Dear Group Leader:
Every major faith tradition emphasizes giving
to others, especially to those in need. This
universal appeal to charity is rooted in tradition,
sacred writings and theological understandings.
The faith-based call to care for others–to seek
justice especially for the poor–has motivated
dramatic social change, and been an instrument
of caring and healing throughout history. ONE
is pleased to present an essay on Sabbath Justice by Jonathan Crane, a rabbi
of the Reform Jewish Movement, who has taught political science, Jewish ethics,
and conflict resolution in higher education. He currently is writing his dissertation in
modern Jewish ethics in the Department of Religion at the University of Toronto. He
and his wife live in India, where he previously studied Gandhian thought at Gujarat
Vidyapith University in India (MPhil 1998). Rabbi Crane also studied international
peace studies at the University of Notre Dame (MA 1997), and international
relations at Wheaton College in Massachusetts (BA 1995). In this essay, he shares
his reflections on the reality of poverty and reasons to respond to it.
ONE is building from that foundation and urging people from all faiths to celebrate
a unique moment this November through an initiative we call ONE Sabbath. People
of different faiths may pray in different voices. But the spirit of service unites us and
our congregations. That is the motivation for ONE Sabbath: coming together as
ONE to transform our world, to save millions of lives, and to bring hope and love to
the neediest corners of the world.
In 2007, ONE Sabbath is being observed over the November 23-25 weekend.
However, we encourage you to hold this discussion whenever you can this fall.
The message of caring for the poor is timeless, but unfortunately, the need is
immediate. Thank you for leading your group to learn more about global health
issues such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as to explore how your faith
calls you to address the suffering caused by extreme poverty, lack of clean water
and educational opportunities.
Goals
The three goals of the group discussion are to:
• Raise Awareness of the needs; awareness of your own faith tradition that
encourages caring for the poor and the vulnerable; and awareness of current
and potential options for your group to serve the ‘least of these’ in your local
community and globally.
• Encourage Action in response to the increased awareness of the need and
options for engagement; become a member of the ONE campaign and mobilize
others on issues of global poverty and health.
• Facilitate Advocacy to make addressing concerns over global poverty
and health a national priority; highlight the current success of PEPFAR (The
President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief) as a great step in the direction
of fighting to end the AIDS pandemic but to also raise questions about further
needs and what our nation can do to meet them.
.
Contents of this Guide
As a resource to assist you as you organize your community in reflection, we have
a fact sheet handout for the class that can be copied and reproduced as well as a
sign-up sheet for ONE that you can circulate.
Additional Suggestions
We encourage you to use this moment to highlight response options that may already
be available to your class attendees through existing relationships with individuals
and organizations within your faith community. Please consider setting up a table with
information on ONE and avenues for response. By facilitating this time of reflection,
your own efforts to address global poverty and suffering can be highlighted and
even further supported within your community. In addition, a list of ONE faith partners
which offer action responses for your community to explore is available at ONE.org/
faith. We encourage you to partner with them if you are looking for opportunities for
your group to serve the global and local community.
After the session, we encourage you to email us at faith@one.org and share your
experiences with us. Don’t forget to include pictures, and we’ll post the best to our
stories and pictures from your ONE Sabbath event to our blog. We look forward to
hearing from you, as we continue to explore partnerships and develop new material
for 2008. We will send you an evaluation form later to get your feedback.
ONE is a coalition of Americans from all beliefs and every walk of life - united as
ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of more than 2.4 million
people and growing from all 50 states and over 150 of America’s most well-known
and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we
are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease
and efforts to fight such problems in the world’s poorest countries. As ONE, we are
asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme
poverty. ONE believes that allocating providing basic needs like health, education,
clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation
in the world’s poorest countries.
ONE Sabbath: Sabbath of Justice
Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane
This week’s walk through some slums of Mumbai inspired me to think again about
poverty, health and responsibility. Naked children playing in the gutters did not
surprise me. Nor did it seem strange to see sweaty men crouched over manual
sewing machines pulling through swaths of fabric in a rush to complete the order
of frocks that, when done, will earn them perhaps a dollar for their day’s effort.
And I heard from the staff of a free medical clinic that their biggest challenge
is underutilization. They have so much to offer but few people know about their
services. Despite the sprawling compactness of Asia’s largest slums (8 million or so
live in slums in Mumbai alone), it is not surprising that it is difficult to communicate
across the many languages floating in the allies and walkways. What surprised
me in all this were my feelings of embarrassment and encouragement. In a way
I felt like I had an embarrassment of riches in my life: from my education to my
employment, and especially because of my health and access to good care when I
need it. This was not guilt – I’ve felt that before – but more a fresh awareness of my
relative fortunes flushing my conscience. I also felt encouraged by witnessing many
people and organizations working hard to improve the lives of slum dwellers. Their
success, they told me, grew from the trust they earned by listening to and working
with the people. Their work inspired me to listen to people to learn what they need
and then respond however I can.
