Food Parcels Save Lives: D’var Torah for Parshat Re’eh
Food Parcels Save Lives
In Parshat Re’eh, the Torah provides us with details of the eating of the sacrifices in Jerusalem:
“וַאֲכַלְתֶּם שָׁם לִפְנֵי ה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶם”
“And you shall eat of the sacrifices there in Jerusalem before the Lord your God.”
And then the Torah continues:
“וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם בְּכֹל מִשְׁלַח יֶדְכֶם”
“And you shall rejoice in everything that your hands have produced”
The Kli Chemdah, in his commentary on the Rambam הִלְכוֹת שְׁבִיתַת יוֹם טוֹב, explains that it’s a mitzvah to include those who depend on you at your Yom Tov table. And then the Kli Chemdah asks, what happens if those who depend on you cannot reach your table?
He says the answer is in Parshat Re’eh, because the Torah doesn’t tell us us:
“וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם בְּכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יֶדְכֶם”
“And you shall rejoice in everything that your hands do”
but rather
“בְּכֹל מִשְׁלַח יֶדְכֶם”
“in everything that your hands send.”
And indeed, from “מִשְׁלַח” “send”, we have “מִשְׁלוֹחַ” “the sending of a food parcel”. And therefore, on Yom Tov you can rejoice not just through everything you do in your home, but also through the food that you send to others.
So from here we see that it is a great mitzvah to send food parcels, and I am so deeply inspired to see the extent to which we see this in our communities, when somebody is sitting Shiva, is in hospital, if they’re not well, or when somebody has just given birth.
It’s a marvellous facility from the goodness of our hearts, the “מִשְׁלַח יֶדְכֶם” the “sending from our hands” is an integral part of what it means to be a giving and a great nation. And in addition, we have so many wonderful organisations and charities sending hundreds of food parcels to needy people.
One of the great elements of the practice of sending food parcels is that it’s not just those who receive who benefit, but those who send the food, they rejoice.
It gives us such enormous simcha in our lives to know that we are capable of assisting others. The sending of food parcels saves many lives, and also brings true simcha into our hearts.
Shabbat Shalom.
