We are in Chapter 18 of the Zera Shimshon on Shir HaShirim (page 181), where the closing verses of the book are explained, all dealing with a single theme: charity for the poor of Eretz Yisrael. Let us first cite all the verses addressed here, as the explanation is built upon them as a unified whole: "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver; and if she is a door, we will panel her with cedar boards. I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace. Shlomo had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he gave the vineyard over to keepers; each man was to bring a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit. My own vineyard is before me; the thousand is for you, Shlomo, and two hundred for those who guard its fruit."
Kneset Yisrael - the beloved bride in Shir HaShirim, the collective assembly of Israel - deliberates within herself, as if pondering: What is the proper charity for Eretz Yisrael? In what way is it fitting to give charity to the poor of Eretz Yisrael? Indeed, the preeminent virtue of charity is giving to the poor of Eretz Yisrael, as the Shulchan Aruch writes in Yoreh De'ah 251:3, that the residents of Eretz Yisrael take precedence over those living outside the Land, and this is likewise derived from Scripture as cited in the Sifrei.
אָחוֹת לָנוּ קְטַנָּה וְשָׁדַיִם אֵין לָהּ, מַה נַּעֲשֶׂה לַאֲחֹתֵנוּ בַּיּוֹם שֶׁיְּדֻבַּר בָּהּ׃ - "We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?"
"We have a little sister" - this refers to the holy city of Yerushalayim, which in our many sins is now small. Our brethren reside in Eretz Yisrael and in Yerushalayim, and Yerushalayim the holy city is currently small. How can a city be small at one time and large at another? Concerning this, the Gemara at the end of Ketubot (112a) and in Gittin (57a) explains that Eretz Yisrael is called "the land of the deer" (Eretz HaTzvi): just as a deer's skin cannot contain its flesh - for if you flay its hide and try to put it back on, you will find it covers only half of it, because as long as the hide is on the deer it is stretched tight (which is more apparent in a deer than in a cow, whose hide is less taut), and once removed it shrinks - so too with Eretz Yisrael: when its inhabitants dwell upon it, it expands and accommodates them; when its inhabitants are not upon it, it contracts, appearing small and narrow.
Furthermore, our Sages stated: The Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future expand Yerushalayim. This itself proves that what we have today is a small area, and we have studied this in depth in the commentary of the Malbim on Tanach, regarding the dimensions by which the Holy One, blessed be He, will expand Yerushalayim in the future.
"And she has no breasts" - they are poor and lack sustenance. "Breasts" in Scripture is consistently an expression for a source and conduit of abundance; at times it refers to Moshe and Aharon as dispensers of the Torah, denoting the abundance of Torah, while here it refers to livelihood - "she has no breasts," meaning they lack food and sustenance.
"What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?" - what pledge shall we make for our sister on the day she is spoken for? The question is what kind of charity we should give to our brethren living in Yerushalayim, and how much we should give. The phrase "on the day she is spoken for" relates to the widespread custom in most communities to make a charitable appeal for the poor of Eretz Yisrael on the final day of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals - the last day of Pesach, the second day of Shavuot, and Shemini Atzeret - when the Torah reading contains: "Three times a year all your males shall appear... each man according to the gift of his hand." "Three times a year all your males shall appear" refers to Yerushalayim, and "each man according to the gift of his hand" refers to charity. Thus, on this day she is "spoken for" - meaning the matter of charity for the poor of Yerushalayim is alluded to in the Torah portion - and therefore people were accustomed to make charitable pledges on that day.
אִם חוֹמָה הִיא נִבְנֶה עָלֶיהָ טִירַת כָּסֶף, וְאִם דֶּלֶת הִיא נָצוּר עָלֶיהָ לוּחַ אָרֶז׃ - "If she is a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver; and if she is a door, we will panel her with cedar boards."
Here comes the answer to the question of the Congregation of Israel, and on this point the commentators have already answered: rot has no dominion over a wall, but rot does affect a door. That is, if the donation stems from the donor's genuine goodwill, and not because others are doing so, nor for the sake of honor, nor out of any ulterior motive - this is a fortified wall, something strong that cannot be touched by rot and endures. And then, "we will build upon it a palace of silver"; we will merit to receive a blessing from Hashem, an unmeasured blessing, and we will possess great wealth. That is, when giving charity purely for the sake of Heaven, a person enjoys its fruits even here in this world - a palace full of silver.
