“Once we were slaves in Egypt” is the ultimate Jewish story. The memory of slavery is burned on our consciousness not to induce us to amass enough wealth so that it never happens again. It is a call to be sensitive to the plight of the underclass. Our slavery ended because of divine providence, not because we were so clever. Some believe the story is a literal history and others believe it is our Jewish mythology. Either way, it defines who we are and what we stand for.
My life brings me into contact with Jews across North America. I like to discuss politics, and I’m beginning to see a pattern. Many financially wealthy Jews are advocating policies to cut taxes, reduce subsidies for the poor, and stop the EPA from mandating pollution regulations. They tell me the system is broken. But the system seems to be working pretty well for them. And these policies will likely enhance their wealth.
First a few assumptions:
Who is financially wealthy? While I don’t know anyone’s bank account, I can suggest a few litmus tests. Is there a second home? Was an overseas vacation taken since the financial crisis of 2008? Are the children graduating college debt free? Perhaps you can add a few wealth markers of your own. Any one of these shows an abundance of liquidity most would envy.
How can I attribute similar attitudes to a whole class of people? Do all wealthy believe the above? No. Have I used a random sample, an unbiased questionnaire, and mathematical analysis? No. It’s just my observation. But psychological research shows that affluence is a treadmill that feeds on itself. Wealth itself induces the pursuit of greater wealth.
Are the economic policies of our country sound? No. Are our politicians moving rapidly to fix them? No. But I believe the economic and political solutions will be found in the middle of extreme points of view, and I am reacting to the one sided rhetoric I hear.
The Torah tells us to leave a portion of our fields unharvested so that the poor may come onto our land and take what they need to feed themselves. The Torah doesn’t say, “Take a bath and get a job.” Isaiah tells us that empathy is not enough. We must open our homes to care for the needy.
Many of the wealthy I speak to give generously to synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish federations. These donations are actually government subsidized gifts to the institutions we need for ourselves. We need synagogues to house our worship and meet as a community. We need our Rabbis to officiate over our life cycle events, to counsel us, and to teach us. We need our day schools to give our children and grandchildren religious training and to prepare them, in a superior way, to compete in a global society. Our federations support all the above. And about $.30 of every dollar we give is paid by the government through the charitable deduction feature on our taxes. Does this fulfill the moral imperative to feed and clothe the needy?
You could match your donation to the synagogue with an equal gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or you can support the government programming so reviled by many.
The Affordable Health Care Act, at its core, is a plan to give each person a minimum level of health care. Forty million Americans have no health care. This act will change that, and we the taxpayers have to pay for it. It has been given the pejorative name Obamacare by those who wish to repeal it. This act fulfills the imperative to care for the needy.
The headlines in this week’s newspaper were, “Line Grows Long For Free Meals At U.S. Schools” and “Public Sector Sheds Jobs; Blacks Are Hit Hardest”. Once we were slaves in Egypt.
If I have to watch one more “clean coal” commercial on TV, I’m going to throw up. Coal is a cheap, dirty way to produce electricity while fouling our air, land and water. The Torah tells us to give the land periodic sabbaticals. We must let the land rest to preserve it. The Torah also tells us that the land is not our, it belongs to God. We may use it if we care for it. The greed for cheap power that destroys our climate is not compatible with Jewish values.
Every issue has its extremes. The righteous will remember the needs of those less fortunate. The wise will find solutions that respect all points of view. As we enter the 2012 election season, try to block out the negative campaigns of all sides. Remember the underclass, for once we were slaves in Egypt. Perhaps we need to pay a little more to see that the needy are clothed, fed and their medical needs are provided for. Perhaps we should think of the beautiful planet on which we live, and chose to pay a bit more to make it sustainable for our children and grandchildren. On Election Day, consider voting for candidates who pursue the wise middle path. The best leader will remember their responsibility to create a just society for all.
I’ll only add that, of course, we want to support candidates who support Israel but that isn’t the ONLY criteria. There are some pols who support Israel for whom that is the only decent thing they’ve got going for them. I will not vote for a loathsome candidate merely because he mouths the right phrases about Israel.
Starting our conversations with “Once we were slaves in Egypt” could be a segue toward bringing people together to talk a common language that respects government, rights of the downtrodden and rights of the individual.
