“V’hisgalach v’es hanesek lo yegalei’ach … he shall shave himself, but not adjacent to the nesek [a lesion of tzora’as – leprosy – that occurs on an area of skin where hair grows]” (Vayikra 13:33)
Rabbeinu Eliezer M’Gremiza points out that the gimmel of the word v’hisgalach is larger than the other letters. He notes that this pasuk is at the midpoint of all the pesukim in the Torah, implying that it is equivalent to all that precedes and follows it. The letter gimmel in the Hebrew alphabet stands for gomel – to bestow; the next letter, daled, stands for poor or needy, alluding to the principle that gemilus chassadim – doing acts of benevolence – is so great that it is tantamount to the entire Torah.
Why are acts of kindness part of the discussion in the parsha of tzora’as? Tzora’as involves various discolorations or patches that come in three stages, to allow for the individual to repent, before it proceeds to the next stage. It affects the house first, then the clothes, and then the body.
Our sages tell us that one of the reasons an individual is afflicted with tzora’as is because of his miserliness, his reluctance to act benevolently to others. Because he was unwilling to share his home and possessions to help others, he must now empty his house middah k’neged middah.
When one performs gemilus chesed he is really doing chesed for himself. The merit of helping another protects the individual himself as well as his entire family, as we say in our daily prayers, “He rewards man with kindness according to his deed.” The mitzvah is so great that when one does acts of benevolence with others it is considered as if he has done chesed with Hashem. The Pele Yoetz says further that just like Hashem is benevolent and bestows man with “free gifts,” an individual should likewise do the same even if he is not so inclined. The Pele Yoetz concludes with the citing of our sages (Sotah 8b), “With the measure that a person measures, he is measured with it,” i.e. one will be treated with the same compassion, kindness and understanding with which he treats others.
The following was related to R’ Elimelech Biderman by one of his disciples, a young married man.
On the erev Shabbos before Lag B’Omer his wife asked to travel to Meron in order to be near the burial site of R’ Shimon bar Yochai. She felt that they needed the zechus of the tzaddik as a blessing to overcome their challenges in building their new home.
The husband was highly doubtful that they would be able to find any accommodations at such a late date. He explained that most lodgings had already been reserved before Pesach. However, his wife was adamant, and insisted that he try his best to find them somewhere to stay for Shabbos.
After hours of phone calls, it became very clear that there was nothing available. Then, suddenly, the husband recalled that he had a distant relative who lived in the moshav Or HaGanuz, which was near Meron. “Surely he would be amenable to having us,” he thought to himself. He immediately called his relative, who said that they would love to have them, but it was really not possible as he had a family of eight children living in only two-and-a-half bedrooms. It would be very difficult to find sleeping accommodations for everyone.
The husband informed his wife of the conversation and promised to make arrangements early next year for them to spend Lag B’Omer in Meron.
A moment later the phone rang. The relative had called back that his children, upon overhearing his conversation, immediately begged that he extend the couple an invitation to come for Shabbos. They insisted that they would do whatever was necessary to make sure that the couple had comfortable sleeping quarters. One offered to sleep in the kitchen, the other suggested that he would sleep in the little closet with the utilities. Each one was willing to give up his bed for the guests.
Moved beyond words, the couple accepted the invitation and, when they arrived erev Shabbos, they were welcomed with open arms. After the seudah on Friday night, the couple decided to walk to the burial site of R’ Shimon bar Yochai to recite tehillim and to daven to Hashem.
They agreed to meet at the entrance at a certain time so that they could walk home together. However, the wife did not arrive. The husband waited for a very long time and finally went to search for her. Apparently, there had been some misunderstanding about the agreed-upon time and she too had gone to look for him. It was more than an hour later before they found each other.
By the time they returned to the house it was almost 3:00 in the morning and the entire family was fast asleep. The couple were shocked when they opened the door to find the house filled with smoke. As they quickly scanned the room to find the source of the smoke, one of them saw that a comforter was ablaze. They began to yell loudly to wake everyone up, as they grabbed the comforter to squelch the flames. Baruch Hashem no one was injured.
“Just think,” said the young man, “if I had met up with my wife as we planned, on time, we would have come home much earlier and we too would have been soundly asleep at that hour. No one would have been aware of the burning fire, chas v’shalom. In the zechus of a family who stepped far out of their comfort zone and selflessly engaged in gemilus chassadim, an entire household was saved by Heavenly decree.”