My responsibility to attend to the needs of the impoverished is shaped in large
measure by Judaism and in part by the people themselves. The Judaic tradition
offers many reasons why one should care about the needy. If one looks to the Torah,
it is easy to find profound reasons to attend to others’ needs. The notion that human
beings are “created in the image of God” (betzelem elohim) (Genesis 1:27), or
that human beings can and should imitate God’s care, love and protection of the
indigent (e.g., Deuteronomy 10:17ff), or the command to “do the right and the good”
(Deuteronomy 6:17ff) are but three examples the Torah gives for why one should,
at a minimum, take note of others’ suffering. Biblical laws put meat on these bones
with instructions of how to respond to the needs of the poor. These include laws
protecting the right of the poor and stranger to a portion of one’s income (Leviticus
19:9ff, 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19ff), laws ensuring fair justice (Deuteronomy 10:18),
laws giving the produce grown during the Sabbatical year to the poor (Exodus
23:11), laws reverting land back to its original owners every fifty years to prevent
permanent impoverishment (Leviticus 25:8ff), and laws to heal the infirm (Exodus
21:19-20; Leviticus 19:16), among many others. The prophets echoed these calls
for social justice and protecting the poor from unnecessary hardship. Indeed, many
prophets urged people to focus less on worship and more on fellowship. Just look
at Isaiah’s cry for righteous intervention on behalf of the impoverished (chapter
57).
The ancient rabbis understood well the need to be concerned about the welfare
of others. They saw in charitable work both theological and social value. They said
that those who gave to the poor were in essence giving a gift to God and it brings
redemption ever closer (BT Baba Batra 10a). And those who sustain the impoverished
and heal the sick contribute to the ways of peace between communities (e.g., BT
Gittin 61a). Indeed, the rabbis believed that sustaining and saving a single soul is
like saving an entire world (M Sanhedrin 4:5). The importance of giving to the needy
transcends familial and communal boundaries. The rabbis insist that while caring
for those close by is certainly an imperative, those far off should not be ignored
altogether (BT Baba Metzia 71a). Even into the modern era, Jewish scholars and
rabbis have taught the importance of caring for the impoverished and ill. Some, like
Hermann Cohen, insist that Judaism is a rational religion whose ethical essence is
care for the neighbor. For many others, the question of Judaism’s rationality has little
bearing on the issue of caring for the poor and ill. Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig,
Eliezer Berkovitz, Emmanuel Levinas, Eugene Borowitz, David Novak, Elliot Dorff
and a host of other great modern scholars unanimously stress the imperative to
attend to the impoverished and sick, nearby and far away.
This task of caring for the poor and infirm applies even on this day, this ONE
Sabbath. Maimonides, the great medieval sage, ruled that attending to the needs of
the poor is so important that it takes precedence even over observing the biblically
commanded Sabbath rest (MT Matanot Aniyim 7.10). Indeed, he says, even on the
Sabbath the community may confiscate a person’s property to sell for charity, up to
the level that that person should be giving to charity in the first place. To understand
this lesson, let us explore several areas.
• First, the command to rest suggests its opposite: work. One can only stop and
rest if one has been working. The tradition assumes that humans work six days
a week – at most, not at least. Most of today’s impoverished work seven days a
week without rest: they cannot afford to stop. Moreover, work is not the ultimate
end of human existence: if it were, rest would not be divinely structured into our
lives. If work were our ultimate end, we would work without break – not tirelessly
but exhaustedly. The Judaic tradition values work as a means toward a greater
end – of being able to live in greater holiness, itself requiring rest from the toils
of labor.
• Second, every person has something to give to those less well-off. The difficulty
is figuring out what that something is. Perhaps it is not some thing but some
time…
• Third, a community is responsible for gathering resources from its members for
charity purposes. Collecting money and resources is a difficult task in its own
right. But it is an entirely different activity to distribute these resources amongst
the needy. Deciding who should get what, when, and how is onerous. It requires
sensitivity to the varying needs of the vulnerable, and it needs clear values that
help prioritize who should get what support first. Because of these complexities,
the Judaic tradition assumes that a community or organization is best situated
to allocate resources, not individuals. For millennia, Jews have established
communal organizations to collect and distribute funds and resources for the ill
and the vulnerable, for Jews and non-Jews alike.