I don’t believe that “rich Jews” are acting badly. It seems to me that we Jews all want the same thing whether rich, poor or in between. We want our country to be secure financially, free of terrorism, and supportive of those less fortunate. We believe that this country has been the best place for for Jews to thrive after centuries of being second class citizens in other countries. We know that if we ran our lives the same way the government
does, we would be bankrupt and in fact would probably be in jail. So real change is necessary. We have a serious job problem in this country. There are far too many unemployed and therefore becoming poor. There are many who are leaving the job force because of no work available. There are frustrated youth who are occupying places because there are no jobs for them and they see the unfairness in Wall St. and other places. Corporations must be encouraged to grow jobs, not discouraged from doing so. Most of these “corporations” are small businesses. The really large ones have found ways to satisfy their stockholders by becoming international based where taxation and regulations are favorable towards them. The smaller corporations are frustrated because they don’t know what to expect from the government created business climate so they are postponing expansion. We need to have a tax system that is fair to all not just the middle class, the poor, and the very rich. We need to devise a way for the rich to pay more of their fair share, but not by discouraging job creation through excessive regulation and taxation of their businesses. A flat tax like 20% without exceptions for all incomes would accomplish that. It will never happen here unless our politicians are committed primarily to doing what is best for the whole country …not just what is best for their re-elections. They need to be free from the pressure of lobbyists with their special interest priorities. We have the best health care system in the world for most people. Of course, it should be made better so that all of our people are covered in some way. Forcing insurance companies to pay for pre-existing conditions violates the basic principal of insurance…that those in a large group have enough healthy people to cover those that become unhealthy. The deck would be stacked against them. They would have to increase their premiums greatly in order to produce the dividends that their stockholders expect.This country has become the envy of the world because of our freedoms, our job creating capitalism, our generosity towards the less fortunate both here and in other lands, and our country’s fabulous Constitution.
Art
Wow and thanks.
Our son, Noah, returns on Saturday, with his girlfriend, Erin, after nearly 3 months travelling through India, Malaysia and and eastern outlying island in the Phillipines.
In one of his emails, he mentioned seeing Indian government and other public buildings allowed to decay, while private gated high-rise buildings were being built. Imagine: high rise Edens were abutting the hovels pictured in “Slumdog Millionaire.”
As much as Noah knows about slums, this idea of “planned and intentional indifference” living next door to private luxury set off a spark.
My response was that this was a discussion of Public Policy and that this was not a discussion of hours or days, but rather one of years.
In 1968 and 1969, as I travelled through and worked in Europe, I noticed that the price of a liter of gas was equivalent to that of a gallon in America.
At which point, I realized that our expansion and our standard of living was supported by cheap energy.
Part of that cheapness had to do with our natural, god-given resources. Another part had to do with our indifference to the cost of clean-up. That latter cost would fall to our children and to our grandchildren.
That cost of cheap energy did not include the health costs resulting from the illnesses – many quite serious and life-long – of people affected by air, water, food, drug and the reality of what it means to unlock the earth’s and the ocean’s treasures.
We, the human species, multiply. And as we do, we spread our indifference to the world we inhabit, the land we squat on, the seas we fish from (and draw oil from).
Anthropologists tell us that of all the animals in God’s Kingdom, the gorilla is the only one that befouls its own nest.
Geologically speaking, we are not so far away.
If nothing else, Torah teaches us to have a respect and care for each other and for the land we are entrusted with.
If it costs more today to do that, then so be it.
The free ride is over and we need to recognize the costs of living a life that will leave this earth in better condition than was left to us.
We are only stewards.
Stewards of the land.
Stewards of our societies and our ability to live civally alongside each other.
We are living in a time where we have lost the ability to get along.
We have become indifferent to the willingness to find any common ground whatsoever.
We are balking at the reality of the need to protect our earth.
One percent of us are savers. The other 99% cannot afford to give up their day jobs.
As a nation and as individuals, we seem unwilling to recognize the gigantic structural changes in our economy.
The jobs we have lost will not return. The cost of automating our manufacturing capacity is huge. And doing so will only create a tiny fraction of equivalent jobs lost.
Staying as a service economy makes us overly dependent on other nations, too many of whom are unstable.
Unwillingness to retreat from carbon fuels, makes us dependent on some of the worst of these unstable or unreliable nations. And it completely unbalances our nation’s Profit & Loss Statement.
The last two Wars, an increase in Medicare Prescription Benefits and more have all been bought but not paid for.
Tax cuts to the rich which produced no job growth have stolen from our revenues whle providing no tangible benefits.
A collpase in the housing market, vey much a function of relying on making mortgages to uncredit-worthy people, has collapsed our financial institutions.
Unregulated financial giants who operated on 3% capital and 97% leverage have created significant Federal deficits and put us into a second tier among nations. Not there are too many first tier nations left.
More than any time in our history – or certainly since the most uncivil of Civil Wars – we need to find common ground and leave America and the world a better place for our children.
As our fathers and mothers did for us.
Abraham Lincoln said, “With malice towards none, with charity for all…”
Why do we have such a hard time with these words?”
We, the once-huddled masses, surely know better.
harvey braunstein
larchmont, ny
Isolating your Torah cases to support your liberal agenda is hardly a rounded method to approaching application of Torah.
Before you simply dismiss Jews that do not wish to give away their wealth as being greedy, consider that our forefather Joseph implemented a conservative approach to wealth waste in the seven years of “fat” in order to sustain a nation through the seven “lean” years.
Even in your example that we are commanded to leave a portion of our field for the poor, it is with the condition that only 1/60th portion be offered.
Additionally, prosbul was implemented by the “liberal” Rabbi, Hillel.
It is with a very real eye towards the fact that being wealthy does not guarantee continued wealth, but rather maintaining fiscal responsibility.