Behar

The Torah tells us how we have to treat our fellow Jew especially when one is down on his luck & needs to come to his friend for assistance. The posuk says, וכי ימוך אחיך, if your brother becomes impoverished ומטה ידו עמך , and his hand falters with you והחזקת בו you shall hold on to him גר ותושב וחי עמך, proselyte and resident, so that he can live with you. 

The בן איש חי asks, how do we understand even the simple meaning of this posuk? First, why does it say ‎ומטה ידו עמך, and his hand falters with you; does the hand of the rich man also falter that it says עמך with you? Also, what is the purpose of the end of the posuk ‎,גר ותושב וחי עמך, proselyte and resident , so that he can live with you. 

Rashi explains that not only do you have to help a reguler Jew, but also the proselyte & resident. However, if that were the true meaning, why wouldn't the posuk say it all together? It should have said, if your brother or the proselyte and resident become impoverished, you shall hold on to him. Why does the Torah put these two categories at the end of the posuk?

Additionally, even according to Rashi, why does it say וחי עמך, he shall live with you when it already said והחזקת בו, you shall hold on to him, which in essence is the same thing?  

‎In order to answer these questions, the בן איש חי relates a true story. There were two wealthy men named Moshe & Chaim that lived in a certain town. One day, Moshe invested heavily in a deal that went bad and lost all his money. In the beginning, he was still able to get by with what he still had in the house & kept up appearances as the wealthy man he always was.  However, he could only go on so long & it happened that, one Friday, there was just no food in the house. Left with no choice, he went to his friend Chaim & said, “listen I'm really broke now; I don't even have a dinar to my name.  Can you lend me fifty dinar which I will pay you back right after Shabbos”. Relying on the gemara which says that if you need food for Shabbos, borrow money & Hashem will pay it back, Moshe had no doubt that Hashem would help him get the money to pay right back. However, Chaim answered, “sorry I don't have money to lend right now. ask someone else”. 

When Chaim got home, he told his wife what happened & said Moshe is a liar. If he truly had no money, how come he looks like he does.  Also, why would he wait until Friday afternoon to‎ ask me.  How does he expect to pay me back right after Shabbos? He just wants me to think he's poor so we don't collect the dues he owes to charity. So I didn't lend him anything; he's not going to fool me. 

The years went on & as the wheel of fortune turns Moshe made back him money & became wealthy again. At the same time, Chaim’s luck changed & he started losing his money until he had nothing left.  However, he too, not wanting anyone to know, put on a show & pretended that he had. One day, just as had happened to Moshe many years earlier, Chaim had no food for Shabbos.  Left with no choice, he went to Moshe and said, “I lost all my money; I don't even have a dinar. Please lend me fifty dinar until after Shabbos & I will pay you back right after Shabbos. When Moshe heard, he immediately got him the money & happily gave it to him. Now, Moshe's son was next to him when this happened.  The son said, “why did you give it to him; he's for sure lying; he looks like he still has everything; why would he wait until now; how will he pay you back”? 

Moshe knew the answers to all those questions because the same thing had happened to him. He told his son that one never knows what someone else is going through; no matter what it looks like. When we had nothing, the same exact thing happened to me so I know that it could be true. 

There are times when you see a wealthy man‎ having a hard time or having to go through some embarrassment to get a loan. The purpose of this difficulty is that he should feel some of the pain that the poor man has, so that he will know what if feels like & be more inclined to help. 

With this, we could understand the posuk כי ימוך אחיך . When your friend becomes ‎impoverished and asks for a loan, don't reason in your mind why he doesn't need it. Rather, remember what happened עמך to you, there are times when you also need things. Remember that feeling; help your friend, like Hashem commanded והחזקת בו, be strong in it & don't listen to those who tell you not to help the poor man. The Torah adds that you should know when you help the poor, you're really helping yourself, for the only money one really has which he can take with him, is the money given to charity. So, until the end, one is like a גר to his money, for it’s not really his. When he leaves the world, whatever he gave away is his like a תושב , a permanent resident that no one can take from him. He gets all of this eternal reward because of חי עמך that he revived his friend by helping him out. ‎This teaches us to help our friends without judging them, for you never know what’s really going on.  For that, we will gain for eternity! 

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