Now that the holidays have come to an end, the question is: how do we take all that inspiration and infuse it into our daily routine, specifically I want to focus on how we go about giving and sharing?
Most of us give in ways that feel comfortable. We give what’s reasonable, what doesn’t really change our plans or our bottom line. While that’s certainly wonderful, it’s still measured.
Then there’s giving on G-d’s terms. The Torah’s standard for charity (tzedakah) is a minimum of ten percent, an amount that sometimes makes us pause, that we actually feel. It’s the kind of giving that reflects not just human kindness, but Divine kindness. True kindness isn’t measured or calculated. It flows freely, like G-d’s own giving.
I once attended a small gathering at someone’s home. The kitchen was clearly mid-renovation, with counters half-finished and sheetrock exposed. I later learned why the project had come to a halt.
This family had set aside money to complete their kitchen, but when they heard about a couple who had been married twenty years and still longed for a child, they learned the couple could try one more fertility treatment but couldn’t afford it. Quietly, they took their renovation funds and gave them to that couple. The treatment succeeded, and the couple was blessed with their first child.
They chose for their kitchen to remain unfinished, but their act of kindness built something infinitely greater.
In discussing the six days of Creation, our sages teach that someone born on a Thursday is predisposed to be “exceedingly kind,” because fish were created on that day and are constantly sustained by G-d’s kindness. The Thursday factor, then, represents a higher form of kindness, one that flows abundantly and without limit.
That’s the kind of kindness reflected in that story, and the kind we’re called to bring into our lives: giving that’s not confined by comfort, but inspired by G-d’s infinite generosity.