[Avodah] Tzedakah: Giving to an organization vs. giving privately

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Aug 05, 2010 at 09:26:06PM -0400, Moshe Y. Gluck wrote:
: I see Adon Olam as beginning with Hashem's grandeur, only in order to come
: to the "V'hu Ei-li V'chai Go'ali" part. Going back a step, the goal in life
: is to be Shaleim, and the way to do that is to be Daveik in Hashem (Ayin
: Mesillas Yesharim Perek 1). But in order to see the RBSO as the Chai Go'ali
: and fulfill being Daveik in Hashem, one first has to see the RBSO as the
: M'lo Kol Ha'aretz Kvodo, as the Rambam says in Yesodei HaTorah 2:2 in
: relation to Ahavas Hashem. Only afterwards can he come to Ahavas Hashem,
: which is, by definition, Dveikus B'Hashem.

Perhaps this is Chazal's take on why Hallel haGadol is "gadol". "Nosein
lechem lekhol basar." Not the beri'ah, not yetzi'as mitzrayim, qeri'as Yam
Suf, fighting our wars to gain EY, but the "mundane" -- and to KOL basar.

And in fact, looking at the format of the tehillah, most of the
pesuqim aren't phrased as the reason for "Hodu Lashem", but rather
as identification of who is this One we are to praise. "LeOsei orim
gedolim... LeMolikh amo bamidbar...."

As I wrote in the previous post, I saw it in more dialectical terms. The
same universal vs personal of birkhas Yetzirah (or Maariv Aravim)
and Ahavas Yisrael. (Or in the reverse, in *Aleinu* leshbei'ach vs the
universalist dream for which Al Kein Nekaveh.) But I'm also convinced our
tefillos were intentionally written to be read different ways depending
on what our heart needs to say at that moment; and so I would assume
we're both right.

Tangent:
As I posted on the Bilvavi thread, I don't see what you wrote in MY pereq
1. Rather, that the goal in the afterlife is to be daveiq, the goal in
this life is to be shaleim so that one is capable of being a nidvaq,
and part of that sheleimus is developing a longing for deveiqus, and
acheiving what (comparatively) little passes for deveiqus in olam hazeh.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Rescue me from the desire to win every
micha at aishdas.org        argument and to always be right.
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