{"id":49861,"date":"2019-06-28T17:39:16","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T23:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=49861"},"modified":"2019-06-28T17:51:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T23:51:53","slug":"off-the-pulpit-deliberately-accidental","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-deliberately-accidental\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Deliberately Accidental"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

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The last two laws \u2013 shikchah (forgetting a sheaf) and leket (dropping them) are curious because they are mitzvot that one cannot do deliberately. If you pretend to forget, you have not performed the mitzvah; if you drop it deliberately, you may still leave it for the poor, but you haven\u2019t fulfilled the mitzvah of leket, which requires inadvertence.<\/p>\n

There is a way to make it likelier that you will fulfill the mitzvah, however. If you feel a sense of surplus, of plentitude \u2013 that God provides more than you need \u2013 if you harvest with the slightly careless attitude of one reaping great riches rather than one counting few coins, you are more likely to forget or drop some of the harvest. Living in gratitude makes one less frugal and even stingy. So gather with confidence in life\u2019s immeasurable abundance and others will find blessing in what you leave behind.<\/p>\n

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