Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
Jul 8, 2009
I did not donate, and found salvation!
I woke up this morning to find volume 7 of the magazine published and distributed by Kupas Ha'Ir called "Meh-tzapim L'Yeshuah" - Looking for Salvation. the subtitle is "Stories of salvation by Kupas Ha'Ir Bnei Brak".
I normally just toss this stuff in the trashcan next to the mailboxes, placed there strategically to be able to quickly throw out all this junk mail. Today I felt like being entertained with a story or two so i took it to read.
I ended up flipping through it and reading one story. I found it highly entertaining, so I will share it with you, in a shortened version.
The story goes basically like this:
It is erev pesach, and the family is all packed up and ready to go to the parents for yom tov. They need a taxi to take them, but there are no taxis to be had. Erev pesach is a busy day for the taxi companies. they keep trying and trying, but they cannot get a taxi.
As time goes on, one of the kids suggests that they donate to Kupas Ha'Ir in order to get a taxi. The father says that this time he is not donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. "When they left Egypt, they were able to do so without first donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. They were able to get to har Sinai without first donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. This cannot run our lives. i am not donating this time to Kupas Ha'Ir!"
They wait some more time, still unable to locate a taxi. Meanwhile, the mother calls the parents to let them know of the delay because they cannot find a taxi.
A few minutes later, the father comes running up the stairs to the house saying he found a taxi. They load up the car and head out.
The father points out that they were successful even without having donated to Kupas Ha'Ir. Even though it is tzedaka, this is not the way to live where every move needs to mandated with a donation to Kupas Ha'Ir - you can't find a taxi, you can't find your glasses, you are looking for a job, the plumber can't find the source of your leak, you are applying to get your son in yeshiva so you donate to kupas Ha'Ir. It was never before like this and there is no reason we need to make this into a new minhag to donate to Kupas Ha'Ir every time we need something. And look - we did not donate to kupas Ha'Ir and we got a taxi anyway. We did not donate and we found salvation!"
They continued on their way, eventually arriving at their destination. When they get there, the grandmother asks if they got the taxi right after the phone call. Yes, the mother says.
the grandfather smiles and says to call Kupas Ha'Ir right away and tell the story. Why - we did not call Kupas Ha'Ir? The grandfather says he overheard them on the phone that there was a delay in finding a taxi so he right away called Kupas Ha'Ir and made a small donation so that the kids should get a taxi. Right after that they got their taxi.
I find it striking that the stress in this story seems to be the father constantly saying they cannot run their lives by Kupas Ha'Ir. The result of the story is that they cannot run their lives without Kupas Ha'Ir.
I think I am going to test this out on one or two situations. If I do, I'll let you know the results.
I normally just toss this stuff in the trashcan next to the mailboxes, placed there strategically to be able to quickly throw out all this junk mail. Today I felt like being entertained with a story or two so i took it to read.
I ended up flipping through it and reading one story. I found it highly entertaining, so I will share it with you, in a shortened version.
The story goes basically like this:
It is erev pesach, and the family is all packed up and ready to go to the parents for yom tov. They need a taxi to take them, but there are no taxis to be had. Erev pesach is a busy day for the taxi companies. they keep trying and trying, but they cannot get a taxi.
As time goes on, one of the kids suggests that they donate to Kupas Ha'Ir in order to get a taxi. The father says that this time he is not donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. "When they left Egypt, they were able to do so without first donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. They were able to get to har Sinai without first donating to Kupas Ha'Ir. This cannot run our lives. i am not donating this time to Kupas Ha'Ir!"
They wait some more time, still unable to locate a taxi. Meanwhile, the mother calls the parents to let them know of the delay because they cannot find a taxi.
A few minutes later, the father comes running up the stairs to the house saying he found a taxi. They load up the car and head out.
The father points out that they were successful even without having donated to Kupas Ha'Ir. Even though it is tzedaka, this is not the way to live where every move needs to mandated with a donation to Kupas Ha'Ir - you can't find a taxi, you can't find your glasses, you are looking for a job, the plumber can't find the source of your leak, you are applying to get your son in yeshiva so you donate to kupas Ha'Ir. It was never before like this and there is no reason we need to make this into a new minhag to donate to Kupas Ha'Ir every time we need something. And look - we did not donate to kupas Ha'Ir and we got a taxi anyway. We did not donate and we found salvation!"
