52 Daniel Schiff

an expert in Jewish law pertaining to economics, encapsulates the Jewish requirement:

Exegetical interpretation of the phrase you shall

maintain him(Lev. 25:35) establishes that charity in

its noblest form consists of aiding a faltering individual

from falling into the throes of poverty. The position of

such a person must be stabilized, with his dignity

preserved, by either conferring a gift upon him,

extending him a loan, entering a partnership with him,

or creating a job for him." It is this powerful emphasis on helping those in a real state of need that would come to be formulated within the laws of tzedakah, as codified by the leading sages.’® The suggestion, however, that communal funds should be accumulated to provide assistance for those who are not in difficult straits is simply not supported within the Jewish legal literature.

Furthermore, the idea that the energies of a zedakah-oriented society should be essentially devoted to helping those who are in genuine need is underscored by the halakhic outlook that regards reliance on public funds as fundamentally undesirable, and a situation to be avoided if at all possible. From the perspective of Judaism , an individual is to be encouraged to take extreme measures to avert a situation of dependency. In the words of the rabbis,“make your Shabbat like a weekday rather than be dependent,”'® and“flay carcasses in the market place and earn wages and do not say‘1 am a priest and a great man and it is beneath my dignity.””?*® This viewpoint most certainly does not imply that those who are legitimately needy should desist from accepting help, but it does convey the notion that self-reliance is to be preferred over dependence on public assistance. It is clear that any concept of providing the public at large with broad, universal benefits is at odds with the thrust of this approach.