The Torah addresses the special status of the Jewish people as Hashem’s children & enumerates various things that people of such an exalted status can & cannot do. Among the items mentioned are the birds that we cannot eat, one of which is the chasidah, which Rashi tells us refers to the stork. It’s called the chasidah? because it does chesed with its friends by sharing food with them.
There is a gemara that says that mice are wicked creatures for when one spots a pile of fruit he summons all his friends to come partake in the feast. Why do we praise the stork for sharing its food & criticize the mouse?
Maayana Shel Torah explains the difference. The stork gets its food from nature, eating fish or other small insects that are ownerless, so when it shares its food it's sharing from its own. However, the mouse is stealing other people's food. It goes into people's homes, finds food & calls all his friends to join in the theft. So while they are both sharing their find with their friends, the mouse's comes at the expense of others & kindness done at another's expense is actually wickedness.
Right after the laws of what we can & cannot eat, the Torah tells us עשר תעשר את כל תבואת זרעך, tithe, you shall tithe the entire crop of your planting. The gemara tells us that in instances where the wording is doubled, that it means you should keep doing it even up to 100 times. Here, however, it seems problematic to say that you should give a tenth 100 times because we know that a person shouldn't give more than a fifth of his money to charity. If you’re going to give 100 times, it will be way more than a fifth.
The Vilna Goan explains that really here, too, it could mean 100 times, for we know that there is a special blessing on one who gives charity. עשר בשביל שתתעשר, give so that you will get wealthy. Therefore, if you give a tenth then you will get more money & be required to give again. When you give again, then you will get more & the cycle will keep repeating itself even 100 times.
There's a story told about רבי חיים מטשרנוביץ when he was a rebbi for school children. One of his students recounted that one Thursday, the rebbi was teaching them this parsha & kept going over this concept of giving to someone even 100 times. He kept repeating it & said, “if someone comes to you again & again, don't say I already gave you; rather keep giving & give again”. He went over it so many times that one of the students thought to himself, if the rebbi keeps stressing this to us, he must be on this level to want us to be on that level, too. Just to be sure, when this boy came home, he asked his father to give him the rebbi's pay for the month so that he could give it to him. The father gave him the money; the boy took it & cashed the money into 100 ten dollar bills.
Then he went to the local town beggar and told him that the rebbi has a lot of cash. He should keep going to him to ask for money at least 100 times.
Then the boy went to the rebbi, gave him the cash & the rebbi took it and put it in his drawer . A few minutes later, the beggar comes knocking on the door & the rebbi gives him a 10, then goes back to his learning. A few minutes later, another knock on the door. It's the beggar again. The rebbi smiles at him & gives him another 10. This scene repeats itself all through the day until all the money is gone. The boy, seeing that his rebbi was really a tzaddik & practiced what he preached, felt bad that now the rebbi would have no money for the month. He went back to his father, crying & told him what he had done. The father, seeing that his son really felt bad, gave him the money again to give to the rebbi with an apology.
The boy went back to the rebbi with the money & with real remorse tells him what he did & begs the rebbi's forgiveness for putting him in that situation & challenging him like that. The rebbi forgives him and says, “don't worry; it was no challenge”. That is what Hashem said to do & if you do it, there is no way to lose out.
We need to take this lesson to heart & know that if we follow what the Torah tells us to do, we won't lose out. However, that only works if we do it for ourselves. To be pious on someone else's account is not what the Torah wants from us. As we come into Elul, we should all try to improve ourselves, but sure that on our climb up, we’re not hurting anyone else!
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