On1Foot

The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism, The Columbus Platform - 1937

Number Seven from Pillar B: Ethics) Social Justice. Judaism seeks the attainment of a just society by the application of its teachings to the economic order, to industry and commerce, and to national and international affairs. It aims at the elimination of man-made misery and suffering, of poverty and degradation, of tyranny and slavery, of social inequality and prejudice, of ill-will and strife. It advocates the promotion of harmonious relations between warring classes on the basis of equity and justice, and the creation of conditions under which human personality may flourish. It pleads for the safeguarding of childhood against exploitation. It champions the cause of all who work and of their right to an adequate standard of living, as prior to the rights of property. Judaism emphasizes the duty of charity, and strives for a social order which will protect men against the material disabilities of old age, sickness and unemployment.

Aruch HaShulchan, The Laws of Tzedakah, 250:10

The authors of the Shulchan Aruch, paragraph 5 wrote that if the poor of the city are many, the rich say that they should beg door-to-door, and the middle class say that they should not beg door-to-door. Rather, their sustenance should be incumbent upon the public according to their wealth. The law agrees with the middle class, because the essence of the obligation of tzedakah is according to one’s wealth. There are places where the custom is to give voluntarily and others where there is a tax and the giving is done according to the giver’s wishes. One who gives according to how they were blessed, it is suitable that they will be further blessed - until here are the Shulchan Aruch’s words. This is all from a responsum of Rashba (chapter 280), and he goes on to say in this vein that the strict law is according to the words of the middle class, etc. Rather, this generation is impoverished, and there is no wealthy, neither in pocket nor in knowledge. In any case, every place must sustain the poor according to the public tzedakah fund and according to the wealth of the community in general. If afterward they beg door-to-door, let them, and each person should give according to their opinion and will, etc - until here are the words of the Rashba. [Translation by Rabbi Bruce Elder. Edited for gender neutrality]

Aruch HaShulchan, The Laws of Tzedakah, 249:3

Of course, it should be understood within the context of this matter that the Torah does not command a person to give everything they have to the poor so that that person becomes poor because “its [the Torah] ways are the ways of pleasantness.” Truthfully, when Israel was in their land and their situation was good and there were only a few poor people, they were able to fulfill “according to [the poor person’s] needs, etc.” However, when we were exiled from our land and the poor increased and the rich diminished, even if the rich divided up all their wealth it was not enough to satisfy all the poor according to their needs. Therefore, the sages decreed a tenth and a fifth [of your property to be given to tzedakah], and not more, because of the necessity of making a boundary [of giving], and Rabba said in Taanit (20b): “All these things I could myself carry out except the last one..and I could not say ‘all who need come and eat’.because there are so many [poor people] in Mahuza.” There are many poor people there, and his estate would be consumed. [Translation by Rabbi Bruce Elder. Edited for gender neutrality]

Albert Vorspan and David Saperstein, Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice (New York: UAHC Press, 1998), p. 94.

Abraham son of the Rambam, The Guide to Serving God, Chapter 5, F

All of the mitzvot concerning the rights of the poor enable us to cultivate generosity and compassion, as well as the trait of abstinence. These are the mitzvot of leaving over the corner of the field, the fallen grapes and incompletely formed clusters, and forgotten produce; giving a tithe to the poor, charity, loans, gifts for the priests, and a tithe to the Levites; being generous toward the Levites and the converts - which is said repeatedly; giving gifts to a Jewish indentured servant upon their release; and keeping the laws of the seventh year regarding produce and loans, as well as the laws of the fiftieth year. (pg 57) [Translation by R. Yaakov Wincelberg, edited for gender neutrality. Translated from Judeo-Arabic]

Torat Moshe, Leviticus 19:9-10

Do not think that you are giving to the poor from your own possession, or that I despised the poor person by not giving them as I gave you. For they are my children, as you are, and their share is in your grain; it is to your benefit to give them their share from your property. This is the meaning of the use of the plural form – “And when you [pl.] reap” – in the beginning of the verse, and the use of the singular – “You [s.] shall not wholly reap afterward.” At the beginning the Torah uses the plural to designate the common ownership of the field by the owner, the poor, and the stranger, for in truth, they share in it. Additionally, the owner usually hires poor people and strangers to harvest the field, so the use of the plural form of “reap” refers to the owner and the reapers. Afterward – do not wholly reap but leave the corner – is addressed to the owner themselves. [AJWS translation]

Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2001) p. 200-201.

The two key terms are Tzedakah (tzedek- justice) and mishpat (judgement). The word mishpat means the judgment given by the shofet (judge); hence the word can mean justice, norm, ordinance, legal right, law. The word tzedakah may be rendered by "righteousness." While legality and righteousness are not identical, they must always coincide, the second being reflected in the first. It is exceedingly difficult to establish the exact difference in meaning of the biblical terms mishpat, justice, and tzedakah, righteousness (which in parallelism are often used as variants). However, it seems that justice is a mode of action, righteousness a quality of the person. Significantly,the noun derived from shafat (to judge) is shofet, which came to mean a judge or arbitrator; while the noun from tsadak (to be just) is tsaddik, a righteous man. Righteousness goes beyond justice. Justice is strict and exact, giving each person his due. Righteousness implies benevolence, kindness, generosity. Justice is a form, a state of equilibrium; righteousness has a substantive associated meaning. Justice may be legal; righteousness is associated with a burning compassion for the oppressed. When you extend a loan to a poor man, "you shall not sleep in his pledge; when the sun goes down, you shall restore to him the pledge, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 24:10-13). It would be wrongto assume that there was a dichotomy of mishpat and kindess; "Justice was not equal justice but a bias in favor of the poor. Justice always leaned toward mercy for the widows and the orphans."

Aruch HaShulchan, The Laws of Tzedakah, 248:4

The Tur and the Shulchan Aruch in the introductory paragraph in chapter 248 wrote that every person is obligated to give, even the poor, etc., and that whoever gives less than what is suitable for them to give, the court can force and even punish that person for their disobedience until they give what the court has assessed them to give. The court can go into that person’s possessions in their presence and take what is suitable for that person to give - until there are the Tur and Shulchan Aruch’s words. There are those who wrote that this does not refer to a poor person....This teaches us that the tzedakah the poor gives should be accepted. Lest you erroneously think that after the poor person gives a third of a shekel no more can be accepted, this teaches us that his is not so. It also says that a poor person cannot be obligated to give because they are exempt from the commandment of tzedakah every year after they have given their obligatory third of a shekel...[Translation by Rabbi Bruce Elder. Edited for gender neutrality]