Dvar TorahParshat Bereshit

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Sydney Nestel

Shabbat Shalom,

This week’s parsha is Bereshit – Genesis, the first parsha of the Torah cycle,

and the story of the creation of the world and its mythic earliest times.

Now one might be tempted, to use such an auspicious parsha to speculate on

the nature of God, the nature of creation, what existed before the beginning,

the nature of the heavenly host, or other similar metaphysical of ontological

problems. But we are Reconstructionists, and commanded by our

Reconstructionist Rebbe’s – Kaplan, Eisenstein, Steinberg, Hirsch – to

focus on the immanent, rather than the transcendent, aspects of the divine

and its creation. In this, our Reconstructionist viewpoint reflects the

traditional midrash:

Why does the torah starts with the letter Bet - as in “B’ reshit”? To

teach us the we should not spend too much time speculating,

fascinating as that may be, on issues of what preceded creation, or the

nature of heaven or of hell. Just as the letter Bet is closed on three

sides and open only on one side, facing forward, the Torah (and by

extension our own focus) is on the here and now and the future that is

before us.

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So what do I wish to focus on today? I wish to focus on our Human, and

Jewish responsibility to end poverty. And in particular, our responsibility to

organize society, through effective and righteous public policy, in order to

achieve that end.

First, I hope to show you – if it needs showing at all – that the essence of our

humanity demands that we work to end, or at least reduce poverty. Second, I

wish to point out the extent of the problem, even here in Toronto, Ontario,

and Canada. Third, I will make some suggestions as to how you can help

move us in the desired direction: perhaps a little bit closer to the Messianic

era.

To begin – in the beginning –

“Why does the Hebrew Bible begin with the creation of the world, and not

with the story of Abraham, or of the Exodus?” The rabbis themselves ask

this question. If the Tanach is the story of the Jewish people and its

relationship to God, why start the story before the first Jew?

One of the answers given is that this is done to show that all land, all wealth

and all property is God’s. So when God commands us to share the produce

of our fields with the poor we will not say: “This grain is mine. Why should

I share it?”

It is ours only because God has allowed us to have custody of it, and it is

God who is commands us to give some of that grain to those in need.

Our wealth, according to this midrash, is not the creation of our hands

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alone. We are obliged to share it with all of God’s creatures. This is what our

traditions teaches: that our wealth is not ours alone; it must be shared.

In another midrash the rabbis ask: “Why does God initially create only one

human being? If his wish was that humans populate and fill the world, why

not create many humans at the time of creation, as he did with the fish of the

sea and the other animals?” The answer offered in the Talmud

is that God did this so that no person would think himself better then his

fellow. We are all – literally – related. We are family. We are brothers and

sisters – all of humanity – and we should treat each other as we would

brothers and sisters. This is what our tradition teaches: that all people are

bothers and sisters.

And yet another question. “What is the first bad thing to arise in the

world?”

As we all know, God creates the world in six days, and after each step of

creation he pauses to admire his handy-work and – in the words of our

parsha – “God saw that it was good”.

When, then, is the first point in Bible, that God saw that it was not good?

Genesis 2 verse 15 reads:

Now YHVH God said: “It is not good for the human to be alone. I

will create a sustainer beside him.”

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Most of us will recognize this verse as the preamble to the creation of Eve.

We usually view it as a message about the human need for romantic

engagement.

But it is much more than that. “The Human” – either Adam or all of

humanity, depending on your point of view – is less than whole, is

incomplete, is imperfect, is not good by itself. It needs other humans –

beside it – to sustain itself. The fact that the first such Other is Eve, is

secondary.

The main point, it seems to me, is that people, as individuals, are

incomplete. No man is an island. Only in our engagement with others do we

find meaning and our true potential as humans. Only in sustaining others

are we in turn sustained. (In its highest form this mutual sustainment is

love.) Our very essence – our vitality – is brought out only through our

helping encounters with others.

This is what the French Jewish Philosopher Emmanuel Levinas meant when

he famously said: “Ethics precedes ontology”. In other words, ethics is at

the core of what it is to be human. It preceded all other ideas, and priorities.

We literally cannot Be human, without Being in society; in mutual

sustainability with our fellow humans. Anything else – as God notes in our

parsha – is “not good”.

