I still remember a lesson from my religious school, circa 1956, at Temple Beth Israel in Southern California. Every week we kids would bring some coins to class for tsedakah?contributing to needy Jews in post-Holocaust Europe, or the still-new state of Israel. One morning the rabbi came in to talk to our class about tsedakah. ?This Hebrew word doesn?t mean charity,? he told us. ?It means righteousness. We are not really giving charity, but doing what is right and fair by sharing with others in need.?

 

My rabbi had it right, of course. Tsedakah, one of the pillars of Jewish ethics, is not simply giving a hand out. Rather, it reflects the biblical sense of justice as the restoration of the human dignity and wholeness that are inevitably threatened in this fallen age.

I caught a glimpse of this truth in Israel a couple of weeks ago when I represented the UMJC family (including some of you) in providing Passover food supplies for needy soldiers and military families in Israel. It didn?t feel like charity as much as simply the right thing to do. No Israeli should have to struggle to have food for Passover on their table. It is only right that we help each other to celebrate the festival with joy as the Torah commands. Indeed, a few different Israelis that I met on this trip, secular as well as religious, repeated an old Talmudic saying: ?Every Jew is responsible, one for the other? (Shavuot 39a).

Tsedakah, then, is a responsibility. Moreover, in our discharge of this responsibility, we represent God himself, who alone is righteous and the source of righteousness, or tsedakah. Conversely, when we neglect tsedakah, we can end up misrepresenting God. A well-known story in this week?s parashah doesn?t speak directly about tsedakah, but teaches us a great deal about representing, or misrepresenting, God.

Now Aaron?s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the Lord alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron,

?This is what the Lord meant when He said:
Through those near to Me I show Myself holy,
And gain glory before all the people.?

And Aaron was silent. (Lev. 10:1?2, NJPS)

Nadab and Abihu must have sinned greatly to deserve such swift and decisive punishment. Yet, Scripture says only that they offered ?alien fire,? which God had not commanded them. Nadab and Abihu are priests, mediators between God and his people. Whatever the exact nature of their sin, it is clear that they somehow misrepresented God, because the Lord responds to their sin by saying, ?Through those near to Me I show myself holy.? When they brought unauthorized fire, they mixed their own agenda with the holy service of God, which God could not allow. He had to act decisively to clear up this misrepresentation.

Moses learns the same lesson at the waters of Meribah. There, the Israelites complain because there is no water. The Lord tells Moses to speak to the rock, and it will bring forth water. Instead, Moses castigates the people for their complaining, and strikes the rock. Water comes forth, but the Lord tells Moses,

?Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them? (Num. 20:9?13, NRSV).

As Moses tells Aaron after the death of his sons, the Lord will show himself holy through those near to him, and will be glorified before all the people. At Meribah, however, Moses, like his nephews earlier, misrepresents God before the people?and receives harsh judgment himself.

Today, Messianic Jews and our allies often meet with resistance or even rejection as we seek to follow Messiah in the midst of the larger Jewish community. Some resistance to the word of Messiah seems inherent to human nature, but Parashat Sh?mini reminds us of the reason for a particularly Jewish resistance?the misrepresentation of God in the name of Yeshua. Many Jews resist the message of Yeshua because he has been so tragically misrepresented among the Jewish people for so long.

If we respond to this resistance by distancing ourselves from the Jewish community, we risk misrepresenting God ourselves. Instead, we have an opportunity to emulate Yeshua, who above all others is near to God . . . and who resolutely remains near to Israel, despite rejection. ?For I tell you that Messiah has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs? (Rom. 15:8). 

When we give tsedakah as believers in Yeshua, we represent the love of God that reaches its fullest expression in Messiah. Giving tsedakah within the wider Jewish community helps in a small way to correct an old misrepresentation of God. This is why we were eager to contribute to this project in Israel for Passover.

We also want to share with our fellow Messianic Jews in Israel. Now that Passover has ended, we are counting the days until Shavuot (Lev. 23:15?17), the next festival on our calendar. During this period, the UMJC is sponsoring a prayer campaign for spiritual renewal and strengthening for the Messianic community, both worldwide and in Israel. At the conclusion of seven weeks, on the festival of Shavuot, we will gather an offering, and send half of it to support efforts among the Messianic community in Israel, which is also involved in helping the poor and disadvantaged there.

Here is another opportunity for tsedakah that will reflect God?s righteousness in Messiah. If you?re not part of the prayer campaign yet, please join us! Click on www.umjc.org for details. You can download a prayer guide there, or request a printed copy by email.Nadab and Abihu were priests, mediators between God and Israel, who went astray and ended misrepresenting God. Their story teaches us how disastrous such misrepresentation can be. We need to remember that we can misrepresent God not only by doing the wrong thing, but simply by failing to do anything.Messiah represents God by offering God?s mercy, healing, and restoration to the whole house of Israel, to ?confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.? Those who claim to follow Messiah are to do the same. Through prayer and tsedakah, we accurately represent the love of God. Our hope is that among us, God might in some way ?show himself as holy and be glorified before all the people.?

Shabbat Shalom!
Russ Resnik
 

Adapted from a new book of Torah studies by Russ Resnik coming July 1. Available from Lederer/Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029; 800-410-7367; www.messianicjewish.net .