But if the donation is likened to a door, given only reluctantly or out of some personal agenda - to make an impression, to receive positive feedback - then "we will enclose it with boards of cedar." In this case, even the blessing we attain will not endure in our hands, for decay will overcome it, just as a cedar board rots, disintegrates, and is lost. Furthermore, the commentators find another dimension in the metaphor of the door: a door turns on its hinge, now back and forth, sometimes open, sometimes half-open, and sometimes shut tight. Such is one whose charity lacks consistency, swinging like a door - like the sluggard who turns upon his bed as a door turns on its hinge.
אֲנִי חוֹמָה וְשָׁדַי כַּמִּגְדָּלוֹת, אָז הָיִיתִי בְעֵינָיו כְּמוֹצְאֵת שָׁלוֹם׃ - "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then was I in his eyes like one who finds peace."
And afterwards everyone agrees: "I am a wall" - we have goodwill, and we too desire to donate generously. "And my breasts are like towers" - and just as we noted that breasts represent the pouring forth of abundance, we desire to pour forth great abundance like towers, for You are about to bestow upon us a palace of silver as a result.
"Then was I in his eyes like one who finds peace" - then I will be in the eyes of Hashem, blessed be He, in the eyes of my Beloved, like one who finds peace. And what does "like one who finds peace" mean? For peace is stated in connection with the act of charity, and through the act of charity one merits peace. The reason is that one who gives charity makes peace, as the Gemara teaches, between the poor person and his Father in Heaven. For when the poor person is destitute, needy, and impoverished, he harbors complaints against the Holy One, blessed be He: Why am I like this? Why am I suffering? He has many perplexing questions. But when you give him charity, the "why" vanishes - with a single coin, you have answered all his questions. It turns out that you have made peace between him and the Holy One, blessed be He. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: You made peace between Me and the pauper; you too shall merit peace, an abundance of peace from Him, blessed be He. May Hashem grant this to us, Amen and Amen.
כֶּרֶם הָיָה לִשְׁלֹמֹה בְּבַעַל הָמוֹן, נָתַן אֶת הַכֶּרֶם לַנֹּטְרִים, אִישׁ יָבִא בְּפִרְיוֹ אֶלֶף כָּסֶף׃ - "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he gave the vineyard to keepers, each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver."
Our Sages of blessed memory said: Every mention of "Shlomo" in Shir HaShirim is holy, referring to the King to Whom peace belongs, the Holy One, blessed be He (with one exception: "Behold the bed of Shlomo"). And He has a vineyard - that is, all the silver and gold in the world, as it is written: "Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold." The Malbim does not explain here why wealth is called a "vineyard," but we find in Chazal the expression karmati li, meaning "I gathered for myself." According to this, kerem is related to gathering: all the silver and gold gathered in the world of the Holy One, blessed be He; all the treasures are His.
"At Baal-hamon" - among Israel, among the multitude of the people (hamon ha'am), who appear as owners (ba'alim), as if they are the masters of the wealth, yet everything belongs to Him. "And he gave the vineyard to keepers" - so that they store up treasures Above, just as King Munbaz did, so that it will be preserved. The Holy One, blessed be He, gives silver and gold so that people will be keepers - that is, guardians, as in "they made me keeper of the vineyards." And what is the only way to safeguard silver and gold? To transfer them to a secure place from which no one can ever take them away - to the World to Come, through the mitzvah.
The Gemara relates that King Munbaz distributed his treasures and the treasures of his fathers during years of drought, giving them to the needy. His brothers and his father's household banded together against him and said to him: "Your ancestors stored up treasures and added to what their ancestors had accumulated, and you squander them? For years they hoarded wealth here, and in a single moment you disperse it all?" He said to them: "My forebears stored below, but I stored Above. They stored here in this world, which is wealth that can be lost - and the proof is that a king came and took everything. But what I have done is in a place where no one can follow me and take it, in a place beyond human reach, and in an investment that bears fruit, as it is written: 'Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.' My forebears stored treasures of money, but I stored souls" - for he sustained lives with the money he distributed to the poor. "My forebears stored for others, but I stored for myself, as it is said: 'And to you it shall be righteousness.' My forebears stored for this world, but I stored for the World to Come, as it is said: 'Your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Hashem shall gather you in.'"
