Economic Inequality and Charity

Commentary on Parshat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1 – 6:8) The story of humanity in the Torah begins with homelessness. The first two humans, Eve/Chava (“Mother of all life”) and Adam (“Earthling”) are unhoused vegetarian nudists living in bliss – and blissful ignorance – in the bubble of perfection of the Garden of Eden. There is no...

A d’var Torah for Parshat Re’eh No miracles this week. Just another Torah portion in Deuteronomy. The days of the big fancy parshiot are over.  No 90-year-old’s miracle births this week.  No walls of water, no giant holes opening up to swallow the rebels. Just a list of laws, as the Torah heads towards its...

We all crave food – but equally, we crave the dignity of being able to choose what, how and where we eat.

Commentary on Parshat Naso (Numbers 4:21 – 7:89) Here in DC, the last couple of months have been pretty rough. In March, DC City Council member Trayon White claimed that the Rothschilds control the weather and the government, and then ducked out early from a tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum that had been...

From May 14-June 22, 2018, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival launched 40 days of “nonviolent moral fusion direct action,” calling on our country to change course on the deep moral crises that threaten our democracy and our survival. T’ruah supported the campaign in a variety of ways, including by publishing...

Commentary on Parshat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20) Our Torah portion opens with the taking of another census of B’nai Yisrael – the Children of Israel – this time “listed by their clans, ages 20 years and up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms…” (Num. 1:2) This is census number three since the...

Commentary on Parshat Behar/Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1 – 27:34) One week from today, Monday May 14, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival will launch across this country. As I prepare for this momentous event, I’m struck by the alignment of Torah and sacred season. This Shabbat when we read of the yovel...

There were three hundred and sixty five thoroughfares in the great city of Rome, and in each there were three hundred and sixty five palaces; and in each palace, there were three hundred and sixty five stories and each story contained sufficient to provide the whole world with food. (Talmud Bavli Pesachim 118b) With less...

On August 31st, 2005, I sat waiting for a connection in Brussels, coming back from a summer studying in Israel. I was about to begin rabbinical school in just a few weeks. TVs streamed footage of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina; it was the first I knew of it, having been cut off from most...

This eight-page source sheet makes an argument from classical Jewish sources that Jewish employers should pay a living wage. Includes executive summary.