Rosh Hashana Charity Campaign

Everything is foreseen, yet free will is granted…the mystical side of Judaism and life

Dear Friends and Readers,

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the holy day of atonement, are only a week away.  Before each Jewish holiday season, we turn to our readers to help us help the poor and needy of our neighborhood in Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel.  Poor and needy is not “their big screen TV is out of date”, it’s “they can’t pay for medicine, they can’t afford to buy their children shoes, they’re sitting in 100-degree heat because they can’t afford to turn on a/c for an hour”.

We build our charity drive with no overhead, no expenses (beyond Paypal transaction charges and currency conversion fees, about 4%), no office, 100% charity direct to the needy.

DONATE RIGHT NOW – HELP THE POOR for Rosh Hashana  (see below for donation bonus!)

This year our circumstances have changed.  We moved neighborhoods to a newly constructed neighborhood in our city in Israel… and found out that all the local charities that help people are organized by neighborhood (hyper-local charity).  Since the neighborhood we moved to is new, there literally are NO operational charities helping people out!  And since the new neighborhood has significantly lower rents, poorer people are flocking to the new neighborhood…and then finding themselves without the charity lifelines that were helping them survive.

DONATE RIGHT NOW – HELP THE NEEDY of ISRAEL for the New Jewish Year  (see below for donation bonus!)

My daughter has taken up the challenge, and has begun organizing a “Tomche Shabbos”, a food packages for Shabbos (the Sabbath) and Holidays organization.  But in a poor neighborhood with limited funding, packages are a few stables (a few canned goods) to a few people.  It’s a start, but WE CAN HELP THEM DO BETTER, ESPECIALLY FOR THE NEW YEAR – where we all turn to G-d for blessings for a good and sweet year!

DONATE NOW NOW NOW – HELP THE NEEDY of ISRAEL for the New Jewish Year

— THIS YEAR’S DONATION BONUS —

SEND YOUR NAME AND YOUR FATHER’S NAME IN THE DONATION, AND WE WILL…

- PLACE A PRAYER NOTE FOR A GOOD AND SWEET YEAR FOR YOU IN THE WESTERN WALL (THE KOTEL) IN JERUSALEM -

- MENTION YOUR NAME FOR A GOOD AND SWEET YEAR AT THE KEVER (TOMB) OF REBBE NACHMAN OF BRESLEV IN UMAN -

2 PRAYERS FOR THE PRICE OF 1 !!!

In the words of the Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya…  (from Igerret HaKodesh 16, paraphrased by me)…

My brethren and friends, who are to me like my own soul.  I understand times are hard, and the means for earning a livelihood have declined.  Hands have faltered, families are without any providers at all and they literally borrow in order to eat. May G‑d show them compassion and speedily bring them respite from their straits.

Nonetheless, they are not acting rightly unto their souls, that they close their hand which all their life long, to this very day, has been open to give with a full hand and a generous eye for all vital necessities to satisfy the needs of the destitutes of the Land of Israel whose eyes are lifted unto us.

If we will not pity them, heaven forfend, who will?  And it is written, “…so that your brother may live with you!”  As to the ruling of the Sages that “Your own life takes precedence,” this applies only in a case “when one has a pitcher of water in hand…”; that is, when it is equally essential that both drink in order to save their lives from thirst.  But if a pauper needs bread for the mouths of babes, and firewood and clothes against the cold, and the like, then all these take precedence over any fine apparel and family feasts (or new iPhone’s), with meat and fish and all kinds of delicacies, for oneself and all of one’s household.  The rule that “your own life takes precedence” does not apply in such a case, because these are not really essential to life, as are [the needs] of the poor, in true equality, as is discussed in Nedarim, page 80[b].

Now, the above follows the exact requirements of the law.  In fact, however, even in a case where such reasoning does not so fully apply, it is not proper that any man insist on the letter of the law; rather, he should impose (some limits) austerity on his own life and go far beyond the [demands of the] letter of the law (with regards to charity).  Moreover, one should be concerned, for his own sake, with the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory, that — even in a situation where “that which is yours takes precedence over that which belongs to others” — he who is exacting in this matter, and does not go beyond the letter of the law, “will eventually be brought to this matter”: he himself will ultimately need charity, heaven forfend.  And after all, all of us need the mercies of heaven at all times [which are elicited] only through an arousal from below, at all times and at every moment, by arousing our compassion for those who are in need of compassion.

But whoever hardens his heart and suppresses his compassion, for whatever reason, causes the same above — the suppression of [Divine compassion], heaven forfend.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND DONATE NOW

Who are we?  Is this kosher?  The Mystical Paths yearly Holiday Charity Campaigns are overseen by Rabbi Kinstein and Rabbi Farro (contact information provided upon request), operate with 100% of charitable donations going to those in need (no overhead, no salaries, no office expenses, no advertising expenses, only credit card processing and currency conversion expenses of ~4%), and via a registered Israeli charity.

This year’s donations to the poor and needy will be distributed by (the just starting up) Tomche Shabbos of Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel, Israel, as food packages to the poor and needy for the holidays.

THANK YOU, and may Hashem bless you with a good and sweet year filled with abundant blessings!