Selected Resources from the
Omer Study Guides for Hunger and Poverty
By the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
As adapted for ONE Sabbath 2008
For a complete archive of resources related to hunger and poverty, please visit the JRF website at www.jrf.org/hunger or http://jrf.org/node/1264#hunger.
Table of Contents
Healing the World, Healing Ourselves Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Director of Outreach & External Affiliations for Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and Roni Handler An introduction to the 2008 Omer Study on Hunger and Poverty 3
Fulfilling an Impossible Command Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs Deuteronomy on the existence of poverty
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Preserving the Dignity of the Those in Need Rabbi Shawn Zevit On giving tzedakah with humility
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El Salvador: Encountering Poverty and Possibility Isabel deKoninck and Joseph Berman, students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. A firsthand account from the ground
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Difference between Charity and Justice H. Eric Schockman, President of MAZON A discussion on the true meaning of tzedakah
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Healing the World, Healing Ourselves
By Rabbi Shawn Zevit and Roni Handler A theology which is not a plan of social action is merely a way of preaching and praying. It is a menu without the dinner. Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, Random Thoughts, p. 22. Belief in God has to do with our attitude toward life itself. Do we find life good? Is life worthwhile? If we believe that life is worthwhile, that it is good, that, in spite of all the sickness and accidents, in spite of all the poverty and war, in spite of all the sad and difficult conditions in the world, the world is a wonderful place to live in and can be made still a better place, then we believe in God. When we believe in God, we cannot be discouraged because we believe that all the misery in the world is due, not to the fact that misery must be there. but to the fact that we have not yet discovered how to do away with that misery. Ira Eisenstein, Kol Haneshamah. Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohenu v'tzvianu lirdof tzedek. Melekh ha'olam asher kidshanu b'mitzvotav
Praised are You, Eternal God, Spirit of the Universe, You hallow us with Your mitzvot, and divinely inspire us to pursue tzedek. Bruchim habaim, welcome to year two of JRF's Omer Study Initiative. Throughout this year we at JRF have been collecting data in order to learn about the wide range of tikkun olam initiatives taking place in JRF congregations. Every congregation responding to the survey (about 50 congregations) reported active engagement related to alleviating hunger and poverty in their community, country, or even internationally. Over the coming week’s congregations and individuals will have the opportunity to teach us about the projects their congregations have been involved with, present background information related to the issue, and also help you think about ways in which your congregation may begin to tackle the same issue. As Mordecai Kaplan stated, Jewish values provide us with recipes for repairing the world. As Jews and fellow travelers, our challenge is to discern how to embody these values in our lives and in our communities. Kaplan also urged us to move beyond self-realization and the ongoing renewal of the Jewish People to see peaceful interdependence and Godly living as our global responsibility. Every living being requires sustenance to survive. The fact some of us struggle with unhealthy and destructive eating patterns, while others are dying every day from starvation and unchecked disease points to the fact that we have not yet discovered how to do away with that misery. It may be truer to say that we have not found the will or motivation to do away with hunger and poverty. Often times this task can seem daunting. With so much brokenness in the world, where is one to begin to attempt to return the balance to the world? Before tikkun olam became synonymous with social action in the 1960's, earlier Jewish mystics developed the idea of tikkun as re-balancing the divine energies in the world within one’s own soul (tikkun hanefesh) and on a transpersonal and universal level (tikkun olam). The imbalance was not seen as a result of an absence or shattering of mercy, compassion or understanding, but rather the absence of interdependent relationships between all the energies that make up the fabric of the world.
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We are not inherently broken and need repair. We are inherently whole, but not always in relationship with our Godly potential, with each other and with the world. Perspective or systems may be broken; their repair happens when we reaffirm our covenant with Life and take our values and beliefs from the prayer book and the study halls into every aspect of our lives. To this end, we might view the holy task of tikkun in the area of hunger and poverty as expanding Kaplan's view of Judaism as the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish People. That civilization must be a spiritually, economically, socially, politically and ecologically sustainable religious civilization. Over the coming weeks we will have an opportunity to learn how some JRF congregations have been engaging in this work in a successful and sustaining way. We will learn about the issues which led them to begin their current projects. And hopefully, this information and the study texts that represent centuries of Jewish wisdom will inspire each of you to discover ways in which your communities can assist in alleviating the shadow of hunger and poverty that hovers in the light of all the abundance in our society.