This is what our tradition teaches: that mutual responsibility, mutual

sustainment, love, are the essence of being human.

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And this idea plays out – in the Torah - from the story of Cain and Able,

through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, Joseph, and

finally Moses. What is the central point of the story of Cain and Able. It is

precisely that “I am my brothers keeper”. The story narrowly condemns

sibling rivalry, and murder, but sets the stage for all of human responsibility.

The arc of the stories of Genesis, progressively widens the circle of

responsibility, and provides progressively better and better examples of how

to handle conflict.

By the time we reach the end of the Joseph story, not only do we not have

siblings murdering each other, we have them worrying about each others

welfare, actively taking risks for each other, and perhaps most importantly

changing their individual and collective behaviour. Joseph uses his God

given gift of intelligence not for personal aggrandizement but to institute

central planning in order to save all of Egypt (people who are not his family

and who mostly he does not even know), and he shows a new humility in

acknowledging and helping all of his brothers and all their extended

family members. The brothers in turn are willing to risk their lives to save

Benjamin.

But of course the Torah does not end with the story of Joseph. Moses, in

addition to being the agent of liberation, is also, – and from the traditional

point of view more importantly – the great lawgiver. Laws that are meant

not only to regulate individual behaviour, but also organize society at large,

by stressing mutual responsibility. The maser ani – or poor tithe commanded

in Deuteronomy – is the first, as far as I know, legally mandated public

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welfare system. Beyond, individual acts of tzedakkah, and of leket and peya

(spillage and corners that must be left for the poor), each Jew is

commanded to donate one tenth of their produce, in the third year of the

seven year shmita cycle, to the poor. According to the Babylonian Talmud,

this produce was sold, and the money used to feed the poor for the entire

seven-year cycle. This fund was administered by the Priests, and later by the

Sanhedrin. The poor tithe was in addition to the other tithes, trumot, and

voluntary gifts, that went to the Priests, Levites, and general public works.

According to the Jerusalem Talmud, after the Temple was destroyed, and as

many Jews fell into poverty, this ten percent poor tax was collected every

year, not just one in seven. The Talmud further implies that giving to

publicly administered funds was more popular, or at least considered more

worthy than individual acts of one-on-one charity. In tractate Shabbat we

read:

R. Abba said in the name of R. Shimon ben Lakish: the person who

lends money [to a poor person] is greater than the person who gives

charity; but the one who throws money into the common purse is

greater than either.

Whatever the accuracy of this particular Talmudic history, there can be no

doubt that Jewish communities throughout the ages have taken it upon

themselves to organize the community’s public policy so as to help the poor.

The medieval Sefer Chasidim tells us:

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If a community lacked a synagogue and a shelter for the poor, it is

first obligated to build a shelter for the poor.

In other words: our societal obligations precede our spiritual and ritual

obligations.

Publicly administered funds where established in every Jewish settlement,

and taxes were levied to finance them. There were school funds, dowry

funds, synagogue funds, general poor funds and soup kitchens. And there

were tax collectors. And though there where no police or jails to enforce

payment, social pressure, public shame, and in some cases shunning – or

cherem – where used to make sure most people paid their fair share.

As Maimonides wrote in his 12th century book the Mishna Torah:

Every city with even a few Jewish people must appoint tzedakah

collectors, people who are well-known and trustworthy, who will go

door to door each week before Shabbat and take from everyone what

they are expected to give. And they distribute the money before each

Shabbat and give to each poor person enough food for 7 days – this is

called the kupah.

Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Contributions to the Poor,

Chapter 9:1-2

Maimonides even goes on to tell us exactly when the burden of supporting

community organizations falls upon us. If a person temporarily resides in a

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new city, he is obligated to support the soup kitchen from the third Shabbat,

the general poor fund from the third Rosh Hodesh, and the school, dowry

and synagogue funds after one year.

But the Jewish obligation to organize a society that helps the weak does not

consist only of communal charity funds. Maimonides further states, in his

commentary on Leviticus:

The highest form of charity is to step in with help to prevent a person

from becoming poor. This includes offering a loan or employment,

investing in a business, or any other form of assistance that will avoid

poverty. The basis for this principle is the commandment in our

passage: you shall strengthen the poor.

