Receiving Charity is Divine - Terumah

Nine year old Bert Facey was a slave in 1904-5. He desperately wanted to escape the house of the stranger who had him working from morning to night, but could not. He was brutally beaten. His family’s terrible poverty deprived young Bert of schooling, and the love of family through his childhood and adolescence (1). He grew up resilient and stoic and is the author of the classic and inspiring book, “A Fortunate Life”. Despite his heroic life, it is a shame, he never received charity. My argument in this blog is that the acceptance of needed charity is a beautiful thing. 

Image by Sachin Modgekar
Reproduced under 
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The Jewish mystic the Baal Shem Tov taught that taking charity is a sacred act. Like other solemn activities such as a wedding or prayer, it ought to be done with the right intention. In this case, it should be accepted with the intention of it being “for the sake of heaven”. [Thus] “the one who receives should not accept charity for superfluous items ,... but instead to take what is needed to sustain oneself and one’s family as is appropriate and right [for them]” (2).

Let me pause here with a disclaimer. My intention in citing this teaching is not to endorse the implication that the poor should never have any luxuries. I interpret the second half of the statement that sets an aspirational standard of “appropriateness and right” as subjective, to be determined by the recipient rather than society. It is wrong for members of the community to police the poor to ensure they use what is given to them for necessities. (The virtues of not taking what is not needed is beyond the scope of this blog (3)).  Sometimes there are factors that others are simply unaware of (4) and so we must give people the benefit of the doubt (5). 

Putting this aside, the point I want to emphasise is the way the Baal Shem Tov turns the focus away from the experience of the giver to consider the dignity of, and the spiritual significance of the act for the recipient. 

Receiving charity is linked to what the mystics would regard as the holiest spiritual processes: the repair or “unification” of God’s name. Unification is a key underlying purpose of many of the rituals of Judaism. God’s name is split apart by human evil. Virtuous deeds reunite the four letters of God’s name. The exalted process is activated by the receipt of charity. The letter Yud י is shaped like a coin. The letters Hey ה (the 5th letter of the alphabet, linked to the number five) represent the hands - with their five fingers - of both the giver and recipient, and the letter Vav ו represents the giver’s arm (6).

One scholar tried to restrict the designation of the divine character of receiving charity to apply only to poor scholars who receive without asking for help. This restriction is dismissed (7). Regardless of how it happens, the act of receiving charity is considered a greater gift to the giver than what the giver of charity provides to the recipient” (8). 

I love these teachings. On the one hand, I admire people like Facey, who despite all his troubles named his book “AFortunate Life” as an expression of incredible positivity and gratitude. However, we need to combine an emphasis on the virtue of resilience and self-sufficiency with the virtue of asking and accepting help when we truly need it. Like many others, I have tried both paths. Being tough and independent when I needed help, and later learning the value of receiving support. I am a better man for learning to do the latter, and I pay forward the support given to me to others who benefit from my strengthened self.  

Notes

(1) Facey, A.B. A Fortunate Life. 

(2) The Baal Shem Tov- in Tshuas Chein, Teruma, cited in the Baal Shem Tov on the Torah

(3) Numerous sources in the Talmud and Jewish law, Pesachim 112b, רמב"ם (משנה תורה, הלכות מתנות עניים פרק י הלכה יח

(4) Thank you too PS on the Facebook discussion for highlighting this. 

(5) Pirkei Avot 2:5

(6) The Arizal, cited in Chido on Teruma, p. 255, 1

(7) Chido, ibid. 

(8) Midrash Rabba Ruth 5:9

 

Turning Between Co-religionists and Others - Reflections on my participation in a Muslim schools conference Balak 2019

A bearded Muslim man, Dylan Chown, was talking to a woman with a face-veil. He paused his conversation with her and turned to greet me warmly.  Dylan then turned back to her and apologised, with real feeling in his voice:  “I am sorry that I was rude to you”. These brief interactions occurred as participants were arriving to the Australian Islamic Schooling Conference. I observed the exchange and thought: this is what Muslims call “Adab”. I had learned at the conference, that Adab was something more than mere manners. Adab might be described as a set of religious, respectful and sensitive practices. The two  ‘turnings’ (towards me and back towards her) can also be used as a metaphor for the challenge of balancing attending to the priorities of our faith communities, while also relating to people outside those communities.   

Afeefa Syeed, the founder of Al Fatih, a Muslim school in the American state of Virginia, spoke about an example of how her students expressed solidarity with oppressed fellow Muslims. They visited George Washington’s cemetery at Mt Vernon, as part of their study of History. They had learned that some of the “slaves” (or, perhaps more appropriately, enslaved people (1)) had been Muslims. They asked to be directed to where those slaves were buried. This request was met with surprise: “why would anyone be interested in seeing that?” The graves were neglected, but the students said a prayer there (2).

