Giving Thanks for the Overflow

I remember the first time one of my rabbinic school teachers, Rabbi Ben Hollander (z”l), invited me to his home for Shabbat lunch. He opened a bottle of Manischewitz and proceeded to pour wine into the cup until it overflowed. As he lifted the kiddush cup to say the prayer, more wine spilled over the sides onto his hands and onto the beautiful white tablecloth.

Later I asked him why, and he said that while it’s a mitzvah to say kiddush over a full cup of wine, it’s a minhag (a custom) to fill it so full that it literally overflows. We do this, he taught me, in order to symbolize our hope that our lives will overflow with blessings, with sweetness and with goodness. 

The Hebrew word for that sort of abundance is shefa, and I have been thinking about it this week because of something I read in the news that fits perfectly with where we are in our Torah cycle as we read the portions describing the design and construction of the portable tabernacle (Mishkan). In order to build the Mishkan, God instructs Moses to ask for donations from “every person whose heart is so moved.” No one is required to give, but all are invited to contribute. 

I thought of those verses when I read last week of a transformational $1 billion gift made to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine by former professor and current Board Chair, Dr. Ruth Gottesman. The gift will eliminate tuition for medical students, who are often graduating with more than $200,000 in debt. (By the way, Dr. Gottesman insisted that the school not be renamed in her honor or in honor of her recently deceased husband, David Gottesman, saying, “We’ve got a gosh darn name—we’ve got Albert Einstein!”)

The gift is obviously extraordinary, demonstrating that overflow, that abundance of generosity. 

But back to our Torah. What happens when Moses invites the Israelites to donate from their hearts? We read this week in parashat Vayakhel that our ancestors were so generous that those tasked with constructing the tabernacle ask Moses to tell the people to stop bringing gifts because the people “are bringing more than is needed for the tasks entailed in the work that the ETERNAL has commanded to be done” (Exodus 36:5).

It would be like someone phoning the Albert Einstein College of Medicine today and offering to make a donation for a scholarship fund for its students. The development director would say, “We’ve got that fully covered thanks to Dr. Ruth Gottesman! Instead, might you consider directing your donation toward another worthy need of our medical school?”

Too often we see the world as zero-sum, we dwell on what seems to be in short supply instead of considering the abundance all around. The Milky Way alone contains more than 100 billion stars including, of course, our own sun. That’s an overflow of light and energy and possibility.

Too often we see the world as zero-sum, we dwell on what seems to be in short supply instead of considering the abundance all around. Our universe contains an estimated one septillion stars (that’s a one followed by 24 zeros). The Milky Way alone contains more than 100 billion stars including, of course, our own sun. That’s an overflow of light and energy and possibility.

Even in these dark times, perhaps especially in these dark times, we need to recognize and give thanks for the shefa — the abundance — that exists. This week I am inspired by the overflowing generosity of Dr. Ruth Gottesman. May other philanthropists follow suit so that more and more institutions (including one day all the synagogues and day schools in Los Angeles) might be able to say: “Welcome! Tuition and membership are free here because of the overflowing generosity of our community!”

Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback is the Senior Rabbi of Stephen Wise Temple in Los Angeles, California.