• Finally, consider Shabbat a symbol of justice. The Sabbath rest represents the
justice of time: all people – the poor and rich alike, the healthy and ill alike –
are to enjoy at least one day of rest from labor. To construct and strengthen
socioeconomic systems that all but prevent certain people from resting is
participating in an injustice of time. Following Maimonides, the Sabbath also
represents material justice insofar as goods and resources may never be
denied to those in need. Hoarding one’s wealth, even if it is meager, is not
morally justifiable especially when others near and far suffer.
If this ONE Sabbath is to mean something positive for people who suffer the
indignity of working seven days a week, or who live with HIV/AIDS without proper
medication, or who walk 8 kilometers a day to fetch drinking water, the challenge is
learning directly from them about their environments, experiences and needs. The
impoverished know what they need and they have much to teach those who are
willing to listen. I learned this important lesson sitting on the floor of a woman’s oneroom
home in Mumbai’s slum. She was hosting a meeting of neighborhood women
to talk about their struggles working together as a community to meet their food,
clothing, shelter, medicinal, educational and employment needs. Only through this
discussion could I have come to appreciate the unique difficulties they face gaining
access to and receiving help from government and community organizations.
Though I may not fully understand the complexities of their issues, I at least have
a better grasp of what it is they need to achieve their potential. And I have a better
idea of what I can do to assist.
Questions to Ponder
1. What pieces of the Judaic tradition (texts, stories, laws, prayers, rituals,
holidays, values) inspire you to be attend to the welfare of the needy and ill? Do
you recognize this task as a command, as something that anyone should do, as
something logical, as what is in your/everyone’s best interest, or as what? Why?
2. What can you give? Is it money, clothing, food, shelter? Can it be time, ideas,
networking, social capital? Can it be direct one-on-one care, community
organizing, investigative research, media work (letters to the editor, columns,
online blogging/videos)? How else can you expand your notion of “resources”?
3. What prevents you from doing more than what you already are doing for the
needy and ill? Fear? Material constraints? Theological concerns? Not sure
where to find more information? How can you dismantle these barriers to
greater action on behalf of those who need your help?
Learn More
Leviticus 19
“Substantive Justice: A Jewish Approach to Poverty” by Elliot N. Dorff. Published
in his To Do the Right and the Good: a Jewish approach to modern social ethics,
chapter 6. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society. 2002.
Walter S. Wurzburger’s Ethics of Responsibility: pluralistic approaches to covenantal
ethics. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society. 1994.
“The Problem of AIDS in a Jewish Perspective.” By David Novak. Published in his
Jewish Social Ethics, chapter 5. New York: Oxford University Press. 1992.
Laurie Zoloth’s Health Care and the Ethics of Encounter: a Jewish discussion of
social justice. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. 1999.
“Health Care and Tikkun Olam.” By Barry Freundel. Published in Tikkun Olam: social
responsibility in Jewish thought and law, chapter 11. Edited by David Shatz, Chaim
I. Waxman and Nathan J. Diament. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc. 1997.
Texts that support Jewish involvement in non-sectarian humanitarian work
Deuteronomy 10:17-21 – For the Lord your G-d is G-d of gods, and Lord of lords,
a great G-d, mighty, and awesome, who favors no person, and takes no bribe: he
executes the judgement of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger,
giving him food and raiment. Love therefore the stranger, for you were strangers in
the Land of Egypt.
Proverbs 14:31 – He that oppresses the poor blasphemes his maker, but he that is
gracious to the poor honors Him.
Deuteronomy 16:20 – Justice, justice you shall pursue.
Pirke Avot 2:5 – Hillel said, do not separate yourself from the community.
Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 – Therefore only one person was created to teach you that
whosoever kills a single soul, the Bible considers to have killed a complete world.
And whosoever sustains and saves a single soul, it is as if that person sustained a
whole world.
Proverbs 14:34 – Tzedakah exalts a nation.
Jerusalem Talmud Demai 4:1 – In a city where non-Jews and Jews live, the tzedakah
collectors collect from Jews and non-Jews and support Jewish and non-Jewish
poor; we visit Jewish and non-Jewish sick and bury Jewish and non-Jewish dead,
and comfort Jewish and non-Jewish mourners, and return lost goods of non-Jews
and Jews, to promote the ways of peace.
Midrash Tanhuma 5 – The commandments exist to unite G-d”s creatures.
