When I was growing up in Manhattan, we often had people coming to our door to collect charity. 

Sometimes these charity collectors came as representatives of worthy institutions, other times they came on behalf of an individual in need, and sometimes they were actually collecting for themselves. 

My Father obm generously responded to their requests and often would engage the gentleman, many of whom had traveled far and wide, in conversation, to treat them as human beings and express interest in their background and learn more about their travails. 

I was always in awe as I watched these conversations. My Dad was a very busy person on a strict schedule. But his mien was totally caring and present as he would seem to have all the time in the world as he listened to their stories with rapt attention and shared his comments with them as one would with an old and dear friend. 

One evening their was a ring at the door and I ushered in a charity collector. When I called my Father obm to the front of the house I whispered to him that this particular gentleman had already been to our house earlier that today. 

I watched in surprise as my Father went through the whole spiel all over again, inquiring and listening and concluding with a donation. 

After the gentleman left I asked my Father about his actions, hadn’t he heard me tell him that this was a second visit by this man?

His answer moved me deeply. 

He said that his custom is to pray three times daily. Each and every day he turns to his Creator and engages in conversation through prayer and makes requests again and again. 

If he is coming to Gd over and over again with requests and beseeching, how can he not respond to a second request from someone in need?

This weeks Torah portion is Re’eh and it discusses the idea of charity. 

If there is a poor person amongst you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand. Rather you shall  open your hand to him. 

In the original Hebrew the verse is written using a double language Patoach Tiphtach a compound verb. You shall open and you shall open. 

We have come to learn that such double language points us to some deeper message!

Rashi, the major commentator on Torah, teaches us that you will not lose patience after giving once or twice. Often someone who needs charity will not be helped with one donation, it’s not a quick fix. So when you are approached, even if it is more than once, keep on sharing generously. 

My dear friend,  Esther Pransky, administers a charity fund for the needy call Yad L’Yad right here in Atlanta. She is well qualified to speak on the subject! 

In recent remarks she mentioned the above Rashi and added the words of another commentary the Baal Haturim, 14th century French rabbinical leader, who shares two further insights gleaned from the double language. 

First of all if you are told to open your hand twice it indicates there is no set amount to give. 

Being helpful means giving and then giving again. 

The second insight is more psychological in nature. The first time we are told to open

 our hand it’s literal. 

But the second exhortation to open refers to opening your mouth. 

When a person is in need of assistance they may not be ready to accept help. They may be too proud or too shy to express a need, no matter how dire the need may be. 

Part of the support one can give is to convince the person to accept the assistance. Open your mouth and talk. Use your empathetic words to tell the person to accept the love and support the community wants to provide. By using words to smooth the way, by encouraging a person to accept help, we can facilitate the receipt of the charity. 

So it seems my dear Father obm truly internalized this vital lesson. And lived it!

Shabbat Shalom and so much love!