Los Angeles Interfaith Hunger Summit -- October 6, 2009
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
| Translation |
Original |
| When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow -- in order that Adonai your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat down the fruit of your olive trees, do not go over them again; that shall go to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not pick it over again; that shall go to the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Always remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment. [JPS translation edited for gender-neutrality] |
כִּי תִקְצֹר קְצִירְךָ בְשָׂדֶךָ וְשָׁכַחְתָּ עֹמֶר בַּשָּׂדֶה לֹא תָשׁוּב לְקַחְתּוֹ לַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָה יִהְיֶה לְמַעַן יְבָרֶכְךָ ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ: כִּי תַחְבֹּט זֵיתְךָ לֹא תְפַאֵר אַחֲרֶיךָ לַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָה יִהְיֶה: כִּי תִבְצֹר כַּרְמְךָ לֹא תְעוֹלֵל אַחֲרֶיךָ לַגֵּר לַיָּתוֹם וְלָאַלְמָנָה יִהְיֶה: וְזָכַרְתָּ כִּי עֶבֶד הָיִיתָ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם עַל כֵּן אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה:
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What power dynamics are at play?
3. Now that most of us do not live in agricultural settings, how can we apply these laws to our own gathering of resources?
Rabbi Samphson Rafael Hirsch, commentary to Leviticus 19:18, in The Pentateuch: vol. 1: Genesis
| Translation |
Original |
| "Love your neighbor's well-being as if it were your own; I am God," is the summarizing final maxim for the whole of our social behavior, in feelings, word, and deed. Hillel’s interpretation of this as: “That which is hateful to you don’t do to someone else” imposes complete equality of all as the guiding principle of all of our deeds, makes everyone take to heart the weal and woe of everybody else, changes selfishness…into consideration and love of one’s neighbor. The concept of “your neighbor” extends the ideas beyond the narrow confines of your fellow men to the idea of fellow creatures, so that in fact this sentence does contain the contents of the whole Torah, which indeed is nothing else, but the teaching of avoiding everything which is contrary and hateful to the happiness and well-being of ourselves and to that of the fellow creatures who enjoy existence down here in this world. [Translated by Isaac Levy] |
ואהבת לרעך כמוך אני ה'. זה כלל מסכם לכל התנהגותנו החברתית - בדיעות, במלים ובמעשים.. ידוע מאמרו של הלל: "דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד"..."השנוי עליך א-ל תעשה לחברך": הרי כאן שוויון גמור לכל - כעיקרון מנחה לכל פעולותינו; על - פי זה נדרוש את שלום רענו כשלומנו; נהפוך אנוכיות ואהבה עצמית לאהבת ריע ולשמירת כבודו; נלמד לאהוב ולכבד כל נברא בשוויון גמור עמנו. אכן מושג "חברך" במשמעותו הרחבה כולל כל נברא, ולא רק כל אדם; ובמשמעות רחבה זו הרי כאן באמת תמצית כל התורה. שהרי זו כל כוונת התורה: היא מרחיקה אותנו מכל "סני": מכל המתנגד באיבה לשלומנו ולשלום כל נברא שבחברתנו
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
What are the practical implications of "avoiding everything which is contrary and hateful to the happiness and well-being of ourselves and to that of the fellow creatures who enjoy existence down here in this world"?
Leviticus 19:18
| Translation |
Original |
| You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the Lord. [JPS translation] |
לֹא תִקֹּם וְלֹא תִטֹּר אֶת בְּנֵי עַמֶּךָ וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ אֲנִי יְקֹוָק
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Why do we want to take vengeance or harbor grudges? On what basis are we told not to do so?