Maimonides’ commentary to Leviticus 25:35-38

So free loan societies, and community sponsored apprenticeship

programmes where also the norm in Jewish communities throughout the

ages. Furthermore, the Torah’s injunctions to pay fair and timely wages,

where enforced by many local councils and rabbis. We even have a case of

the Rabbis of Lodz siding with Jewish trade unionists in their strike against

Jewish owned factories in the 1920s.

It is not yesh me-ayin – ex nihilio – that so many Jews came to be active in

progressive movements. We come from a long line that endorses communal

responsibility for alleviating the plight of the poor and the weak.

* * *

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In Ontario today:

One in ten people are officially poor, and worse, one in six children

are poor.

Low-income families are poorer today than they were 12 years ago.

The typical poor person is a single parent, a disabled person, an

aboriginal person, or simply old.

A typical single parent with two children who is on public assistance

has an income – from all sources – that is $9500 below the poverty

line.

A person living on welfare typically gets only half of what it takes to

reach the poverty line. A four-person family gets $19,302 a year –

when the government itself says that the poverty line for a family of

four in Toronto is over $38,000 a year.

A disabled person living on a disability pension receives only

$12,000 a year! Hardly enough for food and rent, let alone whatever

special help or equipment they may need.

A single person on welfare gets $543 a month. That’s $6516 a year:

only 34% of what it would take to reach the poverty line.

A person working full time at a minimum wage job - and there are

hundreds of thousand of people like this in Ontario - makes about

$17,000 a year. That’s under the poverty line for a single person, and

well below it, if that person is a single mother supporting one or more

children.

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190,000 poor children in this province, live in families with at least

one working parent who can’t make ends meet.

There are 70,000 families in Toronto on waiting lists for affordable

housing. The wait time is now in excess of ten years !

And all this, not in the midst of some recession, but after ten years of

economic boom. Monster homes sprout like mushrooms across the

landscape. One million, two million and three million dollar condominiums

are common. Luxury cars sales were up yet again last year. And Ontario –

the richest province on Canada – has the highest rate of child poverty in the

country! (Quebec’s is half of ours.)

Many groups, Darchei Noam included, have stepped forward and provided

shelters, or volunteered with food banks, or with breakfast programmes, or

on clothing drives. Many of you are involved in these programmes. And that

is good and laudable. And if you are not yet involved in Out of the Cold, or

Trellis Gardens, or Streets to Homes, or similar programs please consider

offering your time. There is an orientation session for new volunteers to Out

of the Cold this coming Thursday at 7:30 pm. Contact Barbara Harris or

Lynda Champagne if you are interested. More bodies are always needed in

these hands-on, direct aid programs.

But, as necessary as these programs are, they are not enough to end poverty,

or even seriously reduce it. Only concerted, effective and committed public

policies can make a serious dent in the lives of the over one million poor

people in Ontario. Only progressive public policies can break the chain of

poverty and deprivation passed down from one generation to the next.

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What can we do to help? A group of Darchei Noam members have gotten

together to form the Social Justice Advocacy Committee. And we would

love more members to join us. The members of the Social Justice Advocacy

Committee have committed themselves to studying the issues,

recommending policy changes that will alleviate poverty, and lobbying the

powers that be to implement these policies.

And how does one effectively lobby, in a democracy? Of course, there are

many ways.

One way is to build up a vociferous constituency that will demand positive

change from our elected representatives. And that is what I am trying to do

up here today. I hope that you will be part of that constituency and loudly

demand concerted, effective government policies to rid Ontario of poverty.

I invite you to educate yourself. Read this pink pamphlet. There are more

on the table outside. Then bug your political representatives to implement

the policies outlined. Mail in this card, also available on the table outside.

Or attend a public meeting. Or a rally, Or write a letter. Or send an email.

And talk to your friends to do the same. In the end, if enough people do this

sort of thing, it works. And of course, when you go to vote on Wednesday,

(and I do hope you all vote) make poverty alleviation one of the primary

considerations in how you cast your ballot. You can see a comparison of

political party positions on poverty alleviation policies in this pamphlet –

published by the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Council (which, by the

way, is endorsed by the Toronto Board of Rabbis, the Canadian Council of

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Reform Judaism and the Darchei Noam Social Justice Advocacy

Committee.) It is also available on the table outside.