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Fulfilling an Impossible Command
By Rabbi Steve Gutow The Torah Deuteronomy Chapter 15 reflects the rather conundrum-like nature of the eternal war against poverty. In an enigmatic turn of phrase the Torah teaches us first that there is no right or justification or moral acceptance of poverty. Verse 4 states unambiguously as a command directly from God: “There shall be no needy among you.” The chapter then continues by making it clear that each of us has a duty to respond to the needy with an open heart, great generosity, without regret, and with the knowledge that God appreciates the response. Then, the Torah suddenly says in verse 11 of chapter 15 that there will never cease to be needy among you. It is as if the Torah recognizes the impossibility of its command. It asks that we do something that it knows cannot be done, that we do our part to alleviate that which cannot be fully alleviated. The Enigmatic Commandment The mandate is clear. We must end what cannot be ended. The command rings of a kabbalistic revelation of a perfect state of being that we will never fully experience. After all, how can the law assert that there shall be no needy amongst us? The Torah could have just left that verse out and ordered us to do all we can to alleviate and ameliorate the pain of those in poverty. The answer lies in two concepts of Judaism’s messianic impulse. First Jews must know what a messianic world is like and then Jews must recognize that our mandate is to do all we can to get there. We will not suddenly see the messiah arrive; we will aid in the messiah’s coming. Rabbinic Judaism And The Tradition The verses reflect a path for each of us. There must not be poverty but there always will be. As Jews we never get to relax. The mission is in front of us and we have a lot of work to do. The remainder of Jewish tradition seems to respond to this impossible challenge. Exodus Rabbah states that ‘if all the sufferings of the world were gathered [on one side of the scale] and poverty was on the other side, poverty would outweigh them all.’ Rabbinic Judaism endeavors to teach us that poverty is not a sign of lessened humanity and insists that we not neglect those who are poor. As if to make sure we understand God’s vision of the value of the poor, the Talmud states: “neglect not the children of the poor, for from them shall come forth the Torah.” Again in Baba Batra, the Talmud is clear as when it states that “we are duty bound to observe the mitzvah of ‘tzedakah’ more than all of the other positive commandments.” The tradition insists that we open our homes to the poor on Passover and Sukkot; that we give gifts to those who are hungry; that we leave gleanings in our fields; that we offer a percentage of our crop or our income to those who are poor. Responding to the problems of poverty is not optional in the universe of Jewish action. The Public Square How do we bring this mission into today’s world? The intractable battle against poverty, the battle to make sure that there will be no needy among us, must be waged in every possible arena. If the messianic age is to arrive, we must help it along. The battle to end poverty requires work in the public square. In a universe in which millions of people suffer, 5
individual acts of generosity will not even scratch the surface of the problem. Poor people in America, in Israel, and in the world require government resources and legislation if the Biblical command is going to have any chance of being fulfilled. To do our part we must jump into the public debate and demand that Medicaid and food stamps and welfare not be diminished. We must insist that Israel look at the problems of her poor as she maintains her military might. We must recognize that American foreign aid that is given to solve some of the international problems of famine is not discretionary funding. We cannot rationally imagine that we are responding to the Deuteronomic injunction if we do not have the energy and the wisdom to respond to the world’s anguish by entering the political process and doing what we can to make a difference. Conclusion The ambiguity of Deuteronomy 15 is not ambiguous at all. We are in a battle that we may not win but that we cannot stop waging. We are doing our part to bring the days of the messiah to our times. The verse from Pirke Avot: “It is not your duty to complete the work but neither are you free to desist from it” is the Torah’s message about the fight to end poverty in our midst. The command is clear and so is the world’s reality. The Torah understands that reality just as determinedly as it rejects our right to live in acceptance of it. There can be no poverty in the world and yet there always will be. Our duty as Jews is to respond and respond and respond. Questions For Discussion 1. Scholars make the case that in ancient Israelite society, the mitzvot were not just the responsibility of each individual but of the society as a whole. Why would that case be important to make if you wanted to support the idea that the commandment mandates action in the political arena? 2. What other mitzvot from the Torah strike you as commands that we cannot fully fulfill but that we must still attempt to accomplish?
