Dear QJC Family,
Below is my drasha from today, in which I made the appeal to support Queens Hatzolah. If you would like to make a donation, you may do so in the following ways:
In order to facilitate your pledge please go to the Hatzolah website www.queenshatzolah.org, click the “Donate” link and provide your credit card information.
Or make your check out to "Queens Hatzolah" and bring the shul office.
Vayeitzei 5780 - Giving Back to God: Supporting Hatzolah
Judah Kerbel ~ Queens Jewish Center
America set aside a whole day last week for hakarat ha-tov. Since the days of Abraham Lincoln, we have officially marked the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. As he remarked, “I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” If we do it correctly, we take the time at some point that day to reflect not on what we do not have, but what we do have. We appreciate the gift of having our basic human needs met; we appreciate those who have a positive impact on our lives; we appreciate that which we may not need but are lucky to have. While on a day-to-day basis we may struggle with many things, this is the time to remember why the lives we have are good. When we see how much we have, even if it is not what we may consider perfection, we can say “dayeinu,” it is enough to praise God just for that which we already have and what we do not lack in those realms.
If Yaakov Avinu were to celebrate Thanksgiving in the moment in which we find him at the beginning of Parashat Vayeitzei, it would be quite interesting. At this moment, Yaakov does not have a lot. He has abandoned his family because his brother seeks to kill him, and he has not yet started his own family. If we were on the run and sleeping on a rock because we have nowhere else to sleep, we would probably grumble. Yaakov does not have a lot. As he will tell Esav in next week’s parasha, כי במקלי עברתי את הירדן - he first went to Charan with literally just a staff. Yet, while he is on this journey, he encounters God in a dream. When he wakes up, he is bewildered - I did not know I would find God here! And that God would promise to protect me! Upon this realization, Yaakov makes a promise:
וַיִּדַּ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב נֶ֣דֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר אִם־יִהְיֶ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים עִמָּדִ֗י וּשְׁמָרַ֙נִי֙ בַּדֶּ֤רֶךְ הַזֶּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִ֣י הוֹלֵ֔ךְ וְנָֽתַן־לִ֥י לֶ֛חֶם לֶאֱכֹ֖ל וּבֶ֥גֶד לִלְבֹּֽשׁ׃
וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י בְשָׁל֖וֹם אֶל־בֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑י וְהָיָ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה לִ֖י לֵאלֹהִֽים׃
וְהָאֶ֣בֶן הַזֹּ֗את אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֙מְתִּי֙ מַצֵּבָ֔ה יִהְיֶ֖ה בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֑ים וְכֹל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּתֶּן־לִ֔י עַשֵּׂ֖ר אֲעַשְּׂרֶ֥נּוּ לָֽךְ׃
Yaakov does not have much - he is only hopeful that God will give him the most quintessential needs - food and clothing, and to return safely. He demonstrates what it means to be satisfied with the bare minimum. But Yaakov goes a step further than to just acknowledge what he has. It’s more than just paying lip service in saying the required “thank you.” He promises to give back to God. וכל אשר תתן לי עשר אעשרנו לך - he promises to give back a tenth (or perhaps a fifth) of what he has from God. This pasuk serves as the earliest allusion to giving מעשר כספים.
Normally, we are told not to give more than a fifth of our money to tzedakah so that we do not ourselves become dependent on others. But a question that we discussed in the shiur on Wednesday night, raised by Rav Osher Weiss in his Minchas Osher, is what about pikuach nefesh? The Gemara in Sanhedrin assumes that based on the verse לא תעמוד על דם רעך, we are supposed to go to great lengths to save a life, even if we have to hire outside help. But if saving a life requires emptying one’s entire wallet, are we required to do so? Rav Osher suggests that if we are required to desecrate Shabbos to save a life, certainly we would be required to spend more than a fifth of our assets - in fact, even all of our assets - to save a life. Now, of course, the circumstances in which one would have to go to that extreme are not frequent - usually, there would be other people to pitch in if that sort of money was required. Still, the point is very powerful - while we are often bound to the chomesh alluded to in our parasha, saving lives is in a different league.
In that spirit, it is fitting that this is Shabbos Hatzolah throughout Queens. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for in this organization. Hatzolah is often better equipped than 911 to respond to calls in a timely fashion - it has proved to be a most vital part of the infrastructure of the Jewish community. Over 7,000 people each year benefit from Hatzolah’s service - if saving a life is saving the whole world, look how many worlds Hatzolah saves. While we have many important organizations to support, including our own shul, I am devoting this drasha to encouraging everyone to give to Hatzolah because there is nothing more important in this world than the very preservation of life. We need to save lives before we talk about anything else. And while we may not all be the paramedics on the ground, we have an obligation to do our share to make sure that those who are saving lives have the resources to do so. These resources are quite costly - but when we as a community can come together to cover the costs, we make sure that we have gone to appropriate lengths to ensure we succeed in not transgressing לא תעמוד על דם רעך.
In particular, this year, Hatzolah has asked that people contribute to the following expenses: Hatzolah needs to replace two ambulances that are at the end of their 10-year life span. They are currently looking to invest in 50 automated external defibrillators. Each of these costs $2500 - of course, multiple people can go in together to help provide these items. Finally, they are looking for 20 new cardiac monitors. This is one of Hatzolah’s most essential pieces of equipment. It allows them to perform electrocardiograms on the scene while sending pertinent information to the hospital as a patient is en route. Whether or not one contributes to these particular items, any donation to Hatzolah will be of great help. Our donations are not only indispensable for their performance of the mitzvah, but it also demonstrates a communal hakarat ha-tov for all of the lives they save on a regular basis.
We are especially indebted to Hatzolah because the people who respond to these calls are not professional EMT’s - they are selfless ba’alei chesed. The 180 volunteers in Queens give of their own resources to pay for their own lights, sirens, and insurance. But they are also more than giving of their time at the most unexpected of moments, at the expense of their family and careers. To illustrate this point, I would like to quote the experience of my student Joseph. At the annual Thanks-for-Giving assembly that Ramaz Middle School held last week, Joseph presented his father with an award of appreciation for his work with Hatzolah on the Upper East Side. Here is what Joseph had to say about his father’s work:
"My dad takes the ambulance every Thursday night and brings it home. If there are any calls that night at any time he has to go. My dad is always prepared which means he has a giant duffel of supplies in the trunk of the car, which also has lights and sirens…. Being apart of a Hatzolah family means that we have to support my dad in a lot of ways. That means that my mom, my siblings and I have to understand when he has to go, which can be at any time, during shabbat dinner, shul or even when we are with family. When he leaves we will wish him luck and tell him to be safe."
The Jewish people are blessed to have such people who are willing to be available at any moment of any day to make sure we are all safe. But they need our help to make it happen. With this perspective, we can understand what it means to be extremely grateful for the mere gift of life as Yaakov Avinu was. To show our appreciation, עשר אעשרנו לך - part of our מעשר is well spent on supporting Queens Hatzolah.