We have mentioned more than once the story told of Don Isaac Abarbanel. Certain ministers in the royal court were envious of his success as minister of finance, and they repeatedly slandered him. On one occasion, they told the king that he was hoarding vast sums for himself from the royal treasury. The king demanded an accounting from him, a formal declaration of his wealth. The Abarbanel submitted it, and upon reviewing it, the king saw that it listed only about ten percent of the assets he knew the Abarbanel possessed. He immediately issued an order to throw him into prison, convinced that his ministers' accusations were true. Yet he was greatly puzzled: after all, he is a wise man, so how could he do such a foolish thing? He summoned him and asked: How did you imagine you could deceive me? Even the assets I personally know you have far exceed this!
The Abarbanel replied: Your Majesty instructed me to declare all the assets that belong to me. I sat up all night and calculated how much ma'aser and charity I have given away, and according to that accounting, this is precisely the sum I presented to you - for this is what truly belongs to me. As for the property situated here in this world, I did not list it at all, because it is not truly mine. The proof is that now, when the king grew angry with me, he confiscated all my wealth and stripped me of all my possessions. Here you see that this money is not truly mine, for in a single moment it can cease to be in my hands. But my true wealth is what I have stored away in Heaven - the charity I have given, which no person in the world can ever touch.
And this is what the Malbim explains here: "He gave the vineyard to keepers" - Hashem bestowed this wealth upon you so that you may guard and preserve it, storing up treasures in Heaven just as King Monobaz did, so that it will truly endure. And for whoever does so, through a single perutah given to charity, he can multiply for himself "a thousand pieces of silver," which are the fruits he enjoys in this world. This is the meaning of "each man brought for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver": the principal remains intact for him in the World to Come, while he enjoys the fruits here, for charity is among those deeds whose fruits a person consumes in this world.
כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי לְפָנָי, הָאֶלֶף לְךָ שְׁלֹמֹה וּמָאתַיִם לְנֹטְרִים אֶת פִּרְיוֹ׃ - "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; the thousand is for You, Shlomo, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit."
Yet the righteous do not wish to indulge in this way and receive a thousand pieces of silver as reward in this world; they do not wish to squander all the fruits on worldly pleasures, for better is one hour of spiritual bliss in the World to Come than all the life of this world. Furthermore, the test of wealth is immense, as it is written, "Lest I be full and deny..." and Shlomo likewise prayed, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." Rather, "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me" - the Congregation of Israel declares that she wishes for the promise, "and your righteousness shall go before you," to be fulfilled after death; and "the thousand is for You, Shlomo" - let the Holy One, blessed be He, retain it with Him until the World to Come.
How sublime. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave them wealth so that they might guard it for the World to Come and consume the fruits here, and consuming the fruits here corresponds to the thousand pieces of silver. But the keepers, the righteous, say: A thousand silver pieces of fruit in this world? That is far too much! We would rather add a substantial portion of the fruits to the principal in the World to Come, taking only a modest share here. This is the meaning of "The thousand is for You, Shlomo": Master of the Universe, a thousand is too much, we do not want so much here; take what You offer us as fruit in this world and add it to the principal awaiting us there.
Their reasoning is two-fold. First, whatever pleasure one might derive from the thousand here does not amount to a fraction of a single moment in the World of Truth. Second, the test of wealth is immense: abundant fruits here are liable to lead a person astray, as in "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked," and as it is written, "Lest you eat and be satisfied, and build fine houses and settle in them... and your heart become haughty and you forget the Lord your God" - wealth can cause a person to forget his Creator. And so Shlomo said, "Give me neither poverty nor riches," as explored at length in the lessons on Sefer Mishlei: he wanted neither extreme poverty nor extreme wealth; if given poverty - "lest I be impoverished and steal," stealing to sustain myself; and if given riches - "lest I be full and deny," becoming satiated and rebelling against Hashem.
These are the very righteous of whom the Talmud speaks in the second chapter of Berachot, in whose merit the entire world is sustained - like "Chanina My son, for whose sake the entire world is sustained" - yet they do not sustain themselves even on their own merit. That is to say, they do not even utilize their own merit to be sustained; the entire world benefits from their merit while they do not, for they have no desire to enjoy this world and wish to take nothing from here, which is why a kav of carobs was sufficient for Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa. Therefore they are called "the stout-hearted who are far from charity." The simple understanding is that "stout-hearted" refers to callous people who refuse to give charity to the poor, but Chazal interpret it in the opposite sense: the stout-hearted are individuals of mighty fortitude, capable of living in severe hardship and austerity, who refuse to take charity from flesh and blood - this is why they are "far from charity."