Rabbi Steve Gutow is the Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Public affairs.
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Preserving the Dignity of Those in Need
By Rabbi Shawn Zevit And if your brother becomes poor and his means fail him with you, then you will strengthen him, be he a stranger or a settler, he shall live with you. (Leviticus 25:35) In response to this verse from Leviticus, I'd like to share two quotes, the first by Dr. David Teutsch of the RRC: Jewish Tradition understands human beings to be b'tzelem Elohim, made in the divine image. Humiliating a person denigrates the Divine Presence in the world, so Jewish tradition emphasizes the importance of k'vod hab'rioyt, honoring each individual and protecting people's dignity. Judaism has long recognized that dignity depends in part upon sufficient food, clothing and shelter, as well as honorable work. If someone is living in dehumanizing conditions, then immediate tzedaka is needed. The way tzedaka is given should help people to preserve their dignity. (From A Guide to Jewish Practice: Tzedaka, pp. 16-17, Dr. David A. Teutsch, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Press, 2005, http://www.rrc.edu.) The second is from my recent book: In the social system of giving in Jewish life and law, both giver and receiver are seen as partners in living out godly action in the world. Circumstances and roles may change in an instant, but the commitment to the mitzvah of tzedaka goes unchanged. Jewish sources tend not to deal with "the poor" but focus on the individual (the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, etc.). The Sages go as far as to state, "Better no giving at all than giving that humiliates" (B.Talmud, Hagigah 5a). In other words, giving that comes with stereotyping, judgment, or condescension towards a group, or that undermines the recipient's sense of self, is seen as equally or more destructive than allowing someone to suffer due to lack of material resources. (From Offerings of the Heart: Money and Values in Faith Community, p. 83, Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit, Alban Institute, 2005, http://www.jrf.org/press/index.html.) Questions for thought and discussion: 1. Both clauses of the Leviticus verse end in "with you" (imakh). What is the meaning and what are the implications for our tzedakah work? 2. When giving money, is it incumbent upon us to research how the monies are spent and whether the dignity of the recipients is of concern to those distributing funds and services? 3. What are the limits of "better no giving at all than giving that humiliates"? Surely if life and death are at stake "giving that humiliates" should be accepted, yes? 4. Do you check the efficiency of the charity to make sure the beneficiaries receive the majority of your tzedaka? See http://www.guidestar.org/.
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El Salvador: Encountering Poverty and Possibility
By Isabel deKoninck and Joseph Berman There is nothing in the world more grievous than poverty the most terrible of sufferings. Our teachers said: All the troubles of the world are assembled on one side and poverty is on the other. Midrash Rabbah Exodus 31:12 In January we traveled to El Salvador as a part of the American Jewish World Service’s rabbinical school delegation. The trip was designed to bring rabbinical students from all of the major rabbinical schools together to see the work of AJWS, learn about sustainable development and the impact of globalization, and discover new ways to bring concepts of global justice into our emerging rabbinates. Much of our time in El Salvador was spent in Ciudad Romero, a small community nearly two hours outside of San Salvador. In many ways, Ciudad Romero is representative of both the extreme poverty that afflicts El Salvador, as well as the kind of dynamic hope that is made possible by grassroots ingenuity and funding from organizations like AJWS. In El Salvador, we learned the true meaning of poverty. Most of the families living in the community were resettled in Ciudad Romero after living in exile during much of the civil war. Families live in small cinderblock homes on dirt roads where live stock roam freely. Many women raise their families on their own as many of the men were either killed in the gruesome civil war, or have left for America (not a few illegally) in order to make money to send home to their families. Many children only get elementary education, and even that is a struggle for the community to fund. What is most shocking is that Ciudad Romero is one of the better off communities in its region, the roads are planned in a grid, each family has its own latrine, and there is a community center and organizing committee that brings hope to this impoverished place. As we encountered the devastating poverty in El Salvador we began to ask why? Why is this place so poor? Why does the gap between the haves and have-nots continue to widen in our world? Can anything be done to change things? What we learned were the difficult lessons of internal political struggle, and the crippling effects of US international economic and military policies and free trade agreements. The civil war that pit workers, farmers and the Church against landowners and the ruling class (backed by the United States) was long, bloody, and destroyed El Salvador. In many ways this civil war was a war about land, power, and poverty. The economic situation for the tenant farmers and day laborers in El Salvador became so untenable