1. Why do you think the Rabbis suggest this specific reason to help the non-Jews, “the ways of peace”? What do you think this phrase might mean?
2. Why do you think this source emphasizes that everyone should be given a small gift? Would it better to concentrate resources on a smaller number of people?
3. What may be the outcome for society of a law obligating us to give even a small amount to everyone who asks? Would you organize a society this way?
והחזקת בו - אל תניחהו שירד ויפול ויהיה קשה להקימו, אלא חזקהו משעת מוטת היד. למה זה דומה, למשאוי שעל החמור, עודהו על החמור אחד תופס בו ומעמידו, נפל לארץ, חמשה אין מעמידין אותו:
1. In today's world there are millions of people who are slipping and millions more who have already fallen completely. Knowing this, how can we still utilize the wisdom of this text?
2. How does this text impact how we might think about foreign aid?
1. What does it mean that your fellow's means fail with you?
2. Why does the law specify whether a stranger or a settler?
3. How would this law read if it were on a national scale, rather than a personal directive?
1. What are some possible understandings of "good eye"? How would a good eye dispose you towards giving your bread to the poor?
2. What role does sight have in our social justice work? Is our work affected by which people we can see, and which people we can't?
1. What does this text command us to do? Why does this commandment end with God's reminder to us that we were slaves in the land of Egypt?
2. Now that most of us do not live in agricultural settings, how can we apply these laws to our own gathering of resources?
| Original |
|---|
|
God of Compassion, You commanded us through Your Torah saying, “You will eat, you will be satisfied, and you will bless the LORD your God.” But in Your world of bounty there are those who are trapped in the darkness of hunger. We are not so arrogant and stiff-necked to say before You that we have fulfilled the mitzvah of feeding the hungry and helping You to deliver them from the darkness to the light. Because we have sinned, scoffed, and oppressed. For the sin of closing our eyes to those who are malnourished. For the sin of deafening our ears to the cry of a hungry child. For the sin of withholding our hands from the needy. For the sin of refraining to speak out for food justice. For the sin of hardening our hearts in the face of those who are hungry. For all these sins, Forgiving God, forgive us, pardon us, grant us atonement.
|
What are our sins against the hungry?
What is the purpose of confessing these sins?
.... Genesis 1:26-31 Translation Original And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' And God created human in God’s own image, in the image of God, God created him; male and female God created them. And God blessed them; and God said unto them: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.' And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall be for food; and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food.' And it was so. And God saw every thing that God had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. [JPS translation [1]] וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל הָאָרֶץ וּבְכָל הָרֶמֶשׂ הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל הָאָרֶץ: וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם: וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁהָ וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבְכָל חַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל הָאָרֶץ: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת כָּל עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי כָל הָאָרֶץ וְאֶת כָּל הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ פְרִי עֵץ זֹרֵעַ זָרַע לָכֶם יִהְיֶה לְאָכְלָה: וּלְכָל חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וּלְכָל עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְכֹל רוֹמֵשׂ עַל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה אֶת כָּל יֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב לְאָכְלָה וַיְהִי כֵן: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת כָּל אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה טוֹב מְאֹד וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי: .... [1] http://www.jewishpub.org/product.php?id=140
.... Deuteronomy 10:18-19 Translation Original [God] upholds the cause of the orphan and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him/her with food and clothing. -- You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. [JPS translation [1] edited for gender-neutrality] עֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפַּט יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה וְאֹהֵב גֵּר לָתֶת לוֹ לֶחֶם וְשִׂמְלָה: וַאֲהַבְתֶּם אֶת הַגֵּר כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: .... [1] http://www.jewishpub.org/product.php?id=140
.... Ecclesiastes 9:16 Translation Original So I observed: wisdom is better than valor; but the poor's wisdom is scorned, and their words are not heeded. [JPS translation [1]. Edited for gender neutrality] וְאָמַרְתִּי אָנִי טוֹבָה חָכְמָה מִגְּבוּרָה וְחָכְמַת הַמִּסְכֵּן בְּזוּיָה וּדְבָרָיו אֵינָם נִשְׁמָעִים: .... [1] http://www.jewishpub.org/product.php?id=140
.... Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yoma, 9b Translation Original Why was the first Sanctuary destroyed? Because of three [evil] things which prevailed there: idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed... But why was the second Sanctuary destroyed, seeing that in its time they were occupying themselves with Torah, [observance of] precepts, and the practice of charity? Because there prevailed hatred without cause. That teaches you that groundless hatred is considered as of even gravity with the three sins of idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed together... Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought them three evil decrees as against the three evils which were their own, as it is written (Micah 3:11): “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.“ [Judaic Classics Library Translation] מקדש ראשון מפני מה חרב? מפני שלשה דברים שהיו בו: עבודה זרה, וגלוי עריות, ושפיכות דמים... אבל מקדש שני, שהיו עוסקין בתורה ובמצות וגמילות חסדים מפני מה חרב? מפני שהיתה בו שנאת חנם. ללמדך ששקולה שנאת חנם כנגד שלש עבירות: עבודה זרה, גלוי עריות, ושפיכות דמים... לפיכך הביא עליהן הקדוש ברוך הוא שלש גזרות כנגד שלש עבירות שבידם, שנאמר +מיכה ג+ לכן בגללכם ציון שדה תחרש וירושלים עיין תהיה והר הבית לבמות יער ....
