The Jewish Observer

The agreement passed by both houses of Congress last week in order to avoid the “fiscal cliff” has started to take some over a rhetorical cliff. I cannot say that I really understand the nitty gritty of what was passed, but there are no shortage of experts who seem willing to explain it to me. Of course there is a wide range of thought over the consequences of the tax deal. A fair amount of buzz arose around this tweet from Ari Fleischer, “I increased donations to charity in 2012. This deal limits my deductions so I, and many others will likely donate less in 2013.” I have a hard time imagining that Fleischer did not realize that sparks would fly once this tweet was circulated.
The positions line up exactly where you think they would. Left wingers can hardly keep from calling Fleischer a variety of names. “Miserly” would be one of the kinder ones. The “Wall Street Journal” ran an article on how the new tax provisions would decrease charitable giving. On the other hand Professor Len Burnam of Syracuse University ran an article in “Forbes” explaining how it would not affect charitable giving and might even increase it. Rather than have a conversation that circles around the tax code, or around whether Fleischer is a realist or Scrooge, why not have a different kind of conversation? Let’s have a conversation about the kind of values we want our community to express. Jewish tradition has a LOT to say about that.
We can start with Deuteronomy chapter 15. In the course of describing some of the laws regarding the sabbatical year and sh’mitah (remission of loans), we are told not to tolerate poverty. Indeed, verse 8 says to “open your hand” and lend that person a sufficient amount for whatever he needs. Notice the command is to lend, not give. Picking up on this, the Talmud teaches “Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rabbi Simeon b. Lakish, ‘He who lends is greater than he who performs charity.’” A reason given for this is that someone in need may feel shame in accepting charity. By extending a loan, we are preserving the recipient’s dignity and showing trust that it will be paid back. Note this would be an interest free loan (per Exodus 22:24), so the lender would be losing the potential profit from investing his capital in something else. But that is not all the lender would lose. The sabbatical year is the year of sh’mitah. Any unpaid loan is forgiven. Deuteronomy 15:9 specifically directs us not to turn away from lending what a poor person needs, even if the sabbatical year is approaching.
Charity (tzedakah) is also commanded by Torah (an example is Leviticus 19:9,10). Contrary to the approach encouraged by American culture in which we gauge our donations by how much of a tax break we receive, charity is an obligation for everyone under Jewish law. In the Talmud we are told, “Even a poor man who lives off charity should perform acts of charity.” (Gittin 7a) That is very much in tune with the political conservatives’ belief that everyone in society should have “skin in the game.” Jewish tradition agrees but with some significant qualifiers. The highest reward for the performance of the mitzvah of giving charity is the opportunity to do the mitzvah. The reward is certainly not a tax break, nor is it even necessarily a better place in the world to come. It is the joy of having, for that moment, come into consonance with God through the act of giving. Any reward is dependent upon the extent of kindness in the act of giving (Sukkah 49b). That seems obvious. The better you feel about your giving, the more fulfulled you feel. If you give grudgingly, you resent the act and look for some other kind of reward from it. Further, one must respond to need immediately, without delay (see a great story about Nachum Ish Gamzu, Ta’anit 21a on the consequences of delaying your response to need). From this perspective, the delays in Congress in responding to the needs of victims of Hurricane Sandy are reprehensible.
Finally, all of this is done because we are aware of being part of a larger community. We are part of the community and have obligations to the community. The longer we live in a community, the greater our obligations to the community. Contemporary American culture pushes us more and more to be focused on the self. Jewish tradition honors individuality, respects individual rights, yet places them in the context of our membership in the wider community. “When the community is in trouble, let not a man say, ‘I will go to my house and I will eat and drink and all will be well with me.’” (Ta’anit 11a)
A discussion framed by tax codes and the personal benefits of charitable giving really misses the bigger point, which is best described by another, wider meaning of the word tzedakah. For tzedakah also means “righteousness” and “justice.” I want to know how to better implement these values. How do we promote morality in our communal actions? How do we promote a just society? These are conversations worth having.