Mishna Torah 10:7-14 – The highest level of tzedakah, exceeded by none, is that
of the person who assists a poor person by providing him with a gift or loan or by
accepting him into a business partnership or by helping him to find employment – in
a word, by putting him where he can dispense with other people’s aid.
Isaiah 32:17 – And the work of tzedakah shall bring peace.
Rabenu Bahya, late 13th century – Job lauds himself that his home was wide open to
all wayfarers, strangers, and sojourners and that he endured that no one regardless
of his nationality ever lodged in the street. Job was a righteous person and he was
kind to all people as well as to his own countrymen. This should be an inspiration
for man to broaden the extent of his compassion, as the sages said, “one who
shows mercy to G-d’s creatures will be shown mercy in heaven” (Shabat 1516). We
may conclude a fortiori that if Job, who did not know Torah, practiced this quality
of kindness, the Israelites, who have accepted the Torah, are certainly obliged to
practice it in all
Sabbath of Justice
Today your group has joined the ONE Sabbath effort to learn more about global
health issues such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as to explore how
your faith calls you to address suffering caused by extreme poverty, lack of clean
water and educational opportunities.
The Reality
America is truly blessed, and is perhaps the most affluent nation in history. But with
such blessing comes responsibility in the face of suffering around the world – our
neighbors in need:
• More than 22 million people have died from AIDS. More than 42 million people
live with HIV/AIDS. 74 percent of these infected people live in sub-Saharan
Africa.
• There are 14,000 new infections every day (95 percent in developing countries).
HIV/AIDS is a “disease of young people” with half of the 5 million new infections
each year occurring among people ages 15 to 24.
• The UN estimates that, currently, there are 14 million AIDS orphans. By 2010,
there will be 25 million.
• 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one
in six people on earth (Water.org).
• Each year, 350–500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and over one
million people die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa (CDC).
• In areas of Africa with high malaria transmission, an estimated 990,000 people
died of malaria in 1995 – more than 2,700 deaths per day, or 2 deaths per
minute (CDC).
The Hope
Much can be done to alter these statistics and change people’s lives. You, your
faith community and our nation as a whole can improve the quality of life of so many
people. Consider the following:
• AIDS drugs can now cost as little as $1 a day.
• A mosquito net can save a child’s life for five years and costs only $5.
• It costs as little as $2 to purchase the most effective malaria treatments.
• You can put a child in school for a month for less than the cost of a CD.
• A well provides clean, safe drinking water for 20 years at a cost of only $20 a
person.
• For less than the cost of a sandwich ($5), a bednet can be purchased to
prevent a child from getting malaria.
• For less than $3,000 a tube-well can be drilled in a village that will supply
access to water for up to 600 people.
The Success
It is encouraging to note that substantial progress is already being made, in large
measure to the leadership of the United States and people like you:
• In 2002, only 50,000 HIV positive Africans had access to antiretroviral
medicines. Today, 1.6 million people around the world, most in Africa, are
receiving treatment thanks to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria alone.
• During the past 20 years, the proportion of people living in poverty in the
developing world fell by half—from 40 percent to 21 percent. Meanwhile, in the
past few decades, life expectancy in developing countries has increased by 20
years, the number of children dying before the age of five has been reduced
50 percent, and adult illiteracy has been halved to 25 percent (Source: World
Bank).
• In 1990, 1.25 billion people were living on a dollar a day. Thanks to economic
growth and development assistance programs, by 2004 that number was down
to 985 million. That’s 265 million people who no are no longer living in extreme
poverty (World Bank World Development Indicators).
• In 1990, 13 million children under five died each year. Thanks to affordable and
effective interventions like bednets, vaccines, and vitamin supplements, by
2006 that number was down to 9.7 million children. That’s more than 3 million
children who will now live to see their fifth birthday every year (UNICEF).
What you Can Do
• Dedicate a service to reflect on global poverty and health concerns.
• Encourage a youth event to educate the next generation on what they can do to
alleviate global poverty and health concerns – materials available at ONE.org.
• Respond to need by supporting activity available through your faith community
or a ONE partner organization – list of partners available at ONE.org.
• Join ONE.org and recruit others to join.
ONE is a coalition of Americans from all beliefs and every walk of life - united as
ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign more than 2.4 million
people from all 50 states and more than 150 of America’s most well-known and
respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are
raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and
efforts to fight such problems in the world’s poorest countries. As ONE, we are
asking you, as a member of the faith community, to do more to fight the emergency
of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that providing for basic needs
like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes
of an entire generation in the world’s poorest countries. Join us at ONE.org
