In the days leading up to the High Holidays and during the High Holidays season, it is customary to give more charity than usual. The reason for this is that since these 40 days—the month of Elul and the ten days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur—are the Days of Judgment when we are being judged, we want to …?
What are we trying to do? Can we buy off G-d to be kinder to us on our Day of Judgment? By giving a few dollars to charity, all our mistakes during the year will just be washed away? Is Judaism that superficial?
For starters, in this week’s Torah portion, Re’eh, we learn not only about the mitzvah of charity, but more than that, we learn about the attitude we should have toward the mitzvah: If you are asked to help a person in need, don’t hold back. Open your hand and give!
People can take this mitzvah too far and give more than they can afford, so the rabbis established a rule, that we should not give more than 10%. But if our hearts really desire, we can give as much as 20% of our annual income per year.
Yet, when it comes to this time of year, the time of judgment, even these restrictions ease and one can give more charity. What are we trying to accomplish?
When it comes to the Day of Judgment, there are two approaches that we can take.
A - G-d is the Judge, but He is a compassionate judge, a judge filled with kindness. Therefore, the more kindness and compassion that we show to others, the more we receive in return.
B - G-d looks into our virtual bank/mitzvah account, and the more mitzvot we have there, the better results we will have.
The first approach is focused on revealing within G-d a feeling toward us, while the second is awakening within us a desire to come closer to G-d.
After all, isn’t this the whole idea of the High Holidays?
So back to our original question of, “we want to…what?” The more we give of our hard-earned income, the more we can accomplish both of our goals.
As we celebrate Rosh Chodesh this weekend, welcoming the new month of Elul, going in to the 40 days of repentance and preparation for the High Holiday season, may we accomplish what we set out do, with flying colors.