Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
STATEMENT ON OUR ECONOMIC COMMITMENT
TO AMERICA’S POOR:
Adopted by the 107th Annual Convention of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
March, 1996
Background:
Judaism teaches us that poverty is destructive of human dignity, and that
helping people in need is a matter of fundamental principle, not an act of
charity. From the time of the prophets, we have acted upon this principle and
adhered to the dictate, “There shall be no needy among you.” (Deut. 15:4)
Maimonides taught that the highest degree of tzedakah is to enable a person to
earn his or her own livelihood.
In the rulings of our sacred texts, and in the implementation of those rulings
during the 1,500 years of the self-governing Jewish community, the government
or the public sector played a central role in achieving social justice. By
Talmudic times, every community was mandated to have schools for rich and poor
alike, as well as money, food, dowry, and burial funds to complement private
tzedekah. By the Middle Ages, these protections had grown into a broad range
of societal programs encompassing, as well, protections for the sick, the
elderly, the immigrant, and the stranger.
The Bible explicitly granted protection to the ger–the so-called stranger,
i.e. the non-Jew who chose to live in the Jewish community, abiding by its
non-ritual laws but not converting to Judaism (whose legal status was
precisely that of the legal immigrant in America today). In the Talmudic
mandate of “mipnai darkei shalom” (for the sake of the paths of peace), the
tradition required that non-Jewish minorities in our communities be granted
the social welfare benefits that our tradition granted to Jews. The notion of
equal treatment by the society for all those in need gave powerful
acknowledgment that societies were called by God to be just and that Jewish
security was bound up with stability in the societies in which we dwelled; and
stability required justice. “The sword enters the world because of justice
delayed and justice denied,” Pirke Avot warns us.
These values and these concerns resonate with those of the United States that
led to the development, since 1933, of a federally guaranteed safety net for
the needy. With all their limitations, these social programs have lifted the
crushing burdens of hunger, poverty, illness, and illiteracy from the
shoulders of scores of millions of Americans.
Over this period, the CCAR has acted upon our ideals by advocating for
children, the poor, the disenfranchised, the elderly, the sick, the disabled,
and the “stranger among us” through resolution and action. Once again,
political circumstance requires that we affirm this mandate. The Congress is
proposing a variety of legislative measures that, if enacted, would combine to
further exacerbate the dire situations daily faced by so many of America’s
most vulnerable. This new agenda not only proposes large cutbacks in programs
that serve the poor, but also would radically change the entire system through
which these programs are funded and provided. The effect of these changes
would be to abandon the concepts of a guaranteed safety net for these
vulnerable segments of our society. The proposed changes and our responses to
them involve several interconnecting issues: reforming the welfare system;
transferring programs for the poor from entitlements to block grants;
balancing the federal budget at the expense of programs that serve the poor;
and rewarding work through the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC).
Currently, 20 percent of the budget relates to programs for those in need.
Forty percent of the proposed cuts would come from those programs. We
recognize the importance of prudent fiscal reforms and welfare reform, but
these reforms should not be made on the backs of the most needy
In the past several months, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, and
the Congress of National Black churches all have passed resolutions opposing
the welfare and budget proposals emanating from Congress as being too severe
in the burdens it imposes on the poor.
THEREFORE, in consonance with the CCAR positions adopted in the past, and
because of the moral consequences of the proposed changes in the economic
structures of our nation, the CCAR resolves to:
1. call upon the United States government to maintain its responsibility to
ensure an adequate, federally guaranteed safety net to protect our nation’s
most vulnerable populations;
2. oppose legislation that would end entitlement status for programs that
protect those in need, such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC),
Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicaid;
3. oppose the use of block grants to the states when such grants are used to
end entitlement programs or as a means to decrease the obligations of the
federal and state governments to the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the
disabled;
4. advocate welfare reform that: strengthens families; protects human dignity,
provides job training and opportunities; encourages and rewards work; and
builds public/private partnerships to overcome poverty;
5. oppose reductions in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), in order to
maintain support for those working their way out of poverty;
6. support deficit reductions and efforts toward a balanced budget generally,
but oppose deficit reductions or tax cuts at the expense of programs that
serve the needs of our most vulnerable populations;
7. call upon members to work in their state and local communities for policies
and programs that meet the needs of these vulnerable populations; and
8. call upon our congregations to plan now for expansion of their social
services projects to help those left in need as a result of withdrawal of
government support and to coordinate an effective Jewish response to these
cutbacks with local federations.