portion which is the due of the poor has been entrusted by G'd to the rich instead and that all his riches are in truth a collection of what originally had been allocated to the poor. When the rich man keeps this in mind he will never begrudge any support he extends to the poor as he is only giving to the poor what was his in the first place. Sometimes the poor finds someone physically close to him who will support him; other times he may have to travel to find someone who helps him sufficiently. This is what the Torah means when it speaks of מאחד אחיך, amongst one of your brethren. Alternatively, the benefactor may not even qualify for the description "your brother" but must be described as באחד שעריך, "someone in one of your cities." He may not even be found in one of your cities but merely בארצך, in your land but not in a Jewish city.

מאחד אחיך dadurch, dass einer deiner Brüder arm ist. Der Sinn des Gesetzes ist: sobald als auch nur ein anderer in deiner Stadt oder in deinem Lande sich befindet, der der Hülfe bedarf, so befindet sich ein Armer unter dir, in deinem Pflichtrayon, dem du dich nicht entziehen darfst, und zwar lehrt die Halacha nach Anleitung unseres Textes — ארצך ,שעריך ,אחיך — dass Verwandte den Nichtverwandten, Ortsarme den Fremden, und unter den Auswärtigen die Armen des jüdischen Landes in dem Anspruch auf Hilfeleistung voranstehen. (ש׳׳ך ,3 ,251 י׳׳ד ,ספרי daselbst; — siehe כנה׳׳ג daselbst).

שעריך [WITHIN ANY OF] THY GATES — this implies that the poor of thine own city have preference over the poor of another city (Sifrei Devarim 116:6; cf. Rashi on Exodus 22:24).

Alternatively, the word מארצך means that though there is general prosperity in your country this does not preclude the fact that some Jew will be destitute.

לא תאמץ את לבבך, eigentlich: du sollst deinem Herzen keine Gewalt antun. Es setzt dies schon voraus, dass das jüdische Herz seiner natürlichen Regung überlassen zum Wohltun geneigt ist und diese Regung nur durch kalt berechnende eigennützige Rücksichten unterdrückt werden könnte. Ebenso öffnet sich die jüdische Hand von selbst dem Armen und könnte nur ebenso durch solche Überlegungen geschlossen werden, daher: ולא תקפץ את ידך.

לא תאמץ THOU SHALT NOT MAKE [THY HEART] OBSTINATE — There are people who painfully deliberate whether they should give or not, therefore Scripture states, “thou shalt not make thy heart obstinate”; there again are people who stretch their hand forth (show readiness to give) but then close it, therefore it is written, “thou shalt not close thine hand” (Sifrei Devarim 116:10-11).

Do not close your hand. This refers to one of your brothers. The nature of Yisroel is to be merciful, and to take pity on someone who is suffering. However it is also human nature to take pity on one’s own money, and to close up one’s merciful heart.

A moral/ethical approach to the whole paragraph sees in the words מאחד אחיך, "one of your brethren," an allusion to the one who is special amongst your brethren, the one to whose coming we all look forward to with longing, i.e. the Messiah. The Messiah has been portrayed as a poor man when the prophet Zachariah 9,9 describes him as riding on a donkey. The Torah also hints at the cause of his poverty when it says בך, "because of you," meaning that if the redemption would be orchestrated by G'd because the Israelites had attained spiritual maturity the Messiah would arrive in advance of G'd's final date for the redemption and he would be able to ride in style to show that the Israelites had qualified for redemption by their own efforts. As it is, by describing him as בך, Moses portrays him as a destitute person who waits anxiously for a handout. The story is told that when Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi once encountered the Messiah, the latter asked him what the Israelites were doing at that time. The Rabbi replied that they were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Upon hearing this the Messiah let out a long wail showing his anxious desire to reveal himself and to redeem the Jewish people. The Torah alludes to this when writing מאחד אחיך, "amongst one of your brethren," meaning "amongst the unique one of your brethren, the Messiah (compare Targum Yonathan ben Uzziel on Genesis 26,10 who renders the words אחד העם, "one of the people" as "a unique one, a king"). The words באחד שעריך may be understood as "one who is unique amongst the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, as we know from Isaiah 11,4 that the Messiah will judge the poor fairly, not relying on external appearances. The word בארצך means that the arena for the Messiah's activities will be ארץ ישראל.

Wiederholt wird in diesem Wohltätigkeitskapitel der Arme als אחיך vorgeführt. In jedem Armen, gleichgültig, ob du ihn kennst oder nicht kennst, steht ein Bruder, ein Kind deines Vaters im Himmel vor dir und bringt dir eine Empfehlung von deinem und seinem Vater. —

מאחיך מאביון [NOR CLOSE THINE HAND] FROM THY NEEDY BROTHER — If you will not give him you will become in the end a brother of the needy (become as needy as himself) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 116:12).

We may also approach this verse from a different perspective. Zohar Chadash on Noach discussing Genesis 8,8, states in the name of Rabbi Eliezer that if the leaders of one synagogue or one entire congregation were to become true penitents the Messiah would arrive immediately. Accordingly we must understand the word אביון as anyone who yearns for אחד שעריך, "one of your congregations" becoming true penitents. When this happens the "destitute" Messiah will be able to fulfil his desire to arrive joyfully. The Torah writes בארצך "in your land," in order to define the place the Messiah yearns for "the land which the Lord your G'd is about to give you." He is anxious to find out when תפקוד העיר היונה חמדת הלבבות, "the city of the dove will be redeemed," the city to which all hearts aspire (compare Tzefaniah 3,1). G'd commands all of Israel לא תאמץ את לבבך ולא תקפץ את אחיך האביון "not to be stubborn but to do everything to help your brother, the destitute one," i.e. the Messiah to realise his ambition. The single most potent מצוה which will hasten the arrival of the Messiah is charity as we have been taught in Isaiah 54,14: בצדקה תכונני, "you shall be established through righteousness." The paragraph concludes with the words מאחיך האביון, "from your brother who is destitute," referring to the cause of why your brother the Messiah is destitute, unable to realise his mission.