“Gracious Provider” - Thoughts on helping people in need - D’var Torah for Parashat R’eh - August 30, 2019

A Torah excerpt and my original prayer for Parashat R'eh - 8/30/2019

Deuteronomy 15:4-5, 7-8

There shall be no needy among you - since the Eternal your God will bless you in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as a hereditary portion - if only you heed  the Eternal your God and take care to keep all this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.

If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kin in any of your settlements in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kin. Rather, you must open your hand and lend whatever is sufficient to meet the need.    

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Eternal God, open our eyes when we there are people in our community mired in a cycle of poverty. 

Source of mercy, open our hearts to the despair of those who cannot lift themselves up to a level of comfort, much as they may try, with all their wisdom, energy and ingenuity. 

Gracious Provider, enable us to fulfill the direction of the great sage, Moses Maimonides, who taught us that the highest degree of tzedakah, righteous giving, is to help people in need to become self-supporting. 

Wellspring of strength, grant us the fortitude to attend to our fellow human beings who require our assistance and compassion. 

Bless us, our Creator, when we address the needs of the community, and may we feel that, when we do, it is You who guides our loving hands. 

[Prayer by Rabbi Larry Karol, 8/30/2019]