Does this mean everyone is a Talmud scholar or a Rabbi with great wisdom? No.
Does this mean everyone is a moreh, a wise trained teacher? No.
Many people come into our lives like an traveling teacher, a malamud.
Some are wise and some are not.
Some people are put in front of us as examples of how NOT to behave.
The women at the grocery store could be such a malamud to us. We do not know her story. I am assuming.
Our nation is in a recession which may get worse before it gets better. We will see people out of work, out of their homes, and making choices of whether to buy gasoline for their cars, food for their tables or medical care for their health.
While this is an economic problem, this is not new to our people or others, who in ancient times, and many today as well, had economies collapse due to famine or plague.
The Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Berachot 4:3 brings us this prayer in times of trouble: "Answer us, O Lord, answer us, in this time and season. For we are in great trouble. Hide not your face from us and forsake not our supplications. For you are the Lord who answers us in times of trouble, who redeems us and saves us in all our times of distress. As it is written, in Psalm 107:28 'Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress. Blessed are You who answers us in a time of trouble."
The Sages of the Yerushalmi Talmud sees this as a prayer that is said in a communal setting on a public fast day
The Prayer above is indeed a communal prayer. It has the plural words 'we' and 'us' in it. If anyone of 'us' in our community does not fair well, the community is not fairing well. Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh--All Israel is responsible for one another, the Talmud teaches us in Tractate Shavuot 39a.
The prayer should be said communally as the work to be done, the tikkun ha olom, to repair the world of the community, as God's human helpers, needs to be a group effort.
Prayer without mitzvoth, without action, is wasted breath. While Psalm 118 tells us that God will provide for us, we need to do our best to provide for ourselves as well. And that includes not doing things that detracts from our doing well.
And know to the question asked: In a perfect Torah-Talmud world the lady would have never had credit cards, as we do not make personal loans with interest. This week's Torah portion (Behar) talks about this. And when we do make interest- free loans, they are forgiven every 7 years.
But more importantly, we are to be watchful of our neighbors, be they Jew or not, and pick- them- up, before they get to the point of needing a loan (credit card) in the first place."And if your brother becomes poor and his strength fails him, you shall support him, whether he is a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you..." (Lev. 25:35)
And if we saw a fellow, spending money foolishly, on cars and houses and wide flat screen TVs they cannot afford, we would be reproving them, and honest salesmen wouldn't be selling them these products anyway.
But as my rabbi once said to me, if my Bubbie had a moustache she would be my Zadie.
Should you have paid the US $ 170.00 for this lady's groceries?
Because we do not live in a Torah world so many questions come into mind. Is she using the money that she may have for something else? Does she bother to try to work? What did she do to ruin her credit on so many credit cards? Do we have to do our own interviews, like a State Welfare Agency, before we open up our hand to help another?
The Torah and Talmud say '' Give.'' But what about the next lady? The next man? Do you stay at the grocery all day long and pay for people's food, or do you run to your synagogue and open a free food center for the needy?
In Pirkei Avot our sages state about the mitzvah of Tzedakah (charity); "There are four types among those who give charity - one who wishes to give but doesn't want others should give - he begrudges others; He who encourages others to give but doesn't give himself - he begrudges himself; He who gives and wants others should give too, is a Chassid (generous person); One who doesn't give and doesn't want others to give, is a wicked person."
But we are so far gone, feeding one person is an example of the Dutch boy trying to put his thumb in the dike to stop a flood. When credit card companies mailed credit cards, (and I got them when I was a student with no job!!), to anyone, enticing our yetzer ha ra, to spend what we did not have, (buy now and maybe pay later), this is an example of what the Talmud refers to a bad thing occurring that we need to look inward at ourselves and ask 'why?' and not outward.
Greed, coveting, and lack of faith and trust in God to know what is right and good for our needs, is the root cause of the world wide economic mess.
The last part of the question, ''How can we help people who are backed into a credit-card corner?,'' is to first find out if they truly want help, or just a quick fix. A quick fix is bankruptcy and letting them start anew, with new credit and perhaps a gift of 50 thousand US dollars, and within a year they will be back to where they are now or worse.
