Tzdaka Can Be A Big Mitzvah, Or It Can Be A Big Sin? ( 6 minutes)

0:02Incha'as shows us one of the most important things we need to know about the Torah. In order for us not to fail in any sin, we have to treat everything like it's a big deal, big or small. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the one who compiled the Mishnah, which preceded the Gemara, said, don't ever try to evaluate a mitzvah. Because we don't know the value of each mitzvah. We don't know what the biggest mitzvah is. We don't know what the smallest mitzvah is. It could be that the smallest mitzvah, something that you think is a small mitzvah, ends up being the biggest reward in Olam HaBa. And the one that you think is a big deal, it's not really that big of a deal. Like in today's age, unfortunately, People are led to believe, because there's obviously money involved, so people are always led to believe something wrong when it comes to money. People are led to believe that the biggest mitzvah in the Torah is to give tzedakah. This is not true. Tzedakah is a big mitzvah, but it depends on what kind of tzedakah. Tzedakah has two parts of the mitzvah. There's the mitzvah of giving, but as far as the merit and the reward, it is the outcome of the giving.

1:32But as far as the merit and the reward, it is the outcome of the giving. We had a shiur about kiruv about two weeks ago that I highly recommend for anyone who wants to learn about tzedakah a little bit deeper. Because if someone looks at things logically, they don't even need to look at the verses. If you want to look at the verses, we could spend another few hours learning about it. But if you just look at things logically, let's say one guy says, "Okay, I love God, and I'm going to spend $50,000 to make the best Hanukkah party ever in my shul." Okay, it's nice. It's a nice mitzvah. $50,000 on a Hanukkah party, people are going to come. Most of the people are secular, especially... that it's not in the most religious neighborhood. He's going to make a big party. People are going to come. They're going to eat. They're going to drink. Maybe two or three of them are going to remember what the bracha is. They're going to say the bracha. Then they're going to go home. And that's pretty much it. Nothing's going to happen. No one's becoming religious because they ate some donuts. But he spent $50,000. So yes, he has a mitzvah that he gave money to a shul to make a big party.

2:53And if someone actually made a bracha as a result of his action, he also gets that merit for that bracha. So that's the first benefit: the giving. The second benefit is what came out of this giving. What came out of it is that three or four people made a bracha, and that's it. So he spent $50,000 for, let's say, five mitzvot. Five gold coins in Shamayim. Great, not bad. But then there's another guy that takes $1.00. Not 50,000, one dollar. One. He takes a CD that has 30 hours of Shiur Torah for that dollar, and he gives it to somebody. He says, listen, I think you're going to like this Rabbi. He says things that are true. And the guy says, you know what, I have nothing, I ran out of music that I want to hear. Let me hear what this guy says. He listens to the CD, and the guy likes it. And next thing you know, he starts keeping Shabbat, starts keeping kosher, leaves his non-Jewish girlfriend, marries a Jewish woman, has Jewish kids, they go to yeshiva, they become talmidei chachamim. All of that, all of the mitzvot,

4:12that the person will ever do. It is due to that one-dollar investment. So, you tell me, what's worth more, the car or the dollar? So, yes, the car is a big mitzvah, but only if you use it the right way. The same thing when someone says, listen, I tried sending you an email 50 times, but it didn't work. It didn't work. I wrote it 50 times, and it didn't work. I pressed send, I pressed send, I pressed send, I pressed send, I pressed send, I pressed send. And it didn't work. I said, okay, so show me what you sent. And they showed me what they sent. I said, oh, you forgot to put the dot in .com. or it's actually dot org. But you forgot to put a dot. Ah, come on, you're making a big deal out of one little dot. I wrote the whole thing, Yaron Ad Be'ezrat Hashem dot org. So I forgot to put a dot. What's the big deal? If there's no dot, the whole thing is worthless. The whole thing could be great. You spelled everything perfectly. It could be 500 letters. You spelled everything perfectly, perfectly, perfectly. But if you're missing the dot...

5:39it's worthless. It's not going to get anywhere. The same thing with our tzedakah. You could give $500 million. Not $5, $500 million. But if it's for the Red Cross or for some Christian institution that's trying to recruit Jews, or it's for something that's against God, it's worthless. So yes, tzedakah can be used as a good tool. It could be a very big mitzvah. You could buy yourself a big olam haba because of it. But only if you use it the right way.