Chapter 11

ALLEVIATING POVERTY A Halakhic View of Social Security Within the Modern Welfare State

Daniel Schiff

Although the contemporary welfare states of the West are not directly the products of Jewish influences, they do embody age-old Jewish ideas— ideas that have been enshrined within actual halakhic practices of Jewish communities throughout the millennia. Transmitted by Jews , and later by Christians, these critical social measures were never systemically incorporated into the body-politic of broad societies, until rather belatedly— in the nineteenth century— they began to become a part of the developing nation states of modernity.

The broad principles underpinning Jewish laws dealing with the care to be directed toward individuals within a worthy society are as simple as they are profound. Founded in the Torah , they express notions that, while seemingly obvious, have, for much of human history, proved to be radical: that all human beings are created in the Divine image' and therefore deserve the opportunity to live a life reflective of that reality; that one should aspire to equate love of one’s neighbor to love of self,? implying assiduousness for the wellbeing of the other; that it is improper to stand by idly while one’s neighbor bleeds,® suggesting that ignoring the physical, material, or emotional suffering of another is unacceptable. It is, moreover, important to note that this Jewish approach does not view behaviors that strive for these goals as belonging in the category of“righteousness,” but sees them rather as being within the purview of“justice.” Hence, as is well-known, the Hebrew term“fzedakah,” often mistranslated as “charity,” really connotes“acts of justice” From a Jewish perspective, it is a fundamental requirement of justice to use one’s