It is something I have noticed just about every election year, and I am always taken aback by it. This year was no different.

Inevitably, the major candidates make their income tax reports public. Included in these reports are the contributions to charity that they have made during the past year. Some candidates contribute generously, sometimes even impressively, to the charities of their choice.

What shocks me is how some candidates give next to nothing. It is as if charitable contributions are simply not on their agenda. One recent candidate for national office reported that he gave the grand annual total of $139, an amount which most of us who attends religious services easily distributes in small change, just to the collection plate or tzedaka box.

I am certainly not in the business of endorsing candidates for political office. And I certainly do not believe that charitable giving, in and of itself, qualifies or disqualifies a person from governing competently. But I do believe that charity is a very important human value, and it is distressing that some of our leaders do not share that value.

The good news is that this uncharitable behavior does not typify American society as a whole. Indeed, statistics indicate that the charitable giving in this country far exceeds that of most other countries in the world.

But I well remember the first time that I encountered an entire nation, a superpower, which seemed to have expunged the giving of charity from its repertoire of behaviors. It was during my first visit to the former Soviet Union, exactly 21 years ago. My companion and I were taken to the only remaining functioning synagogue in the city of Odessa. We were gratified to see that there were at least a few Jews who attended the weekday morning service.

However, although one of them was qualified to lead the service, and many of them came to light yahrzeit memorial candles, something indefinable seemed to be missing. After a while, it dawned upon us that what were missing were the charity boxes which are to be found in synagogues of every type across the world, and which have been fixtures in Jewish houses throughout our history.

It was apparent from our interviews with those who did attend synagogue that morning that seventy years of Communist rule had broken the age-old custom of giving to others. Charity, along with so many Jewish people and Jewish traditions, was a casualty of the Communist regime.

In this week's Torah portion, Parshat Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19), we read for the first time of an organized appeal for charity. "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: tell the people of Israel to bring Me gifts; you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart so moves him." That is the way the first verses of this week's parsha are typically translated.

But, if translated literally, the phrase does not read "tell the people of Israel to bring Me gifts," but rather, "tell them to take My gifts", as if we were not giving but rather getting.

This literal reading is meant to convey a basic religious teaching. It is ludicrous to speak of giving to the Almighty. What can a mere mortal possibly possess that the Almighty lacks? At most, we can only give to Him from that which He has already given to us.

The ideal attitude for the person who gives charity is the recognition that he is not giving from his own possessions, because all of his possessions are gifts from the Almighty. All the charitable person is doing is returning gifts with which he has been blessed.