27 Feb OUR ANNUAL REPORT CARD

My children’s latest
report cards went out
recently and some of
my children posted on
our family WhatsApp
group the grades they
were proudest of. I
jokingly shared that my
report card also just came out and posted the
link to our annual BRS Global campaign, our
effort and invitation to get those who watch,
listen, read, and grow from the content we
share to contribute and partner with us going
forward.
Like most jokes, there was a degree of truth
to my response. Right or wrong, the annual
global campaign can feel like a report card on
our content, a grade and score on the question
of how well we are doing adding value and
inspiration.
As part of my role as Rav of Boca Raton
Synagogue, Hashem has blessed me with the
privilege to teach Torah widely through audio,
video, writings, panels, podcasts and more.
With all of the wonderful feedback we receive,
when we run the global campaign and ask for
support from those who aren’t members of
Boca Raton Synagogue or live in our
community, something the data shows is that
while Baruch Hashem a large group
participates and contributes, when compared
with the numbers accessing the content, the
data is far from matching.
I don’t think people are fundamentally
unappreciative or ungrateful and (not joking
here), I know they aren’t actively giving a
report card of how much they value our hard
work. But as I think about every year at this
time, at the end of the day, all of us take much
of what we enjoy, and that enhances and
enriches our lives, for granted.
There are incredible resources that we live
off of daily that we don’t pay for. Consider
the value Google, Gmail, Waze and countless
other apps and technology products add to
your life. How much do we depend on and
rely on them that if we needed to pay for them
we would find the money. Yet, while we pay
by being part of Big Data, these life-changing
resources don’t cost us anything in traditional
currency.
An unintended consequence of this new
economy is cultivating a culture of entitlement
and the expectation that even the things that
benefit me enormously shouldn’t cost me
money and I shouldn’t have to pay for them.
Among many other ways, this phenomenon
expresses itself in people moving to a
community, attending a shul, eating at a
kiddush, taking advantage of youth groups,
going to shiurim, asking shaylos of the
rabbonim, and yet still not joining through
actual membership, even when it is structured
to pay whatever you can afford. It shows
itself in those who listen, read, watch, enjoy,
grow and are inspired by a speaker,
organization and platform and fail to say
thank you or show support, even when asked.
Indeed, in a culture of “What do I get out of
it”, we have added an incentive to our
campaign this year. In addition to just
showing appreciation and paying it forward, a
contribution of $180 will enter you in a
raffle to win a wonderful weekend with us in
Boca Raton including two domestic plane
tickets and VIP tickets to the Ishay Ribo
concert at BRS on April 7th.
Please visit brsonline.org/global to become
our partner and help others benefit from the
content that has moved you. We see each
and every person that contributes and read
the beautiful messages that many have
chosen to write. The gestures and generosity
not only mean the world to us, but each one
inspires and motivates us, and for that we
are so profoundly appreciative.
This Parsha contains the mitzvah of
Machatzis HaShekel. Every man over
twenty was obligated to give one half-shekel
weight of silver, approximately nine grams
of silver, worth about $5.99 today, which
was used to operate the Beis HaMikdash
and which rendered the animals purchased
with these funds genuinely communal
sacrifices. This required gift had an unusual
condition:
“The rich shall not pay more and the poor
shall not pay less than half a shekel…” Why
not let the rich pay more and cover the entire
cost of the communal sacrifices? Wouldn’t
it make sense to let the poor preserve their
money to support themselves and allow the
wealthy to underwrite the communal
activity? And why is this command even
necessary? Wouldn’t each individual want
to contribute to be counted among the
community and be among those supporting
the communal sacrifices?
The tendency of people to assume,
“Someone else will take care of it” is hardly
new. Someone else will pay, someone else
will volunteer, someone else will lead. The
Torah reminds each individual that it is not
someone else’s responsibility or obligation
but our own. To be counted among the
community, your local community, your
broader learning community, the community
of the greater Jewish people, it isn’t enough
to speak about values, one must act on them.
It isn’t enough to say one cares, one must
exhibit commitment and tangibly show they
are a stakeholder.
In Judaism, gratitude is not a debt we pay,
it isn’t simply a means of making the one
who gave us whole. Gratitude isn’t just for
the recipient; it is for the one who
communicates it to express humility and a
recognition of being dependent on one
another. Moshe was not allowed to strike
the Nile, an inanimate river, because he
needed to show appreciation, even if the
Nile wouldn’t have missed it had he not.
Contributing locally, globally or to Israel,
even when it isn’t required, giving even
when it isn’t demanded, is a great expression
of appreciation, a statement of who we are,
even more than how much we value the one
we are giving it to.
When your taxes are filed in this world and
when your contributions are measured in the
next one, when it comes to showing gratitude
and empowering what you claim to care
about, what grade will appear on your report
card?