KI SAVO
הַשְׁקִ֩יפָה֩ מִמְּע֨וֹן
קׇדְשְׁךָ֜ מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבָרֵ֤ךְ אֶֽת־עַמְּךָ֙ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְאֵת֙
הָאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תָּה לָ֑נוּ....
Look down from Your holy abode, from
heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us....
This prayer
is part of the proclamation stated at the culmination of the ma’aser cycles.
After three years of properly apportioning the gifts from his produce, on Erev
Pesach the Jewish landowner would openly state that he has given all as he was
commanded and he then requests of Hashem to look down from the Heavens and
bless Klal Yisrael.
Rashi (in
parshas vayeira 18.16 regarding Sedom) notes that the expression השקיפה is always used as negative look – a
piercing gaze, except here because “how great is the power of giving to the
poor, that it turns anger into mercy”.
What is it
about this expression, that usually connotates negativity, and specifically
charity reverses it?
I would like
to suggest that the “piercing gaze” refers to the fact that although we may do
many good deeds, if one would be absolutely שקוף
– transparent, the numerous ulterior motives or selfish interests that mix into
most of our deeds would render our mitzvos as not that good at all. The
self-serving motives of our mitzvos are an abuse of the Torah for ourselves
instead of pure servitude to Hashem’s Will! So a piercing gaze that is invasive
to the deepest motives in our hearts, would result in angering Hashem.
However, our
sages teach us that when a Jew gives charity על מנת שיחיה
בני - on condition for his son to heal and live, הרי הוא צדיק גמור – he is considered completely righteous.
This is an amazing gemara! It tells us that when it comes to a Jew giving
charity to the poor, the overt selfish motivation us just an external
shell to the authentic pure feeling of generous giving that is deeply rooted a
Jew’s heart! (This is proven by the fact that we generally see that even if the
family member doesn’t heal, the Jew does not retract his gift of charity.) The
deep rooted nature of mercifulness and giving that is built into our DNA from
Avraham Avinu, allows for the most piercing gaze of Hashem and to the contrary,
it won’t arouse anger, rather it will arouse Hashem’s love and compassion for
His beloved children, the descendants of Avraham.
So even if
for other mitzvos we strive to avoid ulterior motives, don’t feel guilty giving
more generously to the poor in order to achieve some goal or salvation! Deep
down Hashem knows that we are caring, loving, giving people and the extra
motives are just an add on to the mitzvah – which we hope in the merit of
charity our request will be acquiesced to. So as we begin to ask Hashem for a
healthy, peaceful year of life, let us make sure to act and give charitably and
may Hashem gaze upon us לחיים טובים ולשלום!