2. What does this text teach us about how we treat others?
3. What does this text teach us about how we treat ourselves?
Deuteronomy 15:11
| Translation |
Original |
|
For there will never cease to be needy ones from the midst of the land, which is why I command you: open your hand to your fellows, your poor and your needy in your land. [JPS translation]
|
כִּי לֹא יֶחְדַּל אֶבְיוֹן מִקֶּרֶב הָאָרֶץ עַל כֵּן אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ לֵאמֹר פָּתֹחַ תִּפְתַּח אֶת יָדְךָ לְאָחִיךָ לַעֲנִיֶּךָ וּלְאֶבְיֹנְךָ בְּאַרְצֶךָ:
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen? 2. What power dynamics are at play? 3. The text states that there will always be poverty. What is your response to this? 4. There is often a concern that being an activist will not result in real change. According to this text, real change is not the purpose of activism. How would you use this text to respond to such a concern?
BabylonianTalmud, Shabbat 31a - 1
| Translation |
Original |
| On another occasion it happened that a certain non-Jew came before Shammai and said to him, “I will convert to Judaism, on condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai chased him away with the builder's tool that was in his hand. He came before Hillel and said to him, "Convert me." Hillel said to him, “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn it.” [AJWS translation] |
שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני שמאי, אמר לו: גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת. דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו. בא לפני הלל, גייריה. אמר לו: דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד - זו היא כל התורה כולה, ואידך - פירושה הוא, זיל גמור.
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. How is Hillel's phrase here different than the verse in Leviticus, "Love your neighbor as yourself?"
2. If we truly followed this dictum, how would our daily behavior change? How would our government policies change - foreign and domestic?
3. What other social justice themes emerge from this text?
Maimonides, Laws of Yom Tov 6:18
| Translation |
Original |
| When a person eats and drinks [as part of celebrating a holiday], they are obligated to feed "the stranger, the orphan, and the widow" (Deuteronomy 16:11). But someone who locks the doors of their house, eating and drinking with their children and spouse [alone], and doesn't provide food or drink to the poor and depressed, is not participating in the joy of [God's] commandments but rather the joy of the gut, and about them it says, "their sacrifices are like bread for the dead; all who eat of them will become impure, for their bread is for themselves" (Hosea 9:4) Joy like this is disgrace for them, as it says, "I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festal sacrifices"(Malachi 2:3). [translation by Mechon Hadar] |
וכשהוא אוכל ושותה חייב להאכיל (דברים ט"ז) לגר ליתום ולאלמנה עם שאר העניים האמללים. אבל מי שנועל דלתות חצרו ואוכל ושותה הוא ובניו ואשתו ואינו מאכיל ומשקה לעניים ולמרי נפש אין זו שמחת מצוה אלא שמחת כריסו, ועל אלו נאמר (הושע ט') זבחיהם כלחם אונים להם כל אוכליו יטמאו כי לחמם לנפשם, ושמחה כזו קלון היא להם שנאמר (מלאכי ב') וזריתי פרש על פניכם פרש חגיכם.
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Why is it so important not only to make sure the poor have food, but to invite them into one's home?
2. There are no classical sources that use the verse from Malachi in the way Maimonides does in this section. Why do you think he chose this graphic image?
3. What stands in the way of this vision of Jewish holidays from becoming a reality? What can we do, as individuals and as communities, to realize Maimonides' vision in our lives?
Psalms 145:16
| Translation |
Original |
| You give it [food] open-handedly, feeding every creature to its heart's content. [JPS translation] |
פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן:
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. According to this text, who is responsible to feed humanity?
2. How can you reconcile this text with the reality that many people in the world are hungry?
Isaiah 55:1-3
| Translation |
Original |
| Ho, all who are thirsty, come for water, even if you have no money; come, buy food and eat: Buy food without money, wine and milk without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, your earnings for what does not satisfy? [JPS translation] |
הוֹי כָּל צָמֵא לְכוּ לַמַּיִם וַאֲשֶׁר אֵין לוֹ כָּסֶף לְכוּ שִׁבְרוּ וֶאֱכֹלוּ וּלְכוּ שִׁבְרוּ בְּלוֹא כֶסֶף וּבְלוֹא מְחִיר יַיִן וְחָלָב: לָמָּה תִשְׁקְלוּ כֶסֶף בְּלוֹא לֶחֶם וִיגִיעֲכֶם בְּלוֹא לְשָׂבְעָה:
|
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What power dynamics are at play?
3. What social justice themes emerge from this text?
|