This brings to mind what is told of Ibn Ezra, who lived in bitter poverty and even composed verses about his dire straits. He wrote: If I go to the minister's home, they say he has already left; if I were to sell shrouds, people would cease to die; and if I were to sell candles, the sun would never set. In short, whatever I attempt is doomed to fail. It is recounted that his disciples wanted to give him money, but knowing he would never accept it, they said: Let us drop the money in front of his eyes along the path he takes to the synagogue; he will find it, pick it up, and assume that Heaven provided for him. They did just that: they watched for where he would pass and dropped an unmarked purse of money. Rabbi Ibn Ezra came walking by, practically stepped on the money, and kept right on walking - without picking it up at all.
The disciples were astonished and asked him afterward: "Rebbe, there was money lying right at your feet, so why did you not pick it up?" He told them: "I did not see it." But how could that be, when it was broad daylight and in plain sight? He told them: "Let me tell you. This morning, when I left home, my wife could bear it no longer and began to cry: 'How long will we suffer the disgrace of hunger?' I went outside and began thinking about my bitter lot. Then I said to myself: 'Why are you lamenting so much? You are a very wealthy man - you have eyes, teeth, hands, legs. Just think, if they offered to make you immensely rich, but without eyes, would you agree? No. Hashem gave you a pair of eyes, and with that alone you are already wealthy.' So, in order to feel and express gratitude to Hashem for the kindness He showed me by giving me a pair of eyes, and to thank Him that He did not take away my eyes and give me money in exchange - since I would readily give up the money just to keep my eyes - I walked this morning from home to the synagogue with my eyes closed, to truly feel what a blind person feels. And that is why I did not see the money."
After such a realization, the morning blessing of "Pokei'ach Ivrim" (Who opens the eyes of the blind) is recited with an entirely different level of devotion. The students understood that for one whose heavenly decree is a destiny of poverty - as we find with Rabbi Elazar ben Pedas, who was asked from Heaven: "Would you have Me overturn the entire world so that perhaps you might be reborn under a different constellation?" - when something is decreed as part of one's fundamental lot, as Rav Friedlander explained and as we have learned at length, nothing can change it: even if you toss money right in front of his eyes, on that day he will be blind to it. Such is the will of the blessed Creator. In our context, this story was cited because he was "far from charity," and under no circumstances was he willing to accept charity from anyone.
Yet since there are other righteous individuals who wish to derive a little benefit in this world as well - who say: "I do not want to take all one thousand of the fruits here, but a little in this world, yes, so that I can learn with peace of mind and marry off my children without poverty" - concerning them it is said: "and two hundred for those who guard its fruit." Why specifically two hundred? Because two hundred is one-fifth of one thousand, and in Usha the Sages enacted: "He who dispenses should not dispense more than a fifth," and one should take only a fifth. That is, out of the thousand due him, he takes a fifth here in this world - twenty percent - while the Holy One, blessed be He, preserves the remaining eighty percent for him in the World to Come.
Even this applies specifically to one who knows how to guard his fruit, spending it on charity and good deeds - this is the meaning of "those who guard its fruit." But for one who does not do so, it is a pity even for the two hundred he took; if he squanders it here on worldly desires, that is certainly not the purpose, and it will bring him no benefit. Rather, the two hundred may be taken by the righteous who guard its fruit, and even for them it is fitting to take no more than a fifth, thereby preserving the essential portion for eternal life in the World to Come. See further below. This concludes chapter eighteen.
Kenesset Yisrael asks in what manner charity should be given to the poor of Jerusalem, the "little sister," as the Land of the Deer shrinks without its inhabitants, and who "has no breasts" - meaning she lacks sustenance. The answer is that everything depends on the quality of the giving. A donation that is a "wall" - given willingly, for the sake of Heaven, without pressure and without ulterior motives - is free from rot, and its reward is a "palace of silver," blessing without measure. A donation that is a "door" - given begrudgingly, unstable and tainted by ulterior motives - yields a blessing like a decaying cedar board. Therefore Kenesset Yisrael replies: "I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers," and through charity, which makes peace between the poor person and his Father in Heaven, she becomes "like one who finds peace." All silver and gold are the vineyard of the King to whom peace belongs; the multitude only appears to be owners, but in truth they are caretakers - who must store it away on high, like King Munbaz and the wealth declaration of the Abarbanel. There are righteous individuals who seek to add all one thousand fruits to the principal, the stout-hearted who remain far from accepting charity; and there are those who take only two hundred, a fifth, in accordance with the enactment of Usha - and even that is only for one who knows how to guard his fruit and spend it on charity and good deeds.