There is a verse in Deuteronomy (15:8) that keeps running through my mind in recent days. The section of Torah is discussing measures to protect the poor and in 15:8 we read that we should open our hands to provide for what people may “lack”. In his “Love Peace and Pursue It”, Rabbi Aryeh Goldman has an interesting discussion on this issue of helping those who may lack basics. I was thinking of this verse and Goldman’s comments as well as the traditional concept of chesed, which is loosely translated as lovingkindness or really compassion. In looking at the news these past few weeks, I could not help but again wonder where these traditional values of Judaism fit into what seems to be an organized approach to disrupt the system that protects Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Now I have no doubt that within these systems there is some bloating and waste. But then you read and hear of the challenges being faced by people calling Social Security or trying to access the website, or the recent elimination of some 20,000 positions at Health and Human Services or the withdrawal of funds for research or the cancelling of grants to states that were to be used for tracking infectious diseases and other health related issues. In several recent classes and workshop sessions that we have done, the issue of health care; its’ costs, access and supporting programs continued to emerge.
We have written and spoken about the fact that the issue of health care, in all its ramifications, is now THE social justice issue for our generation. The mood of Judaism’s tradition is that we are responsible, as a society, to provide for people who lack basics needs. One of the leading scholars within the Jewish community, Laurie Zoloth, in her classic “Health Care And The Ethics of Encounter: A Jewish Discussion of Social Justice”, noted that “The proposal for a just health care system insists on a shared vision of the common good, rather than a good deal for my interest group” (p.8). She calls for a “prophetic” voice that serves the “common good.”
As this “debate” continues in Washington, remember that the results of these discussions will impact all of us, and, in many cases, our families as well. Judaism, as Zoloth holds, rests with what is good for the community. It is to our benefit to be aware of these debates and to be vigilant. Watch for an underlying motif in these discussions…is providing basic care a role for government, or should a private company do it? What is the “bottom line” concern of each? More to come.
Shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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