On social justice, health care and welfare issues of the day
Civilized societies have confronted poverty for millennia. Jews, comprising one of the oldest societies in the world, have developed an ideology and a code of law and ethics affirming that it is an obligation of both the individual and the conununity to care for the poor and ultimately to bring them out of poverty. Traditional sources on the subject of poverty are not merely hortatory. Many of the rules were enforced as law. Until the very recent past, in most places and times, the decrees of Jewish courts were enforced upon Jews by the Jewish community itself and, under certain circumstances, by the non-Jewish host government. The way we Jews have interpreted and met our obligations to the poor has changed over the years with our shifting economic and political fortunes and the varying political, social, and economic conditions of the countries in which we lived. Nevertheless, responsibility to the poor has endured as an essential ingredient, both in Jewish values and in Jewish practice.
Jews generally know that our heritage manifests great concern for the poor. Some even identify as Jews primarily through efforts to take care of the downtrodden. Equating Judaism with social action alone is a mistake, for Judaism is much richer than that; but Judaism does concentrate a large portion of its attention on the care of those in need. Few Jews know, however, what Judaism specifically requires of its adherents in this area, and why. Likewise, too few Jews draw on traditional religious ideals and instructions in making practical political decisions about minimum wage, unemployment, or welfare reform.
Both vision and action are necessary. Without an over-arching framework to justify and motivate our efforts to help the poor, we devote less time and energy to the task, carry it out less well, and ultimately lose interest in it. On the other hand, pious theories about the need to provide such aid are useless without appropriate policies and action to effectuate them. By including, then, both the theoretical framework for a Jewish approach to poverty and some specific guidelines for action to combat it, this pamphlet provides a structure for Jewish thought, feeling, progranuning, and action.
The above paragraphs are from the introduction to "You Shall Strenghten Them: A Rabbinic Letter on the Poor", the Conservative movement's official pastoral letter on this topic. Conservative Jews are encouraged to study it as individuals, in religious schools, and in congregations. In addition, the Conservative movement has put much material on these subjects on the Internet; links are provided below.
Health care reform
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=30
Responsibilities for the Provision of Health Care
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=584
Dealing with drug or alcohol addiction
http://www.uscj.org/publicaffairs/review/addict.htm
Sewing up the social safety net: A religious mandate
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/article.asp?ArticleID=68
Welfare Reform
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=24
Principles for Addressing poverty and welfare reform
http://www.jewishpublicaffairs.org/equal/resolutions/welfare_reform-10-3-94.html
Misc. social action topics: Let all who are hungry come and eat; Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.; Understanding Mental Illness: The Congregation as a Caring Community
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=394
Civility in public life; USCJ immigration policy; and Reforming social welfare policies, and more
http://www.uscj.org/scripts/uscj/paper/article.asp?ArticleID=408
The Rabbinical Assembly is a signatory to the position paper on Charitable Choice: Churches, Welfare and Your Tax Dollars. "Religious organizations face a serious temptation in America today - the temptation to take government money. For the first time in history, federal law specifically states that houses of worship can accept taxpayer funding to provide social services, supposedly without watering down their religious identities. This so-called 'charitable choice' proposal sounds too good to be true - and it is. Far from 'helping' religion, government money will eventually hinder it, all the while doing great damage to individual freedom and the First Amendment principle of church-state separation. " For more information see these websites:
http://www.au.org/welfare.htm
http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/luminaries/monograph/forum_cc.shtml
http://www.jewishpublicaffairs.org/security/documents/religion_in_america.html
