Parashat Mishpatim 2014: Do you really know the heart of the poor and the stranger? Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg 1/24/14

Perhaps you read this story in the Huffington post a couple weeks ago[1]:
Katherine Hackett has done everything America has asked of her. She is a hardworking, skilled, educated professional who paid taxes and contributed to her community. A single mother from Moodus, Conn., she raised two sons who have served our country in the military.
She worked for 17 years in the health care industry. But 13 months ago, without warning, she got some devastating news that turned her life upside down. She was handed a pink slip and given four weeks’ severance pay.
Unemployment benefits have been essential to Katherine’s survival during this difficult period. Still, they only covered her mortgage and COBRA, leaving her with only $230 a month for the rest of her expenses. That’s less than $8 a day for food, utilities and other necessities. Fortunately, enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace thanks to the Affordable Care Act cut her health care costs dramatically. But now, because Congress didn’t pass an extension before the end of the year, Katherine and 1.3 million people like her have had their emergency unemployment benefits cut off.
Katherine wrote a letter to President Obama, explaining her struggle. This led to her traveling to Washington a couple weeks ago to introduce the President as he urged Congress to pass the extension of unemployment benefits.

Katherine wanted the president to tell people that she isn’t coasting, sitting around the house and enjoying the good life. The mere suggestion is offensive. She is working every day to try to find a new job, sending out resume after resume, applying for every position for which she might be qualified.
In the meantime, she’s lost 15 pounds because she’s buying less food. She can’t replace her old car. To save on heating costs, she’s keeping her thermostat at 58 degrees and wearing a coat and hat in the house. She explains that she has a “poverty of spirit” right now and wants nothing more than the dignity and self-respect of going back to work.
There are hundreds of thousands of stories like this in our country right now, including a good number of folks in our own congregation. Most of us probably know at least one person who is unemployed . And so far, our federal government has failed to continue to provide the support these folks need to live while they look for work and to avoid falling into poverty and hunger.

Those who argue against extending these protections say that unemployment benefits remove the incentive for folks to go out and look for a job. But economists can’t prove that this is the case.

What we do know is that no one is living the good life on unemployment insurance, when they at least have the benefits. On average, it replaces only about half of a worker’s earnings – who’s going to be satisfied with a 50 percent pay cut? Why would Katherine Hackett rather wear a coat in the house than enjoy the dignity of work?

What we do know is that many people have given up looking for jobs – after sending hundreds of resumes when there just aren’t enough jobs to go around – there is a deficit of hope. And another thing we know is that with the cut of these benefits, people all over this country are slipping deeper into poverty. I was just at our local Shoreline Food Pantry last week and learned about how the number of people going there has skyrocketed, and how the CT Food Bank which supplies most of their food can’t keep up with the demand.

As Jews, we know is that this is a moral issue, and that we are responsible, because, as we read in this week’s Torah portion, “we know the heart of the poor and the stranger, because we were strangers in the land of Egypt.”[2]

We read in this week’s Torah portion that if we mistreat those in our society who are powerless, God will hear their cries, and we will be responsible for the consequences.

The parasha this week, called “Mishpatim,” brings us a whole series of regulations, including laws regarding how we are to treat the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger.

Here is one of them:

If you lend money to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge for repayment of a loan, you must return it to him each night before the sun sets; it is his only clothing, the sole covering for his skin. In what else shall he sleep? Therefore, if he cries out to Me, I will pay heed, for I am compassionate. (Exodus 22:24-26)

These laws aren’t just presented to us as a dry list of things we must do or not do. There is an emotional appeal – have empathy – “in what else shall he sleep?!” We know the heart of the suffering. God hears their cry. And therefore, the core of our covenant with God is our obligation to relieve that suffering and protect the powerless because God is compassionate.

The Medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides teaches about a ladder of tzedakah – that there is a spectrum of ways that we can give of what we have to make the world more fair, more just. According to Maimonides, the highest level of tzedakah is to give in such a way that we help people become self-sufficient.

I heard an interview on the radio this week with a man who is unemployed, who spoke of how unemployment benefits have helped him. He talked about what you need in order to find a job – you need an internet connection in order to apply for jobs- companies are not interested in seeing you in person to pick up an application – they turn you away and say go home and apply online. Internet access costs money, and unemployment benefits help with this. And then once you get an interview, you need gas money and a car to get to the interview. Benefits help to cover these costs as well.

Katherine Hackett speaks of her “poverty of spirit” – that all she wants is the dignity of a job. Unemployment benefits provide some basic dignity so that she and others like her can become self-sufficient again. These protections help to provide not only material but spiritual support to people who need it.

In an article I read this week about what it means to be poor, I read this quote that has stayed with me: “to be poor is to feel controlled by the world.”[3] To be poor, to be unemployed, is to live at the mercy of the world.

And so I leave us with some questions – questions that we should be asking ourselves and our public officials. Do we know the heart of the poor, the stranger, the unemployed? And if we do, what is our response – do our hearts close against them or open further? Can’t we spare just a bit more mercy?
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-e-perez/the-dignity-of-work-kathe_b_4557760.html
[2] paraphrase of Exodus 23:9

[3] http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/what-happens-when-the-poor-receive-a-stipend/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0