What policies are we asking you to support? Among others:

Increase welfare rates, at least back to 1995 level before they were

slashed, and index them to the rate of inflation.

Increase the minimum wage to $10/ hr now. And index it to the rate

of inflation.

Increase the eligibility criteria to Employment Insurance – deeply

eroded in the past decade.

Ensure that all residents of Ontario have drug and dental insurance.

Remove the barriers to collective bargaining that where introduced in

the mid 90’s

Move at least half of the sheltered homeless into permanent homes

through an enhanced rent supplement program.

Fund 200,000 new and renovated affordable homes, over the next ten

years.

Increase the supply of second stage housing for victims of domestic

violence.

If the details seem boring to you, or too much to remember, than just support

this one simple idea. Demand from our elected officials, that Ontario commit

to a formal Poverty Reduction Strategy, with the firm target of reducing

poverty by 25% over 5 years. Demand that this target be monitored and

regularly reported on.

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There are certainly many individual policies that can help alleviate poverty.

And good people can legitimately argue about what works best. But first we

must show a serious societal commitment to address this blight, and have the

perseverance and focus to stick with it over many years. So far both the

commitment and the perseverance have been sadly lacking from our public

leaders.

* * *

Finally, let me address two thoughts that I believe prevent many of us from

actively advocating for greater social solidarity.

One, many of us believes poverty alleviation has little to do with us

personally. There is only so much time in life – we say to ourselves – and

one must, first of all, look out for themselves and their own family.

Well – I hope I showed in the early part of this dvar torah, that the whole

thrust of human ethical and spiritual history – as viewed through the Jewish

lens of Torah, Talmud, and later sources – is to increase the scope of our

responsibility, from ourselves and our families, to ever wider and wider

constituencies.

Furthermore, who is to say that poverty alleviation policies help only

“them”? It is a fact, that we have members of our own congregation who

are poor. Moreover, who among the more fortunate of us can guaranteed that

tomorrow they will not fall ill, have a disabling accident, or lose their job?

Who can guarantee they will not have a severely disabled child or

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grandchild who will be unable to earn a living for themselves? Who is so

sure that their own children will live as well as they do today, or that the

Canadian economy will continue to boom as China and the rest of the

“third” world rise? Which of us would not benefit from knowing that in

times of dire need, society at large will be there for us and for our

family members too? And which of us would not benefit from knowing that

the society we live in, is, in fact, a good and just society – as good as it likes

to think it is, and as just as our Jewish heritage demands.

The second thought that prevents many people from being more active

advocates for social change is the belief that nothing significant can change.

“Human nature is selfish,” we are told. People will never be convinced to

share. If we demand too much sharing, the well off will simply take their

money and abilities and move somewhere else.

This attitude is simply not born out by history.

200 years ago child labour was still common in England. It was

banned.

150 years ago, slavery was still legal in the United States. Now it is a

mark of shame.

100 years ago workers still dreamed of an 8 hour day, workplace

safety standards and pensions. Today this is the norm.

50 years ago universal health care was still the hope of a few. Now it

is a bedrock pillar of Canadian society.

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More recently, the Blair government in England, set itself a target of

reducing child poverty by 25% in five years, and it virtually succeeded.

Human society is not static. People create it, and people can change it.

Similarly, human nature is not fixed. As Richard Hirsch taught us in one of

his High Holiday sermons, tshuva – repentance – was one of the things God

created before the world itself – before the “Bet” of B’reshit.

This implies, that the ability to self reflect and change, is built into the very

fabric of the universe. What has been is not what must be. We,

individually and collectively, have free will. We can change ourselves.

And we can change the society around us. But it takes effort and

commitment: our effort and our commitment.

I hope you will take these messages to heart. I hope some of you will join

the Social Justice Advocacy Committee. Contact Val Hyman or myself if

you are interested. And I hope all of you will all become, at least a bit more

active in advocating, working and voting for a decent, just and poverty free

Ontario. Please take a pamphlet. Please vote. Please get active in advocating

for positive social change and poverty alleviation.

Shabbat Shalom.

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