They continued on their way, eventually arriving at their destination. When they get there, the grandmother asks if they got the taxi right after the phone call. Yes, the mother says.
the grandfather smiles and says to call Kupas Ha'Ir right away and tell the story. Why - we did not call Kupas Ha'Ir? The grandfather says he overheard them on the phone that there was a delay in finding a taxi so he right away called Kupas Ha'Ir and made a small donation so that the kids should get a taxi. Right after that they got their taxi.
I find it striking that the stress in this story seems to be the father constantly saying they cannot run their lives by Kupas Ha'Ir. The result of the story is that they cannot run their lives without Kupas Ha'Ir.
I think I am going to test this out on one or two situations. If I do, I'll let you know the results.
Labels:
Bnei Brak,
kupa tzedaka,
tzedaka
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
And how would you know whether one of your concerned readers hadn't, in the meanwhile, donated in your zechus?
ReplyDeletefeel free to donate in my our your own zechus at any time... but if I decide to test the salvation of Kupas Ha'Ir, I will only tell you after I do and what it was for. not before.
ReplyDeleteI find this kind of shmaltz repugnant.
ReplyDeleteShy: agreed. This is manipulative rubbish and only degrades the standing of Kupas Ha-Ir in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI find it sickening and not in any way related to living a Torahdik halachic way of life. This pure witchcraft and practically voodoo.
ReplyDeleteYou should at least have put the mailing in the recycling bin, not the trash. Maybe you would have got a yeshua from the mitzva of creating less garbage in Eretz Yisrael.
ReplyDeleteYou'd also be giving the mailing a second chance in a future gilgul to become something useful and do a tikun for what was printed on it this time ;-).
Rafi - I did not do anything with it yet. it is still in my backpack.
ReplyDeleteI heared an interesting shiur from R' Reisman where he talked about "the secret of bashert" - people want to believe that everything is bashert. I would extend it to this case - people want to believe they can totally control their destiny (fate? R'YBS? - never mind)in a micro manner. IMHO it borders on avoda zara since it implies we are in control rather than we are influencers but HKB"H is in control.
ReplyDeleteKT
Joel Rich
so Joel, are you saying I should not test it because using these methods are wrong?
ReplyDeleteI commented on a previous post that I have a great segulah. I really needed to rent a car and normally they don't give me a problem, even though I am an oleh and don't have an Israeli licence but a foreign one. I am nervous however, and this time they actually said it would be a problem and the people in the car rental started having a discussion. Meanwhile I "did" my segulah and magically they let me have the car this time, and reccomended I get aan Israeli licence. What was the magic segulah? I didn't pledge money to kupat ha'ihr? I just davened and made myself aware that אין עוד למבדו and that Hashem is in control.
ReplyDeleteI wrote to Rav Chayim Kanievesy a couple of times complaning about the promise of yeshuos, saying that according to the Chazon Ish one should perform the mitzvah of tzedakah both because Hashem commanded to do so and because of a natural instinct to do chesed, and leave the yeshuos up to Hashem; He doesn't need our help. (Dr Tzvi Yehudah - who learned with the Chazon Ish decades ago - explains this at length in an interview with Dr Benny Brown transcribed in an appendix to his unpublished dissertation on the Chazon Ish.) Rav Chayim responded the first time seemingly saying that he doesn't mekabeil achriyus for what goes on, and when I pressed him he just was מציין the Gemara (which I had already thought of) in Bava Basra 10 that a yid who gives tzedakah even for an ulterior motive is a tzaddik. I wanted to continue arguing, and quote an article in the Tishrei edition of Kol Torah where a Rav comes out against strongly against these tactics, but I didn't think there was a toeles. The Rav in the article brings a story from Rav Mattiisyahu Soloman about unmarried girl who pledged tzedakah for a shidduch and nothing happened and it damaged her emunas chachomim. The article is well worth reading.
In my opinion giving tzedakah is a mitzvah that should be done lishmah, and giving extra tzedakah can be a valid hishtadlus, as can davening, but it should not be turned into the crude cartoon of someone putting money in a box and out of a tap, as if he had turned it on, flow out yeshuos.