If they really want help, their real help must come from Above. The problem is spiritual in most cases. We can help them with food, shelter, free legal aid, etc, but if we do not work with them on the root cause, their separation from God, by what ever name they choose to call God, they will not learn a lesson. It has been shown that improper dealing with one's personal finances actually gets passed on to the next generation.
This being said, does not release us as individuals from helping another individual and encouraging others to do so as well. The proper way to perform the mitzvah of Tzedakah is to give and to see that others give too.
I would like to end with a story from the Talmud and one from my friend who has his business close to pulse of Wall Street.
The Talmud teaches that an important condition in the mitzvah of Tzedakah is to make sure that the person receiving the help should not feel embarrassed and inferior. Many people give Tzedakah anonymously. That way, the poor would not know the source of the money and wouldn't be embarrassed when they met the donor.
The Talmud Bavli Tractate Ketovoth 67b tells the following story. Mar Ukva's neighbor was a poor person. Each day, Mar Ukva threw the sum of four zuzim through a hole in his neighbor's door so that he would not know his identity.
One day, Mar Ukva and his wife stopped by the neighbor's house to drop in the four zuzim. But as they did, the poor man opened the door. Afraid that he would be embarrassed seeing his benefactor, Mar Ukva and his wife ran and hid in a large oven used for baking bread. The coals in the oven were still hot and Mar Ukva burnt his feet. However, his wife's feet were not affected at all. She suggested that he place his feet on hers to avoid further pain.
"We both give charity, so why is it that my feet burnt while yours didn't?" asked Mar Ukva.
His wife replied: "The reason is that you perform the mitzvah of charity by giving money to the poor. But they cannot benefit from this immediately for they must buy food. But, I am in the house and when a poor person comes for help, I give them food which they eat right away and benefit immediately!"
Mar Ukva's charity was legendary. Every Erev Yom Kippur, he would send a poor person a certain amount of money. Once, he sent the money with his son, but the boy returned with it. He told his father, "The person doesn't need your money! When I came to his house, I saw him eating a festive meal and drinking good wine!"
"I didn't realize what this man's needs were," Mar Ukva said to his son. "Obviously he needs more than what I gave him." Mar Ukva immediately doubled the amount and told his son to bring it to the person!
Before Mar Ukva passed away he asked that an accounting of all the money he distributed for charity be brought before him. It amounted to a very large sum. Yet, Mar Ukva wasn't satisfied. "I'm taking too little with me for such a long journey!" he stated. He then took half of his possessions and distributed it to charity.
The Talmud also teaches: "Why did Mar Ukva and his wife have to run and hide in a hot stone oven?" The Sages answer, "Because a person should rather let oneself get thrown into a burning furnace than put another person to shame."
So my Wall Street connected pal explains the stock market this way:
Once upon a time a man told a small village: "I will buy monkeys for $10 each."
Since there were many monkeys in the forest, the villagers caught them and sold them to the man.
As the supply of monkeys diminished, the villagers' efforts slowed, so the man offered them $20 each.
They renewed their efforts but the supply of monkeys diminished further, so he increased his price to $25.
Soon no one could even find a monkey in the forest.
The man increased his price to $50, but announced, "Since I must go to the ''big city'' on business, I authorize my assistant to buy monkeys on my behalf."
As soon as his boss was gone, the assistant told the villagers, "My boss has collected lots of monkeys. I'll sell them to you for $35 and then, when he returns, you can sell them to him for $50."
The villagers rounded up all the money they could and bought as many monkeys as possible. Then they had monkeys everywhere...
... but they never saw the man or his assistant again.
And now you understand the workings of the stock market!
In summary, we must give individually, but work politically and spiritually, to stamp out the root cause of greed and coveting that landed all of us in the economic mess, doing more damage, than outside enemy could have done to us.
Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL
Thanks to my Leon R. for his Wall Street wisdom
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Discussion Questions
1. Is it appropriate to say this prayer privately?
3. How can we help people who are backed into a credit-card corner?=20
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