Providing for the Needy

 Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

 

May 13-14, 2022 / 13 Iyar 5782 / 28 Omer

Shabbat Emor

Torah: Leviticus 21:1-24:23 / Haftarah: Ezekiel 44:15-31

Lag B’Omer

 

“Providing for the Needy”

 

Dear Friends,

 

Have you noticed that there appear to be more beggars standing on corners these days?  The food pantries are serving more and more families. Homeless shelters are filled. Goodwill and Salvation Army stores are popping up in most towns. For numerous reasons, many people are hurting and the need to help them is as great as ever.

 

This is nothing new.  The Torah demands that we help the hungry, the poor, the widow, the stranger, the orphan, and the homeless. Remember that in Biblical times there were no supermarkets and no social service organizations as we know them.  Thus, landowners were required to leave the edges of their fields, vineyards, and orchards unharvested.  Any produce forgotten or missed after the initial harvest was to be left in place.  This remaining food, called “gleanings,” were made available to the poor and the hungry.

 

We can help those in need by giving generously to food pantries, social service agencies, and other organizations serving the needy. 

 

Zye a mentsch – Be a good person.

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow