Making Poverty History Listen to these stories. Behind them lies an extraordinary insight into the nature of Jewish ethics: Story 1. Rabbi Abba used to bind money in his scarf, sling it on his back, and place it at the disposal of the poor. (Ketubot 67b) Story 2. Mar Ukba had a poor man in […]
The Limits of Grief You are children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be […]
Judaism’s Vision for Social Justice If you seek to understand Judaism’s social vision, look at its anti-poverty legislation: If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your G-d is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tight-fisted toward your poor brother. Rather be […]
Seeing and Hearing To appreciate the originality of Judaism we must grasp one fundamental point. Unlike almost every other culture in ancient and modern times, Judaism is a religion of sound, not sight; of hearing rather than seeing; of the word as against the image. The G-d encountered by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by Moses […]
Tzedakah: the Untranslatable Virtue Tucked away in toady’s sedra, almost as an aside in the course of explaining the law of shemittah (the year of “release” in which debts were canceled), is one of Judaism’s most majestic institutions, the principle of tzedakah: If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the […]
