The Many Layers of Giving

By Alex Howie
KOC Assistant Editor
Miami University of Ohio

On a recent trip to Europe with my cousin, I met a man in his mid-thirties from Argentina. He was a Catholic, but only in name. He believed in God, but not the institution of the Church and rarely, if ever, attended. To him, belief in God didn't require him to go to church and be surrounded by people and leaders that led contradictory lives, sinning the week away and repenting on Sunday. In Judaism, we certainly have people who behave similarly. But for this man, religion is more than that; religion is supposed to transform you as a person into a more giving and selfless individual. It should make you consider others before you act; it should cause you to lead a life in which you gain on your own merit and not by trampling others. For him, as he became a more religious person over his life, he became more giving by always making an effort to assist the elderly and disabled, give charity and respect his co-workers.

After reflecting on this, I completely agree that religion should transform us into better people, into more giving people. To be someone who follows in God's footsteps, we must be givers. God gave us the ultimate gift of life. We, in turn, must give back our time and energy to perfect the world we inhabit.

But I think that there are multiple levels of giving, and that giving should be a part of all aspects of our life. We have mitzvot that are between us and our fellow human beings, and mitzvot between us and God. In the conclusion of the High Holiday prayer Unetaneh Tokeh we say: "But repentance, prayer, and righteousness avert the severe decree." I think that all three of the things we can do to be judged more favorably are acts of giving.

Righteousness includes what we generally think of as ‘giving,' which is what the Argentinean I met uses as a basis for his life. We are righteous by giving to those around us in the world; we are giving by dealing with them fairly, by helping those in need, and through tzedekah.

But prayer and repentance are also ways of giving, to ourselves and to God. From the Talmud until today, the rabbis have taught that prayer involves "a complete turning of the heart to God (Heschel)." It is a way of giving back to God, bringing some of his holiness into the world through our connection to Him. But it is also a gift to us. It is meant to "allow us to appreciate the universe, to express our hopes of what a better universe might be, even to shout defiance when we see injustice occurring" (Rabbi Hoffman). Prayer is a giving of ourselves over to God, but also a means of giving ourselves a more meaningful life.

Repentance, too, is a means of giving to ourselves. It is a way of recognizing our wrongs and working to correct them. Through this process of improvement we are adding meaning to our lives, and as a side effect giving to God through letting our Divine Spark shine onto the world and also giving to others by being a more wholesome person.

Giving is something often discussed in all aspects of Jewish education, from Sunday school and B'nei Mitzvah projects to college education and adult programs in synagogues. It is essential to Judaism, most notably through the requirement to donate at least ten percent of your income. But giving should not stop there; it should be something we practice in all areas of our life – giving to others, giving to God, and giving to ourselves.

[Posted 6/3/11]