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Treat Poverty  by  Dignity

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Rabbi Dr Zvi Aviner

 

 

 

The Comm to do charity can be framed within the Comm of Dinim, Civil Order and Justice, which is Adam’s Fifth. As we recall, Jacob’s life story revolves around Dinim.

Here is a diagram of the flow of stories withing the Bool of Genesis:

=

                                                   Adam: (Idolatry, Chochma)

                                        Adam and Eve (Adultery, Binah) )  

                                                    Noah (Bloodshed, Daat)

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Abraham (Theft, Grace, YHVH)                     Isaac (din, ELKM)

                                                   Jacob (Dinim, Justice, Glory)

                                            Judah                     Joseph

                                                  (Blasphemy, Kingship)

 

 

The Sefat Emeth (among others) explains that Abraham was a charitable person who showered good on everyone, unconditionally.   He did that not b/c of a good heart (as Rebecca did) but rather b/c he loved Hashem, YHVH.  Isaiah calls him Abraham my beloved.

Isaac on the other hand represents Gevurah, ELKM, since he was on the altar by ELKM’s words .  We do not read any reference of him doing charity.

Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, was seeking the truth, the right way, says Sefat Emeth.  He did not want to follow Abraham, since giving unconditional love and support may only destroy the receiver.  You see that of instance in children. King David never rebuked his son Avshalom, with terrible result.  But if you combine Hessed (grace) with din, Abraham with Isaac, demanding something in return, the result is endurable.  He, Jacob, therefore opted to follow Abraham’s charity but with restriction and by demanding something in return. Therefore his name appears in the diagram in between Abraham and Isaac.

Moreover, Jacob instituted charity.  When he departed  from his father home to go to Haran, he vowed that if he comes back in peace, then “Hashem, YHVH, will be my ELKM.”   There are many interpretations to his words, but it seems that he vowed to make Compassion and Charity the law oof the land.  Indeed, b/c of that vow we have the Shemitah, the Sabbatical year where the crops are left in the field for the poor.  And we have other charitable deeds by the law – forgiving the debts, giving the poor 10 percent of our income every three year, beside the comm to help the poor.  No other civilization recognizes such amount of charity by law.

The point is that this enormous charity is done not b/c of our good hearts but rather b/c the Torah ordains it.  On the obligation to return a collateral cloth to the poor for the night,  the Torah says “and to  you it shall be considered a Zedakah.  The RMBM explains:  Zedakah, charity, is done not by our good heart but rather by the good heart of the Torah.

Hence Jacob, unlike Abraham, was for giving charity by the Law.  This way, we minimize the shame of the receiver.  Since receiving unconditional charity from the good heart of the donor is humiliating the receiver.  It humiliates his ego and self – esteem. Giving the charity by law makes it easier for the receiver to accept.  It also diminishes the inflated ego of the donor.  Thus both the receiver and the donor are benefited if the charity is done by Law.

The Torah is extremely sensitive to the human heart when she deals with charity.  Kabala sees Jacob at the heart of the chart, meaning everything about him is heart and passions. Jacob is also called in Kabala Tifereth, Glory, Honor – to designate the importance of DIGNITY.  Charity  must be done with preserving the receiver’s dignity.

Take for instance the section in Deuteronomy dealing with charity.

In Deut. 15 the Torah says that if we keep the Sabbatical and all the laws of the gifts to the poor, than Hashem will bless us so that “there by no poor among you.” The word here is not “poor” but “evion,” with means a person who desires things, like essential things for his living.

Then just a few verses later the Torah says “but there will always be a evion among you, so open your heart and supply to him what he lacks,”

The two verses contradict each other, so Rashi explains that the first verse relates to those who keep the Torah and the Comm, whereas the second one relates to those who violate the Torah.

But there is a deeper meaning that relates  to our topic.  The first verse says that if you follow the Torah, you will not desire other things that make you feel poor.   For instance, on of  cities with the lowest income per person in Israel is the city of Bnei Brak. It is a
Hareidi” city of religious population, where the size of the average family is 8 kids, living in small apartments, where the father sits and learns Torah all day while his wife supports the family.    Although the income is under the poverty line, no one feels that he or she lives in poverty.  Why? The aspirations of the community lie not in gaining wealth but rather gaining Torah knowledge.  A person’s esteem is measured by how many times he has finished leqrning the entire the Talmud, and how wide is his Torah knowledge.  Besides, such community develops a very efficient  mutual aid systems where neighbors help each other with whatever a person needs.  Indeed,  no one feels poverty there.  That is what the verse is saying that if you follow the Torah, you will have no avion among you.  Your scale of values changes.

  Then comes the second verse and says that, in reality, there will always be an evion among you.  We should help to keep  his dignity.  The Talmud bring a story to illustrate the point.  There was a wealthy person in Jerusalem who had lost all his wealth, and as a result he suffered humility.  When he came before Hillel, asking for help, Hillel asked him where he wished to go.  Then Hillel ordered  a chariot with two horses and carried the person on it, while he, Hilel, ran on foot before the horses.  He did the best he can to restore the person’s dignity.

Another example is the way we help the poor. Instead of unconditional gifts we offer him a loan, to be paid back in no interest and only according to the person’s ability to pay it back.  This way  we keep the dignity obf both the giver and the receiver.

Poverty in the USA is rampant.  Around 15% of the population is under the poverty line.  There are numerous causes for that reality – of people living in a world that is unknown to most Americans.  These unfortunate people live along with jails, courts, layers, police, mental institutions, food stamps, run down residential homes, being exploited   by various corp who take advantage of them for the bottom line, Factors like un education, single motherhood , unemployment are important yet insufficient to explain the vast development of homelessness seen.     There is also no real lack of monetary resources,  that simply do not reach them.  The most perplexing point about homelessness is the mere fact that  the American society tolerates the filth and the indignity associated with the homelessness.   We forgot to treat them as carrying G-d images.

On the verse “for there wil never cease an evion from the land” says the Talmud that even in the Messianic Time there will be evions.  People will still fell they lack something.   We’ve learned that although Noahides can walk in ELKM’s ways and climb up the ladder in the Book o f Genesis on their own, climbing from the sixth to the fifth to the fourth, they will still need the Messiah to help climbing farther up to the third, Bloodshed, the second, Adultery, and the first – idolatry.  It would be extremely difficult to overcome those three upper desires on  our own. We, Jews and Noahides, will need the Messiah to climb us over the first three. They are deeply entrenched in our psyche.

For example –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts .This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed.  You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.  Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.