Ubchanuni - vharikoti?
ReplyDeleteI'd say not to test it because it would still be only anecdotal. and if you did it on a large scale and HKB"H didn't want people to "be sure", he would rig the results. and imho it's like the gemara about dreams - it only could work if you believe it :-)
KT
Joel Rich
Joel - but if I test it, at worst I have given a little bit of tzedaka even if it does not work. At best, I have also won the lottery (or whatever) in addition to the tzedaka!
ReplyDeleteI have a number of posts about this kind of stuff:
ReplyDeleteHistoric event in Vilna taking place today
R' Chaim Kanievsky and tzedaka organizations
How can you all say this about the Kupat HaIr? Doesn't it have pictures of R' Shteinman, R' Kanievsky, R' Elyahisv? Giving their own money to the kupah just before lighting Chanuka licht, just before Kol Nidre, just before Pesach, just before davening especially for YOU at the Kotel...
ReplyDeleteSurely their pictures would not have appeared if they did not agree with what the brochure said.
Or maybe they have become like trained seals. "Now be a good Gadol and smile while you hold this money over the pushka. Click. That's it! Sit Ubu."
So tell us Bluke, why don't these Gedolim speak out against the misuse of their pictures, their signatures, letters apparently by them which are not... Why don't they issue statements saying they didn't?
Does it happen without their knowledge? What happens when they find out? What do they do to the person or organization?
anonymous - I wonder what salvation the gedolim wished for when they gave their checks to Kupat Ha'Ir...
ReplyDeletein all seriousness, I am sure the gedolim support it because it is a [local] tzedaka fund. How they advertise to raise money is probably something the gedolim are not involved in
The amazing thing is that they seem to imply that donating specifically to KH is better than donating to any other tzedaka.
ReplyDeleteHow they advertise to raise money is probably something the gedolim are not involved in
ReplyDelete===========
if true, therein lies the rub.
kt
joel rich
This past year, my daughter was convinced for months that Hashem was going to give us the Beit HaMikdash for Chanukah. She was excited to go to the Kotel because she wanted to check and heart broken with the results. I had no idea that I could change the outcome with a small donation.
ReplyDeletePreparing for Aliya, we converted all of our life savings to cash two weeks before the world economy collapsed. We did not make a donation to Kupat Ha'ir.
Who knows, this selling of indulgences may yet spawn a Jewish Protestant revolution.
ReplyDeleteMississippi Fred: From your mouth to God's ears
ReplyDeleteWhat's striking about this story is how gullible Kupat Ha'ir thinks its readership is.
ReplyDeleteOTOH since they repeatedly do things like this, it must be a succesful fundraising tactic - which means its readership IS that gullible!
Personally, I find that rubbing my magic rabbit's foot be very effective, and if feels nice, too!
ReplyDeleteC"V that doesn't work, my Irish friend has a house leprechaun that never fails-- you just have to ask in a good Irish accent after drinking a shot of Tullamore Dew.
I wonder where they publish the stories of people who made donations and didn't get what they wanted.
ReplyDelete(I hesitate to point out that the people in the story were bound to get a taxi sooner or later.)
Material in these books isn't just aimed at the way the "masses" look at tzedakah - I remember a previous year's edition had 2 different stories of yeshuas for families who were violating choshen mishpat (one not repaying debt, I forget the other) and then experienced a miracle for why the other party didn't come after them.
ReplyDeleteI used to think such lack of follow-through in thought was due to television. But how did this readership - who is learning Torah all day - get so dumbed down?
The REAL test is to go to the racetracks, donate to Kupat Ha'ir for one horse, and donate to some other place (I can't remember their name right now) for a different horse to win, and see which (if either) horse wins.
ReplyDeleteride em - that is one test, to see which of two are more effective. a simpler test would be to put money down on a horse one day after donating to kupat ha'ir, and then on another day without donating first to KH. And see if the one wins and the second does not.
ReplyDelete"The amazing thing is that they seem to imply that donating specifically to KH is better than donating to any other tzedaka."
ReplyDeleteCould it be because of the lower overhead, or the (likely-to-be-true) honesty of the organization?