The Working Poor 99
Notes
I. We should not take for granted the government programs and policies designed to help the poor survive. These programs were created by governments in the Western civilization as attempts to control violent riots by mobs of starving poor people in the early 16™ century. While the programs vary in generosity and effectiveness from country to country and from one era to the next, the goals are the same, give the desperate poor something to eat to keep them under control. The history and theory behind government poor relief programs is masterfully detailed by Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward , Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (New York , 1972).
5. For a comprehensive review of Progressive Halakhah’s methodology and principles see Moshe Zemer ,“Authority and Criteria in Liberal Halakhah,” Mark Washofsky,“The Search for Liberal Halakhah,” Walter Jacob ,“Pesikah and American Reform Responsa,” W. Gunther Plaut ,“Reform Responsa and Liberal Halakhah,"all found in W. Jacob and M. Zemer (ed.) Dynamic Jewish Law— Progressive Halakhah (Tel Aviv and Pittsburgh , 1991).
6. By Progressive Jews, I mean all non-Orthodox Jews. Progressive Jews are primarily affiliated with Reform and Conservative Judaism . While there are significant differences in the halakhic methodologies of the Reform and Conservative movements, they both reject the fundamentalism of Orthodoxy . Both Reform and Conservative acknowledge that the Torah was revealed and compiled over generations. Noting that Judaism has continued to evolve and develop over the course of its 3,500-year existence, both Reform and Conservative are willing to legislate changes of Jewish observances and expressions when the“traditional” observances are at odds with our understanding of the greater Jewish ethical principles. Notwithstanding the methodological and stylistic differences between Reform and Conservative , their shared core principles make them proponents of Progressive Judaism and distinct from Orthodoxy .