This anecdote touched me. Alongside our concerns for humanity, there is a need, and great virtue in solidarity with one’s own community, be that a community based on faith or place. One of the Torah’s villains, the evil prophet and sorcerer Balaam, is described as being “without a nation” (3). Furthermore, this absence of national or communal ties is deemed to be indicative of exclusion from heaven (4).

At the conference an Imam, an Australian Muslim school principal, a Catholic educator (5) and I conducted a breakout session together.  One activity involved exploring quotes from Islamic and Jewish sources with similar messages. One set of these quotes was the following pair:

……..and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess. (6)

...if a poor person and a rich person come to borrow money, the poor person takes precedence. ...If it is between one of the poor of your city and one of the poor of another city, the poor of your city takes precedence. (7)

In a similar vein, we heard how the Al Fatih students showed care for their non-Muslim neighbours by adopting and cleaning the road near their school for the benefit of all the locals and passing travellers. 

I told the conference that navigating my ties to my Jewish community and others has challenged me. I cited the verse: “You shall not mistreat, nor oppress the stranger, as you were strangers in [Pharaoh’s] Egypt” (8). As a younger man, I was good at embracing the second half of the verse, with my acute awareness of millenia of persecution of the Jews, including my own grandparents. It was only later in life that I engaged more strongly with the first and main point relating to the treatment of “strangers”. Justice for members of minority groups requires proper conduct not just in deed but even in word and thought.  Indeed the story of Balaam’s curses (9) is a dramatic example of how words, spoken or prevented from being said, matter.

Speaking positive words and thinking kind thoughts about “Strangers” can be difficult when there is conflict them and one’s own community. Afeefa shared an inspiring example of how her students engaged with people who appeared hostile. During the US presidential election many of her students felt concerned about how Muslims were being talked about by Trump. The students were encouraged to seek to understand, rather than demonise Trump supporters. They approached voters on election day, and asked them who they voted for and why. They heard from people who had lost their jobs and experienced other hardships, voting out of pain, not hate.

We were asked at the conference if in the work of Together For Humanity we talk about differences, or just the similarities. I explained that we certainly discuss both. To do otherwise would be dishonest and ultimately not helpful to building trust between communities.

Juggling similarities and differences is key to our work, and was also part of my preparation of the quotes for the conference. I was aware of the Islamic teaching that “...if anyone slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people. And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people” (10). There is a Jewish quote that is very similar, but with one significant difference. It compares the saving of a Jewish life to saving the world (11). Fortunately, I was able to find authoritative sources for universal versions of the same teaching, that equated saving any life with saving humanity (12).

There was yet another hurdle for me with these two quotes. One of the Imams I consulted about these quotes pointed out to me that the full verse includes a critique of some Jews failing to fully embrace this teaching. The full verse in the Quran has an additional statement at the beginning and the end, it states: “We ordained for the children of Israel, that if anyone slew a person ...Our messengers came to them with clear signs, but many of them continued to commit excesses in the land”. The Imam pointed out that it was not a comment about all Jews but some.

Notwithstanding the challenges along the way, seeing the quotes side by side was heart-warming for participants in our session, as they could see evidence of common values in our two traditions. This commonality and the goodwill between me and conference participants does not cancel out the differences between faiths and nations, or the many challenges. Sometimes we will upset people in our own communities or people outside them. We cannot be 100% focused on both at the same time. On those occasions we will apologize like Mr Chown did, but we will persevere with doing the right thing by both. Indeed, we must. 

Notes:

1)       Khaldoun Hajaj, in a facebook post on 15.07.2019 challenged my comment about these human being “slaves”. He wrote “my contention concerns the use of the word Slaves. No one is a slave ... some of us are enslaved”.

2)       https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=524510378

3)       Talmud Sanhedrin 105a. It is a play on words, with the name בלעם (Bilam or Baalam) linked to being בלא עם (Blo- Am, without a nation)

4)       The Maharal, cited in Valdman, C. Y. in his commentary  Yosif Chayim on Ein Yaakov Hamevuar, pub. Machon Torah Mitziyon, Manchester, p. 446

5)       The Imam was Farhan Khalil, the Principal was Samir Halbouni, also a board member of Together For Humanity Foundation, and the Catholic was Kate Xavier, Senior Education officer of Together For Humanity.

6)       The Quran 4:36.

7)       Talmud, Bava Metzia 71a.

8)       Exodus 22:20. 

9)       Numbers 22:2-24:25.

10)    The Quran 5:32.

11)    Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a.

12)    Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a),  states: whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world. The context of this teaching is a warning to witnesses in capital cases to speak the truth. It is a reference to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain and how this murder destroyed not just one man but practically half of the future of mankind. This context supports the Jerusalem universal version.  There are several additional versions of this teaching that are universal, these include, Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer ch. 47, Eliyahu Rabbah 11, Yalkut Shimoni on Exodus 166, and manuscripts from Parma, Italy in the mid-13th century, and from Cesena, dating to about 1400. See http://talmud.faithweb.com/articles/schindler.html and https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/history-ideas/2016/10/the-origins-of-the-precept-whoever-saves-a-life-saves-the-world/

Shame: Personal and Regarding People Seeking Asylum - Ki Teitzei

Shame is sometimes a wonderful thing but, when inappropriate, can be very destructive to human dignity, 1 spirit and motivation. 2 This may explain the tendency to regard shame as something to be avoided. Despite the problems with shame, we are rightly indignant about people who are “shameless”. In an “aha!” moment this week I realised that I may feel angry with someone because I feel some shame that I am not doing the right thing by them. If I am able to embrace shame as a gift and use it as an (imperfect) “values violation detector”, I can respond to it either by making a choice to do better or by clarifying for myself that I am satisfied with the choices I have been making.

There are different types of shame. The Torah discusses a woman who intervenes when her husband is fighting with another man, and uses the word “shameful parts” when it refers to her grabbing his genitals. 3 When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden “they were naked and they were not ashamed”.4 It is only after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they feel shame, perhaps because they then recognise their vulnerability to inconsiderately selfish and even exploitative sexuality. There is something healthy about Adam and Eve initially not being ashamed of their bodies. Shame is more appropriate in respect of moral failure, with reference to actions, words or attitudes, than in respect of natural imperfection. Shame is often unhelpfully felt, e.g. for being “fat”, or disorganised. Inappropriate or excessive feelings of shame have made some people reluctant to embrace shame where it is useful and needed.  

I wonder if shame avoidance is part of the explanation for the way people seeking asylum are being treated. Perhaps there is an underlying sense of shame, which is covered up by denigrating those whom we know deep down deserve our compassion. 5

It is tempting when refusing to assist vulnerable people to portray them as undeserving. The Torah states: “Beware, lest… your eyes will look in an evil way on your needy brother and not give him”. 6 This is interpreted to mean that, in our reluctance to help a needy person, we must not ascribe evil characteristics to the person seeking our help to justify our refusal. An example of this is the inhabitants of the wealthy city of Sodom; they were concerned about diluting their wealth if they accepted outsiders, so instead they denigrated the visitors as evil, 7 not unlike governments in Australia and Israel that use words like “Illegals” or “infiltrators” in relation to people lawfully seeking asylum. 8

In a discussion in a Sydney synagogue last week, one man asserted that not one of the Africans seeking asylum in Israel was a genuine refugee. He also expressed anger about criminal acts that have been perpetrated by African asylum seekers in South Tel Aviv. He can’t possibly know what the circumstances of the asylum seekers were in their home countries and surely he must know that blaming all members of a group for the acts of some is wrong. Could it be that his assertion that the asylum seekers are not genuine is covering up his discomfort with holding a prejudiced position?

The Torah calls for justice for the stranger 9 and particularly for a compassionate response to and protection of people fleeing oppression. “You shall not deliver a slave to his master if he seeks refuge with you from his master. He shall reside among you, wherever he chooses within any of your cities, where it is good for him. You shall not oppress him”. 10 Many of the refugees who have reached Israel are from Eritrea, where they were slaves in all but name before their escape. According to Israeli NGO, The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, “citizens of Eritrea flee a country with no civilian judiciary… and whose citizens are obligated to perform endless ‘national service’. This service is unlike the service performed in other armies and includes performing various forms of hard labour for the benefit of the regime, including: mining, paving roads and agricultural work. Eritreans who defect from national service are considered traitors and if they are caught, they are tortured and sometimes executed or tortured to death”. 11

In Australia and Israel, there are restrictions preventing asylum seekers from enjoying the benefits and dignity of work. Their conditions do not justify the choice to commit criminal acts; however we should not sit in judgement of those whose circumstances 12 are conducive to increasing crime. Instead, we should work at changing the situation. The verse mentioned above commands that former slaves should be housed “among you”. This is interpreted as cautioning against creating a separate city for the former slaves as this might lead to social unrest or “rebellion”. Instead, the former slaves should be integrated among the people. 13

It is a shame that people who have suffered so much are having doors slammed in their faces by governments. We should not accept this. We are not shameless.

Notes
1.    Dignity is regarded as so important that, in our Torah reading, there is a requirement to ensure that, if someone is hanged for a capital offence, the corpse does not remain hanging overnight. Deuteronomy 21:22-23. Dignity in punishment is also emphasised in relating to flogging, where the Torah warns that excess lashes might lead to your brother becoming cheapened in your eyes. Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Dignity is also hinted at when the Torah states: “You shall not see your brother's ox or sheep straying, and you would ignore them. [Rather,] you shall return them to your brother”. The words:  וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ מֵהֶם “you would ignore them” are creatively interpreted in the Talmud as referring to an elder who is unaccustomed to carrying large parcels in public so it would not be dignified for him to do so. In this case the words “you shall ignore them” are taken to mean the exact opposite of the plain in the meaning in the text: he should in fact ignore the lost object, rather than compromise his dignity. Talmud Bava Metzia 30. It comes up again in the command that Israelite soldiers have a designated place outside their camp to relieve themselves and that they carry a spike to dig a hole to cover up their excrement. Deuteronomy 23:13-14 , see Targum Unkelus to 13.
In the case of a debtor, the lender is forbidden from entering the home of the borrower to take a security, but must stand outside. If the borrower is poor and gives his night garments as security, the lender must return the night clothes every evening at sunset so that the poor person can sleep in his garments in dignity. This would be an act of kindness that the Torah predicts would lead the poor borrower to bless the lender. Deuteronomy 24:10-13. 
2.    Tanya Chapter 1 alludes to the problem of being depressed if one sees oneself as wicked
3.    Deuteronomy 25:11
4.    Genesis 2:25
5.    This principle is articulated strongly in our reading this week relating to an escaped slave, discussed in the next paragraph. It is also reflected in the criticism of Amon and Moab whose male members are never to be allowed to join the Jewish people, even to the tenth generation, because they did not welcome the Israelites with bread and water on the road when we left Egypt. Instead they related to us as a threat.  Deuteronomy 23:4-5, compassion for the stranger is also the subject of several commandments relating to sharing one’s crops such as not gleaning and leaving a forgotten sheaf of wheat etc. Deuteronomy 24:19-22
6.    Deuteronomy 15:9
7.    R. Shmelkeh of Nikolsburg. A variation of this in Yalkut Hagershuni creatively reinterprets the last words of the following verse in Genesis 18:20 about the city of Sodom: “Since the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and since their sin has become very grave,”. Literally, the verse is understood as the words of G-d about the inhabitants of Sodom. But it could also be interpreted as the words the Sodomites themselves used about poor visitors to their city, to justify their inhospitable practices - “their sin” – like the sin of the “illegals” , the “economic migrants”, “queue jumpers” or “infiltrators” is very great and this alleged sin is seen as justifying their cruel treatment. Both cited in Nachshoni, Y., (1989) Studies in the Weekly Parshah, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn New York,  p.1280. This citation is from my previous article relating to these themes: http://torahforsociallyawarehasid.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/curbing-compassion-for-asylum-seekers.html August 2012
8.    My friend, KL, insists that the term “asylum seekers” is unhelpful and that we should speak instead of “people seeking asylum”.
9.    Deuteronomy 24:17
10.    Deuteronomy 23:16-17
11.    http://hotline.org.il/en/about-us/
12.    Tanya, Chapter 30
13.    Abarbanel and Ralbag on these verses

Together For Humanity growing up, our 12th birthday and being “unfunded”

Messages from students from many backgrounds and faiths,
sewn together to make the words "Goodness and Kindness"
Cover the NSW State Parliament in March 2004, with students
from state, Christian, Jewish and Muslim schools seated on
Macquarie street following proceedings.

Australians are preparing for the first budget of a government “of grown-ups”. Leaders of not for profit organisations such as one I spoke to this week who runs a domestic violence shelter for migrant women cannot tell her staff if she can continue to employ them much longer.  I am very concerned about the people who need these services. I am less concerned about the fact that the diversity education service that I run which does not address such acute problems has been formally advised it will not be funded again by the commonwealth. This is a good time for such news. Because today is the 12th birthday for our work, our first program with a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim at St Ives North took place 2 May 2002. The age of 12, or the 13th year (1) are the ages of maturity in Judaism. Together For Humanity is ready to be a “grown up”.

Being responsible can sometimes be difficult. We will invariably fail to realise our potential and unless we aim too low, will not always achieve our goals. Yet, I am reassured by the assertion by our president, Madenia Abdurahman, that our intentions and sincerity are important strengths. There are organisations that have better PR, fundraising and other valuable capacities that enable them to shine.  TFH’s capacity to contribute has been based on the authenticity or our people, their decency, honesty and humanity and a cause based on the truth of our common humanity, our right to dignity and respect and opportunity for delighting in engaging with those who seem different.