that many felt the only way to affect change was through uprising, and for many this meant through violence. For many people of faith, however, this struggle was a religious and non-violent one. Led by the Archbishop Oscar Romero, many of the peasants began to conceive of their struggle in biblical terms; a modern day exodus from Egypt and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Body of the people. Many in El Salvador, especially those in Ciudad Romero (named after the late Archbishop), live their faith and politics as one, affirming a God of this worldly salvation. It was in part this religious movement that led to the end of the civil war in 1991 and helped affect some minor progress towards greater equality and real democracy. Still, even after the war, though certain aspects of political and economic life in El Salvador have improved, poverty and inequality still grip most of the nation. 8
There is nothing in the world more grievous than poverty the most terrible of sufferings. Our teachers said: All the troubles of the world are assembled on one side and poverty is on the other. In El Salvador we understood this Midrash perhaps truly for the first time. Poverty is the root of so many systemic problems poor health, poor education, the inability of communities to develop and thrive, or even to fight to protect their own rights. Feeling hypersensitive of our privilege as Americans, we wanted to know what we could do to help. While in Ciudad Romero we were the guests of La Coordinadora the coordinating committee for the Lempa Valley Region, and a grassroots organization that is responsible for many of the successes of Ciudad Romero and a partner of AJWS. As an organization that is bringing hope and visions of sustainable development to El Salvador, we asked, as Americans how can we help to end this kind of global poverty. The simplest answer was that we should continue supporting organizations like AJWS that work with grassroots groups to help cultivate sustainable development. The more complex and difficult response was that the only way to affect real, grand, systemic change, is to help change global economic policies. “Free trade is crippling us,” they said. “How can we hope to build our economy and our small farming communities when the United States forces us into trade agreements that benefit only wealthy Americans, and big business here in El Salvador.” They asked us to go home, support fair trade, work to counter CAFTA, and work to educate ourselves and our communities about the complexities of globalization and the possibilities and challenges of global markets. We spent only eight days in El Salvador, but in those eight days, we learned first hand why our Rabbis felt that poverty was a greater affliction than any other. As we left El Salvador we knew that poverty’s greatest challenge is its challenge to those of us with privilege – how much are we willing to give of ourselves so that every person in the world can have a safe place to sleep, enough to eat, and the opportunity to pursue their modest dreams. The 35th Day of the Omer: Malkhut in Hod ...Therefore, may it be Your will, Yah our God, and the God of our ancestors, that in the merit of the Omer Count that I have counted today, may there be a tikkun (fixing) for whatever damages I have caused in the sefirah of Malkhut in Hod. May I be cleansed and sanctified with the holiness of Above, and through this may abundant bounty flow in all the worlds. And may it make a tikkun for our lives, spirits, and souls from all sediment and damage, may it cleanse us and sanctify us with Your exalted holiness. Amen Selah! Excerpt from the Kabbalistic concluding blessings for counting the Omer Today is the 35th day of the Omer. For the kabbalists, this day, like every one of the 49 days of the Omer, represents more than just a day leading up to the holiday of Shavuot. Rather, each day becomes a time to taken (fix) a different aspect of divine revelation within ourselves and thereby bring that aspect of God into the world, coming closer to the time when the world will be characterized by wholeness and unity rather than brokenness and division. The sefirah, or sphere, for the 35th day of the Omer is Malkhut she'beh Hod, or Kingdom within Splendor. Hod, the sefirah for this week, is described as one of the sources
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of prophecy in our world. And Malkhut stands for the Shekhinah, the source of all life and the manifestation of God in our world. Our time in El Salvador gave us the distinct impression that there are certainly prophets in our world, like Archcbishop Romero, who draw from the holiness of above, but that they are few and far between. At the same time, the poverty and inequality we witnessed made it seem as if there is a very real absence of the Shekhinah in parts of our world. We recalled the words of the Jewish prophet Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who wrote: “God himself is not at home in the universe. He is not at home in a universe where His will is defied and where his kingship is denied. God is in exile; the world is corrupt. The universe itself is not at home.” (The Insecurity of Freedom, 258). Questions for Thought/Discussion 1. What are the “damages and sediments” of globalization that exist in our personal lives and communities? 2. What are the tikkunim (fixings) we can do to address issues of world poverty? 3. What would it mean for each of us to be prophets around the issues of globalization and world poverty?
