Unemployment and foreclosures are, sadly, still prominent on the landscape of current economic news. Many people in our country – and around the world – are feeling the effects of current challenges. Proposals to bring about a stronger recovery, hinge upon divergent views about the role of government, companies/corporations, taxes (or tax cuts) and the free market. Some believe that less control will bring about recovery sooner, while others believe that more stringent regulation will generate more generous behavior. At this point, various experts and legislators believe they know what is right, but their knowledge isn’t necessarily bringing about the desired solution as soon as had been hoped.
The question I have always had regarding how we treat those who are in the most dire straits during economic downturns relates to responsibility. We hope that someone will step forward to say, “I can help!” Responsible acts of tzedakah (righteous giving) and g’milut chasadim (deeds of lovingkindness), on a large or even small scale, are not always forthcoming.
In the Torah reading for this week, KI TETZEI, the nature of responsibility (and procedures for fulfilling a responsibility) is plainly spelled out. In Deuteronomy Chapter 24, it notes that…
1) If you make a loan to someone and they offer, for example, a garment, as collateral or a “pledge”, you cannot enter the home (forcibly or not) to take the pledge – you have to give the person the chance to bring it out to you (to lend dignity to the transaction).
2) Don’t abuse a needy and destitute laborer, whether a fellow Israelite or a stranger in one of your communities – specifically, pay your workers their wages on the same day, before the sun sets, because your worker urgently depends on those wages.
The rules in their Torah were intended to boost the self-esteem and self-worth of every person, both the lender and the person taking out the loan, and both employer and employee. If there was a feeling that one was superior to another, these rules tried to create more of a balance between the two. Despite economic inequity, everyone was responsible for preserving, on some level, a sense of equality.
We should hope to see, today, that same dignity and sense of equality as part of both the treatment of people truly facing serious personal economic challenges and the solutions that are being proposed to take us forward to greater prosperity in which many people will be able to share. Even in difficult times, perhaps these ancient standards can still move us to sustain a benevolent society that can open its hand to people in need.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Larry K.
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