.... BabylonianTalmud, Shabbat 31a - 1 Translation Original On another occasion it happened that a certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, “I will convert to Judaism, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai chased him away with the builder's tool that was in his hand. He came before Hillel and said to him, "Convert me." Hillel said to him, “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn it.” [AJWS translation] שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני שמאי, אמר לו: גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת. דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו. בא לפני הלל, גייריה. אמר לו: דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד - זו היא כל התורה כולה, ואידך - פירושה הוא, זיל גמור. ....
.... Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 74a Translation Original What is the proof text for 'murder itself' [i.e. that one should allow him/herself to be killed before killing someone else]? It is common sense. Even as one who came before Rava and said to him, ‘The governor of my town has ordered me, “Go and kill so and so; if not, I will kill you.” He answered him, ‘Let him rather kill you than that you should commit murder; who knows that your blood is redder? Perhaps his blood is redder.’” [Soncino translation] רוצח גופיה מנא לן? - סברא הוא. דההוא דאתא לקמיה דרבה, ואמר ליה: אמר לי מרי דוראי זיל קטליה לפלניא, ואי לא - קטלינא לך. - אמר ליה: לקטלוך ולא תיקטול. מי יימר דדמא דידך סומק טפי דילמא דמא דהוא גברא סומק טפי ....
.... Abraham Joshua Heschel, Telegram to President John F. Kennedy, June 16, 1963 Original I look forward to privilege of being present at meeting tomorrow. Likelihood exists that Negro problem will be like the weather. Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. Please demand of religious leaders personal involvement not just solemn declaration. We forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate Negroes. Church synagogue have failed. They must repent. Ask of religious leaders to call for national repentance and personal sacrifice. Let religious leaders donate one month's salary toward fund for Negro housing and education. I propose that you Mr. President declare state of moral emergency. A Marshall plan for aid to Negroes is becoming a necessity. The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity. ....
.... Abraham Joshua Heschel, Eight Candles of Consciousness: Essays on Jewish Nonviolence (Yonassan Gershom, 2009), p. 62. Original Racism is man’s gravest threat to man—-the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason. ....
.... Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Tikkun 14.4, “The Mitzvah of Tzedakah,” p. 58 Original On the surface, the Torah is very simple. I am struck, however, by its choice of terms: twice the verse in Deuteronomy essentially says, “don’t harden your heart.” Ask yourself: in the Bible, whose heart is hardened? Let’s recall that Moses goes into Egypt and says, “Let my people go,” and Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. Any Jew who can look at a human being in need and not hear God’s call to “let my people go,” to do something, becomes a Pharaoh. You don’t have to be evil to be on the side of evil. You simply have to remain indifferent. All that it takes for goodness to be vanquished is for us to ignore the suffering and desperation of our fellow human beings. To fail to act is all it takes to create a society of inequity and of callousness. Refusing to lend a hand, we become the Pharaohs of our age. ....
-------- RUTH MESSINGER, "WE MUST HELP, AND IN THE RIGHT WAYS," JTA- AUGUST 25TH, 2009 ---------------------------------------------------------- Original Part of being Jewish is to put Jewish values into practice where the poorest people are. This is not some new piece of Judaism: The rabbis and Jewish leaders have discussed the balance between helping Jews and non-Jews, the balance of working with different communities, the balance of showing who we are and building a better world not only ourselves but for others. It doesn't say, “Build justice for Jews.” ....