Prof. Aryeh Lazar, PhD, Talmudic Scholar, Ariel University, lazara@ariel.ac.il, Nof Ayallon 197, DN Shimshon, Israel 9978500
Social justice is one of the pillars of the Jewish tradition. There are numerous commandments in the Five Books of Moses (Torah) focusing on helping the poor both as individuals as well as a designated group. The Torah mentions many times the need to care for the “orphan, the widow, and the stranger”, i.e., those who have difficulty in caring for themselves. Many Torah laws concerning monetary issues also reflect social justice. All later codifications of Jewish Law have detailed rules and regulations concerning the responsibility of the individual and the community to care for those who are less well off and Jewish communities throughout history have always had well developed systems for distributing help to the poor. Finally, in current Israeli society, the Ultra-Orthodox community is well-known for its many organizations – funded by private contributions – that provide a wide number of social services to those in need of help such as lending medical equipment or providing interest free loans.
