Dear Shalom,
I am fairly certain that Ben Shapiro did not say or even imply that the Torah does not care about the poor. I did not hear the talk, but I am familiar with the position of conservative thinkers on social justice. Context is everything. If Shapiro said that the Torah claims that “poor people should not be preferred over rich people" he was most likely referring to the context of court justices, who are warned by the Torah against ruling in favor of the poor against the rich out of pity, rationalizing that the rich are obligated to support the poor anyway. This is explicit in Leviticus 19:15, and elaborated upon by Rashi there. Judges must rule based on the law and not based on charity. Charity is for outside the courtroom. If evidence shows that a poor person shoplifted from a store that has a wealthy owner and is part of a large chain, the judge must rule against the poor in that case, even if one's conscience tells him that the poor person needs the money much more than the store owner.
Conservative thinkers like Shapiro tend to be very much pro-charity. They distinguish between charity, which, as a voluntary institution, they vigorously support - and even refer to studies that purportedly show that conservatives give more charity than liberals - and social justice, a term which they feel may refer to a compulsory redistribution of wealth in order to level the playing field, and sometimes implies a lack of legitimacy in "too much" wealth in the hands of a minority.
I believe that schools should teach a balanced view regarding poverty, presenting charity and support for the poor and the suffering as a central and perhaps even defining tenet of Judaism, while at the same time promoting the dignity inherent in enjoying the fruits of one's own labor, as expressed in the verse in Psalms (128:2), "When you shall eat of the fruit of your own hands, You will be happy and it will be well with you." The highest ideal in charity, after all, is to facilitate the receiver becoming self-sufficient, so that his reliance on handouts not become a permanent lifestyle.
Mark Smilowitz
Jewish Philosophy Teacher
YTA Girls High School, Jerusalem
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2016 08:11AM by mlb.
