Alleviating Poverty 51]
states, many of them perform poorly in alleviating
poverty.’ There can be little argument that, throughout the twentieth century, Western welfare states improved the health, knowledge, and wellbeing of their citizens considerably. In the majority of welfare states, universal benefits, though exceedingly costly, have ensured that all citizens received coverage, without stigmatizing the poor. The universality feature also encouraged widespread“buy-in” to these programs because of the self-interest incentives that were involved.
It is certainly plausible, though, that one of the reasons why these welfare states“performed poorly in alleviating poverty” is that their resources were not marshaled most effectively towards achieving this goal. By contrast, the philosophical outlook of a tzedakahoriented society, as opposed to the welfare state, does not support the extensive use of public resources for universal benefits. It is plain, from a host of halakhic sources, that the tzedakah mandate, both in its public and private components, was designed, first and foremost, to help the needy. Thus, the Torah calls upon Jews to leave the corners of their fields and their gleanings for the poor and the stranger," to allow the needy to eat from the land during the sabbatical year,"" to cancel debts so as to prevent indebtedness,'* and“to open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.”'® Isaiah stresses that it is God ’s desire that Jews “share your bread with the hungry, take the wretched poor into your home, and when you see the naked, clothe them.”'® The prophets were, of course, famous for exhorting Israel to pay attention to the plight of the widow and the orphan, those without the ability to sustain themselves economically. Later the rabbis declared that“one who gives even a prutah to the poor is privileged to sense God ’s presence.” Their instruction that“just as God clothes the naked, so should you... just as God visits the sick so should you...,' is but one expression of the heavy emphasis that the rabbis placed on helping the less privileged. As Rabbi Aaron Levine,