CLERGY CORNER: A Resolution for 2015

Posted on 01 January 2015 by LeslieM

A man approached a friend of mine the other day. He was dressed rather shabbily and he was not exactly well kept. Okay, he smelled to the high heavens. His jeans were torn and his shoes looked like they were going to fall apart at any second.

In the olden days, we would have referred to him as a bum, but this particular bum must have been a Boca bum because asking my friend for money made him so thirsty that he needed to take a gulp of the frozen latte he held in his hands from Starbucks.

Make no mistake about it, it wasn’t my friend who was holding the latte. My friend would never pay that kind of money for a fancy coffee, frozen or not.

While our parents might never have judged someone asking for a handout, in our day and age, we have become a bit more cynical and some use this cynicism as a excuse to avoid giving charity to anyone or anything.

My Father of Blessed Memory never questioned. He just knew that he wanted to thank G-d by sharing his blessings with others. I may take after my father in a lot of ways, and I certainly hope that I have taken on many of his good traits. But, to be honest with you, before I give to a charity now, I check to see how much of what they take in actually helps the poor.

Sadly, I have even become cynical when it comes to someone on the street asking for a handout. Of course, the fact that on one particular corner in Boca I drive by early in the morning and have seen a gorgeous Mercedes drop off three or four people to beg on the corner …well, that just makes me wonder. No, it does more than that, it makes me cold and cynical.

Even more sad is that I have seen people standing by various intersections with signs in their hands that say things like, “Hungry, will work for food.” I used to keep some things like a case of peanut butter in my car to hand out to these folk, but you would not believe how many of them turned down the peanut butter and even gave me dirty glares for offering it to them.

Now, before I put you in such a negative mode that you never consider giving to charity again, let me turn this around a bit.

There are people, sadly, more people than you can even imagine who are in great need. And no matter how much you think the government is doling out to them, many simply cannot take care of the most basic of needs.

So many of you are going to make New Year’s resolutions of what you are going to give up this year; but, as we begin 2015, I would ask you to make a resolution not on what you are going to give up, but rather on what you are going to give.

Someone I know did this last year and, after giving all that he had planned to give, other things happened in the world, other things came up in the community, and he still found that he had enough blessings to give even more; and he did!

So while you are joyously ringing in the New Year, count your blessings and, who knows, maybe you will take these words to heart and resolve to share those blessings throughout the year. You see, giving to those in need isn’t just a good deed, it is the fulfillment of Holy Commandment.

Shalom my friends,

Rabbi Craig H. Ezring

Rabbi Ezring is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Israel of Deerfield Beach, which will be staging the “biggest” version of Rip Van Winkle you have ever seen on Jan. 18. For tickets, call 954-428-0578 or etaarts@aol.com. Come to the show and start the New Year feeling young again.

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