I was deeply moved by the reflection of Raf F., a student who attended that first session in 2002.
“I was just thinking how it was such an honour to have been there at the very beginning! 

I don't remember much from what was actually said but I remember being amazed and appreciative.

While being at a particular multicultural school, exposure to other faiths and cultures was far from a novel experience, the focus had leant towards why we were all different (yet special of course) but not the ways in which we were the same. I think it really shaped how I defined the community in which I belonged and how I approached interfaith/cross-cultural dialogue as I grew up (as hard as it is to discern my 11-year-old self's perspective!)! I'm so glad this vital cause has continued to grow over the past 12 years!” Moving comments have also been posted by the teacher, Di Barnes, who invited us to St Ives North and one of our current presenters (2).

At a Bar or Bat Mitzvah we draw inspiration from the weeks’ Torah reading. Not always an easy task because the Torah, like the world, challenges us with the prominence of difference.  It tells us about the “Cohen” clan that was extra holy. A male Cohen is forbidden to marry a divorcee and others “because he his holy to his God”. “Marrying these women would disgrace his honour and seed/offspring (3).” I have not yet found any satisfying explanation about how the fact that a woman was previously married might be a problem for someone holy. Surely every human being is compatible with holiness, provided their actions and heart are in the right place. It would be tempted to pretend these laws don’t exist, but we need not fear the truth about the texts, our own or those of others.

Reading such laws challenges me. I wonder what my Christian, Atheist or Muslim readers think when they read this. I know that many people get stuck on texts or practices like these. I don’t think we need to get stuck on these. This is not necessarily because there is always an explanation that justifies all of this and makes it all ok. Rather it is because alongside these realities are others.

In the case of the Torah here is another set of laws. The chief Cohen was forbidden to attend even his own parents’ funeral because of a prohibition against coming into contact with the dead (4).  Despite this, if he finds an unattended corpse, it doesn’t need to enquire whether the person who died was a saint or a prostitute, a fellow Cohen or a bastard, he must attend to the burial and dignity of that person (5). We can all connect with that.

We later read about the obligation to set aside a corner of the harvest for the poor (6), even if the harvest is for the purpose of fulfilling other religious obligations, the poor must be attended to (7). Indeed they should even when our country attends to deficits and defence spending in the budget process. Laws like these draw many of us together even as others, if we focused on them exclusively, alienate people from each other or from the text as a whole.

And so Together For Humanity goes ahead with the support of others, including the Community Relations Commission/NSW Government, Andrew and Nicola Forrest of the Minderoo Foundation of, our patron Janet Holmes a Court, the Becher Foundation, long-time supporter Talal Yassine, the Magid family, and many others who give time, heart and money.  We will continue to add value with the help of our amazing volunteers, including our chairman John McGrath and our board, our current intern Malin Wiander, our webmaster Gary Hoggard, designer Paul Bennet and Professor Di Yerbury. We are grateful for support from our long time educational leader Donna Jacobs Sife, Uncle Lex Dadd and all our presenters from many faiths and so many others.  A double thank you to the man who sparked it all: the late Joseph Sheridan, to his mate and a key presenter/organiser 2002-2006 Ray Corbin and to the teachers and students who engaged with our message. Kathleen Gordon, Ronit Baras and Sheikh Ahmad, thank you for TFH QLD. Sheikh Haisam, your contribution is unforgettable. The late Sabina Van Der Linden, and Costa Vrisakis, and Rabbi Nochum Schapiro of Chabad House, we would not be here without you.

We will be ok and continue to have a meaningful impact, but our Government, just as we ourselves as citizens and communities, must do the responsible thing for the most vulnerable people in our society. That is a principle we can all come together for, it reflects our humanity.






  Notes
1)    The age of 12 is the age of maturity and obligation for keeping commandments for females, and the age of 13 for males is when they are obligated to observe commandments. This is referred to as Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah
2)    https://www.facebook.com/events/1465942240307971/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
3)    Leviticus 21:7
4)    Seforno
5)    Leviticus 21:11
6)    Talmud Nazir 47
7)    Leviticus 23:22
8)    Midrash Chefetz, from a manuscript, cited in Torah Shlaima, Emor 206, note 156

Other People’s Money. Payment for Idealistic Occupations

“I never told this to anyone before”, the Israeli man sitting across me last night in the Succah[i] says. “When I was a child we would walk two kilometres from our home in Jerusalem to the Synagogue. The Rabbi was a really humble man. He did not take a salary for his work as a Rabbi. He made his living working for the burial society. He lived 4 kilometres from the Synagogue and he would walk home with us and stop our place each Saturday on his way home…I never met another Rabbi like him”.

