Someone once said: “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.”
When you look at what you have, whether it’s a lot or a little, if you find you still have more than others — it’s time to build a longer table and share your blessings.
Shavuot is known as the feast of harvest, because it is the time when harvest is collected in Israel.
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’
Leviticus 23:22
How do you teach a child to not be greedy or selfish? You introduce to him the concept of generosity and giving. That is how you raise a selfless person, by teaching him to think of others, not just himself, even while reaping the harvest of his blessings.
God spoke in Leviticus 23:22 about Shavuot being the time when generosity is tested when we look at our harvest of blessings and we’re led to not reap the harvest in its entirety, but leave some for those who stand outside our field of blessing looking in, they need to partake in our harvest of blessings. That is God’s own character shown!
This is the last opportunity to bless families of Olim for Shavuot, the chance to look at our fields and realize we actually have so much that we could share it without being left in want.
This is the time for goodwill and generosity towards the less privileged who just need a helping hand while we’re harvesting our own blessings.
Consider blessing a family of new immigrants this Shavuot week through a donation of $30. Whether you chose to bless one family with $30 or 10 families with $300 — that generous gift of yours will be those very “gleanings of your harvest” that you will leave for the poor.
May this season of harvest remind you of your blessings and May you always be on the giving side.
