Charity begins at home, goes the maxim. Pshat is that one should be kind to his or her own family first, and then extend kindness to others.
The more subtle meaning is that charity — all the different brands of chesed and generosity one extends to the public — is likely connected to the fiber of one’s home, to whatever influences and messages reside between its walls.
If Rav Elya Brudny has emerged as one of the voices of compassionate leadership to the world of yeshivos and girls’ schools, it’s not because his insight comes from outside.
I heard this story from a fine, respected ben Torah, today the father of a beautiful family. He was 17 years old when it happened — not his most glorious period. He and a group of friends were idling the summer away, road-tripping from one purposeless destination to another. One Shabbos, they got word that a group of lifeguards, friends of theirs, would be vacating their bungalow for Shabbos in one of the Catskills colonies where they were working.
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