I have been thinking about whether being paid for community work is a problem. In my own case, my heart is set on promoting inter-religious and cross cultural respect and eradicating hatred, an issue I have worked on full time for the last 6 years. Yet, my livelihood is derived from the existence of the problem that I am trying to address. Noel Pearson touches on the role of bureaucrats in entrenched in an article the Australian Newspaper “Their purpose is to keep the poor under harness, forever dependent on what they call service delivery…using them as fodder for the service delivery industries of the welfare state[ii]”. This post is about what my traditions teaches about being pair for work in idealistic occupations.

Torah Students Supported by Others

One of the trends among a section of the very orthodox Jewish community is for men to study the

Torah, full time, for many years continuing even after marriage in institutions of study called Kollels. The families of the Kollel scholars are supported partly by the income of the wives working, but often living off philanthropy and government benefits.

One early source for this practice is hinted at in the Torah reading this week. “And of Zebulun he (Moses) said, rejoice Zebulun in your going out and Yissachar in your tents[iii]”. The verse is interpreted as relating to a partnership between the tribe of Yissachar to study Torah[iv], while Zebulun engaged in commerce and supported the tribe of Yissachar. The reward for the Torah study would be split between them[v].

The Dependence Disgrace

Despite a tradition of patronage for Torah scholars, this practice has been harshly condemned by Maimonides. He writes, “though I decided not to refer to this subject again…I have changed my mind, since what I have to say will not please most if possibly all the world of Torah scholars. Know! The phrase (don’t use the Torah) “as a spade to dig with[vi]” means that you must not use the Torah as a means or instrument of livelihood…but men have distorted the plain obvious meaning…[vii]. “Whoever deliberately sets out to devote himself to Torah (study) and not work for a livelihood, but depend on charity has desecrated the divine name and brought the Torah into disrepute[viii]”. He cites many examples of scholars who earned their livelihood separately from their study. His argument is bolstered by the widespread disgust felt by many secular Israeli Jews about their religious countrymen who study all day and don’t work for a living. Yet, the practice continues.

Practical considerations

While it is true that great scholarship has been achieved after hours and a lot of community work is done on a voluntary basis, there is more that can be done if people are able to devote themselves full time to it.

Maimonides own experience is worth considering, for many years he was supported by his own brother David who was a wealthy merchant while he studied and wrote. After his brother’s death he did support himself by working as a doctor for the Sultan, but it was hardly conducive to scholarship. He described his daily routine in a letter to a friend who he advises not to bother visiting because he would only be able to spare a few minutes as much as he longs to see him.

“I live in Fostat and the Sultan lives in Cairo (a mile and a half distance)…I must see him (the Sultan) every morning to check on his health… by the time I come back to Fostat, half the day is gone. Under no circumstances do I come earlier. And I am ravenously hungry by then.

When I come home, my foyer is always full of people – Jews and non-Jews…people who love me and people who hate me…, all of whom have been waiting for me to come home… I get off of my donkey, wash my hands, and go out into the hall to see them. I apologize and ask that they should be kind enough to give me a few minutes to eat... Then I go out to heal them...Patients go in and out until nightfall, and sometimes – I swear to you by the Torah – it is two hours into the night before they are all gone. I talk to them and prescribe for them even while lying down on my back from exhaustion. And when night begins, I am so weak, I cannot even talk anymore[ix]…”

Perhaps Maimonides would have been better off in the situation of another Doctor-Torah scholar, the Rashbatz, who was prevented from practicing medicine by an oppressive Government. He then felt justified in accepting payment for his religious work[x], and probably did a much better job of it than anyone can do on top of a full time job.

A way around the issue of being paid for teaching Torah is to think of it as compensation for lost income[xi]. The Rabbinic Judge, Karna, one of the examples cited by Maimonides, earned his living as a water carrier rather than as a religious functionary. However, when Karna was asked to adjudicate disputes based on Torah law, he asked the litigants to pay for a replacement water carrier[xii] so that he would not lose out on his meagre income.

Intention

I think the most serious issue here is the one raised by Noel Pearson, in which people harm the very people they are entrusted to help. In the same passage that Torah scholars are urged to combine their study with work, there is a warning for all who occupy themselves with the community, to do so for altruistically “for the sake of heaven[xiii]”. All of us who have the privilege of meaningful work in the community sector are obligated to be alert to ulterior motives, whether these are ego or job security. Good governance and accountability are also critical for maintaining checks and balances.

It make a big impression on me as a child when my father came home from a newly formed “community representative body” or parliament one night and said we decided to disband the group as soon as it has achieved its purpose rather than it continue to exist and become a new “monster”.  All of us in in the community sector must justify the wages we take in terms of the benefit we provide to clients and the community and the impact we have. We dare not do any less.  