Isabel deKoninck and Joseph Berman are students at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
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The Difference Between Charity and Justice
By H. Eric Schockman There is no word in the Hebrew vocabulary for ‘charity’ in the modern sense. The word used is tzedakah, which literally means ‘righteousness.’ Tzedakah is not an act of condescension by the affluent toward the needy; it is the fulfillment of a moral obligation. Injustice to humanity is desecration of God. Refusal to give charity is considered by Jewish tradition to be idolatry. Albert Vorspan and David Saperstein, Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice, UAHC Press, New York, NY, p. 93. Many of us have had the opportunity to volunteer at a food bank, participate in a canned food drive and donate funds to a local feeding program, but our acts of charity only help so much in the big picture. How can we proactively solve the hunger epidemic plaguing 38 million Americans, including 14 million children? God commands us in the Torah to perform acts of tzedakah, acts of righteousness and justice, 36 times, more times than that of any other commandment. Justice, in this sense, is our collective pursuit to finding the long-term solutions to ending hunger. We need to help people become self-sufficient and give them the tools necessary to do so. MAZON, as the organized Jewish community’s response to the hunger crisis, is consumed with exploring the difference between charity and justice. As Vorspan and Saperstein noted, there is no word for charity in Hebrew. Taking inspiration from Judaism and its focus on justice we seek to explore the underlying reasons behind the hunger problem. Not just the how’s, but the whys. MAZON also believes that food banks and other emergency food providers have an obligation to use their status and visibility to educate their supporters about the role and limits of charities in feeding hungry Americans and encouraging them to advocate for federal nutrition and assistance programs. Federal food programs, especially food stamps, are our nations frontline defense against hunger with the ability and capability to reach far more hungry and at-risk families than charitable programs. Food stamps allow individuals to become self-sufficient. Studies state that 40 percent of food stamp recipients leave the program within four months; half within six months. Each dollar spent in food stamp benefits generates about $1.84 in economic activity. If $5 billion a year was spent on food stamps and other nutrition programs, we could cut hunger in half within two years. It is our moral and religious mandate to fight for justice and advocate on behalf of hungry families. Together with private charity, the government and our voices as advocates can bring hunger to an end. We have to bring tzedakah to the world.
Eric Schockman is MAZON’s president, a position he has held since January 2001. A public policy expert and an authority on hunger and poverty issues, Eric previously served as associate dean/associate professor of political science at the University of Southern California. He was also a top consultant to the California State Assembly and the Los Angeles City Council. To learn more about MAZON, visit http://www.mazon.org/.
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Questions for thought and discussion by Rabbi Shai Gluskin: 1. How does a congregation or a person find the right balance between direct service and advocacy efforts? Eric Schockman’s emphasis on the effectiveness of food stamps would suggest a greater emphasis on advocacy. But don’t people feel better about engaging in direct service, which would then lead to further commitment? 2. It’s true and compelling that taking care of the poor and hungry is an obligation (mitzvah), not a choice, according to Jewish tradition. But given that most Reconstructionists as well as other Jews outside orthodoxy don’t feel bound by that mitzvah system, doesn’t it come down to choice anyway? What are the best ways to move people from inaction to action? 3. Does your congregation participate in Mazon’s program which encourages families celebrating simchas (celebrations) to donate a certain percentage of the total amount spent to hunger programs? What percent of families participate? Does your congregation require such participation?
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