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[i] Temporary dwellings used during the festival of succot

[ii] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/from-claymore-to-cape-york-the-poverty-endures/story-e6frg786-1226483728207

[iii] Deuteronomy 33:18

[iv] We find a reference to member of the Yissachar tribe acting as scholars “understanding of the times” In Chronicles I, 12:33

[v] Rashi, Midrash Tanchuma

[vi] Pirkey Avot 4:6

[vii] Maimonides commentary on Pirkey Avot

[viii] Maimonides Yad Hachazaka, laws of Torah study, 3:10-11

[ix] Wein Berel, http://www.jewishhistory.org/maimonides-letter-to-a-friend/

[x] Chill, A, (1991) “Abarbanel on Pirkey Avot”, Shepher-Hermon Press, New York, p.247 (this book also includes a compilation of other commentaries as well drawn from Midrash Shemuel

[xi] Abarbanel makes this argument in his commentary to Pirkey Avot, I am sure there are other sources

[xii] Talmud Ketubot 105a, cited in Maimonides commentary on Pirkey Avot

[xiii] Pirkey Avot 2:2

Curbing Compassion for Asylum Seekers?

Restraining Compassion

Australians are witnessing a dramatic shift in refugee policy. Only a few years back a new Labour Government emphatically rejected the previous government’s strategy of sending Asylum seekers to a third country, Nauru. In a matter of days Legislation is being enacted to allow this practice to resume. It has not been an easy decision, clearly some government MPs have reservations. Refugee advocates see this as a step away from a compassionate approach. Some have cried racism and prejudice, claiming that if those seeking entry to Australia were white farmers from Zimbabwe there would be a much more welcoming stance. Others vehemently reject any accusation of prejudice.

There has also been some discussion about an article by a member of the Jewish community about the need to curb our compassion (not the authors choice of title), or redirect it from those on the boats to other refugees waiting in queues. What contribution does my tradition bring to this debate?

The Stranger

Perhaps the most repeated commandment in the Torah is to love the stranger, often combined with a reminder of Jews’ experience of being an outsider in Egypt where we were made slaves. We must be concerned with the welfare of those who are vulnerable and are seen as outsiders/strangers.

To Curb and Not to Curb Compassion

In our Torah reading this week we have instructions both to curb our compassion and not to do so depending on the circumstances.  We are taught to curb our compassion in cases involving a person who leads others astray by promoting idol worship[i] and a Murder[ii]. Both cases involve extremely serious threats to the community, the latter to life itself and the former to spiritual life. In the case of a vulnerable person we are told “you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not close your hand from your needy brother[iii]”.

Deserving

Some have portrayed those arriving on our shores in boats as “queue jumpers”. Others have argued that because there are some Muslims who are extremists, this should influence attitudes to Muslim arrivals in general. Generalising from a tiny minority to a huge majority is neither reasonable nor just.

I don’t think it is racist to argue like my Darwin taxi driver did yesterday; that Australia’s charity should be prioritised to benefit people living in Australian, i.e. Aboriginal people living in dire poverty or that we should be equitable in our treatment of refugees whether they are in queues or boats. We are taught that in the administration of justice we must not be swept away by emotion[iv], instead we must be fair to all. Fairness includes being alert to unconscious prejudices that many of us still have in spite of our tolerant or accepting intentions.  

A teacher in Adelaide reflected last week on the fact that many Australians believed initial reports 10 years ago about asylum seekers that “those people” threw their children overboard. Some of us were prepared to believe that the people on these boats were so different from us that they lacked the fundamental human quality of parental love.

It is tempting when refusing to assist vulnerable people to portray them as undeserving. We are warned against this by our sages. The Torah states, “Beware, lest… your eyes will look in an evil way on your needy brother and not give him[v]”. At the simple level it means having an ungenerous perspective, but it is also interpreted to mean that in our reluctance to help a needy person we must not ascribe evil characteristics to the person seeking our help to justify our refusal[vi].

Changed Circumstances Justifies a change of policy

The home affairs minister, Jason Clare, argued on Radio this week that the Labour Government was justified in changing its position because the reality had changed. 600 people had died while trying to gain asylum in Australia by travelling here by boat. The principle is sound, when a law causes significant harm, it is quite reasonable to review the law. God made a law that had the potential to lead to a situation where “there would not be any poor person among you[vii]”. This would be the result of a system of Jubilee and Sabbatical years, in which poverty would not entrench itself[viii]. Every seven years all debts would be cancelled[ix] and poor people who sold themselves into slavery would go free, in the Jubilee they would regain ownership of any property they sold.

The Torah makes it clear that the blessed state of a poverty free society is conditional on obedience of the law[x]. This ambitious scheme was dependent on people transcending their natural self-interest. Some Twelve hundred years later, it became clear that the result of the law was to harm the very people it sought to help. The sage Hillel observed that in the lead up to the Sabbatical year people stop lending money to each other. He found a way around the law, essentially allowing lenders to transfer their loans to the court[xi].   

The application of the principle of changed circumstances to laws about Asylum seekers is less straight forward. In both cases well-intentioned laws are confronted with reality tests and found wanting. However, in the case of loans, the law was a direct and unavoidable cause of hardship. There was no other option but to give up the idealistic law. In the case of Asylum seekers, it could be argued that there is another option; we can choose to allow people to come here by plane which apparently is half the cost that they are charged by the operators of these boats. Others would argue that this is not viable as there are simply far more people seeking to come to Australia than it could accommodate.

Justice

More broadly we are meant to see our assistance to those in needs not as charity but as an act of justice[xii]. The Torah states that if a poor person will cry out to God because he cannot get a loan in the lead up to the seventh year[xiii], this will be considered a sin for the person refusing to lend him money[xiv]. This is because the person who has the ability to give is like a king’s bursar, entrusted by the king to distribute funds. When the poor person cries out it is like a citizen complaining to the king about the bursar withholding funds that the king had allocated for him[xv].  It has also been taught that the reason that one person is poor is order to create an opportunity for another to have the merit of providing for him/her[xvi]. Our decision to share our resources with an individual knocking on our door, either of our house, our embassy or in a leaky boat needs to be informed by the knowledge that ultimately all our wealth is not absolutely ours but has been given to us in trust, perhaps to share with that exact needy person.

Further Considerations

On one hand there is something beautiful about the way no expense is spared when someone is in trouble, such as some adventurer in a row boat on the high seas who lost her paddle. Yet, questions about equitable use of limited public funds sometimes need to be asked. Questions also need to be asked about the justice of treating some people harshly in order to deter other people from risking their lives. Australia will be bringing in plain packaging for cigarettes to discourage smoking, it could be argued that if we applied the same logic being used in the asylum seeker debate to smokers, we would be locking them up to help deter others from smoking. 

There is more that can be said about all this. We are taught, it is not for you to complete the work, but you are not free to desist from it. 

Closing with hope that fewer people have the need to flee their home countries, and that wise, compassionate and equitable response are found to respond to those who choose to flee or migrate for whatever reason. Until then, let us never lose sight of humanity, both our own and those of all our fellow humans. 

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[i] Deuteronomy 13:9

[ii] Deuteronomy 19:13

[iii] Deuteronomy 15:7

[iv] Exodus 23:3, “and the poor, you should not be glorify in his (legal) fight”.

[v] Deuteronomy 15:9

[vi] R. Shmelkeh of Nikolsburg, a variation of this also appears in Yalkut Hagershuni that reinterprets the phase in genesis 18:20 about the city of Sodom, “their sin is very grievance” which literally is understood as the words of God about the inhabitants of Sodom, but could also be interpreted as the words of the Sodomites about poor visitors to their city which justified their inhospitable practices. Both cited in Nachshoni, Y., (1989) Studies in the Weekly Parshah, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn New York,  p.1280

[vii] Deuteronomy 15:4

[viii] Chizkuni based on the Bchor Shor

[ix] Deuteronomy 15:2, this idealistic conception of the cancelation of debts is hard to reconcile with the restriction of this amnesty only to Jews. One more practical explanation of the law by Chizkuni ties it to the ability to pay in normal years by selling crops. Jewish farmers were forbidden to sell crops in the Sabbatical year and therefore did not have the ability to pay. Non-Jewish farmers were not obligated to leave their land fallow which meant that they could pay their debts. According to this explanation Jewish craftsmen should have to pay, while non-Jewish unemployed people, especially farm hands who might find work on Jewish farms that would now be directly impacted by the Sabbatical year should be freed from their debts. This is not the case. Perhaps the counter argument would be that the law is formulated according to the majority. What I like about this argument is that it implies a rejection of discrimination by seeking a technical justification. Of course it would suit me better if the law treated both Jews and non-Jews equally.

[x] Deuteronomy 15:5

[xi] Sifrei, the technical fix interprets the words “do not press your brother for payment” as applying only to a direct transaction between the lender and “his brother”, it does not explicitly restrict the court from collecting debts, so by transferring the loan to the court collection becomes permissible.

[xii] This point is discussed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Likutei Sichot, based on the Hebrew word for giving to the poor being Tzedakah which is related to the word Tzedek/justice.

[xiii] During the 7^th year all loans were cancelled in Biblical times. This led lenders to be reluctant to lend as the year approached.

[xiv] Deuteronomy 15:9

[xv] Michca Belulah

[xvi] Ohr Hachayim on 15:7