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If the Bible is so against systemic solutions to poverty, why is a jubilee year declared that releases people from debt to alleviate intergenerational poverty? What is leket, skikhah, pe’ah, and maasar if not taxes meant to create a safety net for those in need? 1/ https://twitter.com/ewerickson/status/937104341894352896
Maasar. Not a voluntary contribution. An obligation.
Leket. Not voluntary, but obligatory.
Shikhḥah. Not voluntary. Obligatory.
Pe’ah. Obligatory. Lev 19:9. These are taxes, y’all.
And yovel/jubilee might be better systemic solution to poverty than anything we do in America in 2017. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)
Oh and hai Christian Scripture https://twitter.com/wfkars/status/937363607171551232
I want to say more about Jubilee/Yovel, because it's important and worth spelling out. Every 50 (or 49--there's debate) years, a special year is declared: debts are cancelled, slaves & prisoners are freed, land reverts back to its original owner. It's a social rebooting.
Think about it: Everybody starts where they start on the board. Some people succeed and amass wealth, others struggle, fall on hard times. But instead of society leaving those disadvantaged to get stuck in a many-generations cycle of poverty, there's a reset button.
At yovel, all that property I managed to accumulate? Now goes back to the original owners so they get another shot this next cycle, rather than making it so that the great-great grandchildren of that one rich guy have forever an unearned advantage.
It's capitalism in that there's a chance to work and earn wealth. But it's not forever. At yovel, debts are forgiven. Your great-grandchildren don't have to carry them. Even generation gets a clean slate if you inherited that debt. We all start over together.
Prisoners are freed.
I am trying to imagine what a yovel principle could do in the age of mass incarceration. How many lives that would save, opportunities that would open. The spirit of the thing is a slate-wiping, so in my imagination they wouldn't carry the record.
I am trying to imagine what a yovel principle could do in the age of mass incarceration. How many lives that would save, opportunities that would open. The spirit of the thing is a slate-wiping, so in my imagination they wouldn't carry the record.
A second chance.
Indentured servants/slaves are freed--the radical stratification of labor is reworked. Again, some people get a new chance. Some people lose some unearned privileges & have to now venture forth on their merit, not grandpa's earnings.
(Yes slavery is abhorrent duh thank you)
(Yes slavery is abhorrent duh thank you)
There were some issues with the system, as there are with every system. The early Rabbis had to create a legal loophole so that people wouldn't stop lending to the poor ('the yovel year is coming up; I'll never see my money again!').
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prozbul
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prozbul
But I think about the intent--and probable impact--of this idea up against how actively members of the GOP are working to harm American citizens this year, and the contrast is staggering.
You guys, we can do so much better than what we have in this country now.
We have to work for it.
Step one is making loud holy noise to try to kill the #GOPTaxScam
There are a lot of steps after that.
This is part of our obligation.
We're all in this together.
We have to work for it.
Step one is making loud holy noise to try to kill the #GOPTaxScam
There are a lot of steps after that.
This is part of our obligation.
We're all in this together.
BRAIN HICCUP CLARIFICATION (I'm operating on not enough sleep for not enough days in a row): It's not even just yovel that cancels debts--it's shmitta--once every 7 years that happens. The land reversion & freeing folks happens once every 49/50, but debt forgiveness is every 7!
Sorry for missing something basic as I tweet on not enough sleep, in-between other Sunday activities....
Also, y'all, if you like this thread you'll probably enjoy this piece as well, more on the GOP policy's exploitation and how the Bible might regard it: https://forward.com/opinion/370241/trumps-washington-modern-day-sodom/
OK, want to add some things. First, think about what some sort of policy of regular debt-forgiveness would mean in today's world--student debt, credit card debt, etc. Probably wouldn't look exactly like shmitta, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. And think of the impact...
2nd, the Hebrew word for $ given in a philanthropic way is tzedekah, from the root tzedek, justice. "Charity" comes from caritas, Latin for love. You give charity bc your heart moves you to. Judaism doesn't care about your feels. You give tzedekah bc it's the just thing to do.
A better translation for tzedekah might be "redistributive justice."
But that is a later innovation. Systemic solutions meant to address poverty were already baked into the Torah, into the source code.
But that is a later innovation. Systemic solutions meant to address poverty were already baked into the Torah, into the source code.
And it's not about just giving part of your earnings, and it's not just about helping the vulnerable in some vague, amorphous way. It's about setting up concrete, actionable systems to protect people, keep intergenerational wealth and poverty from spinning out of control.
Also will just note that the Torah had what we might today call an intersectional lens. Those calls to protect the widow, orphan and non-citizen? Was because they knew that people might be uniquely vulnerable in poverty based on their gender, national identity, age status.
We're commanded in the Torah to care for ALL the needy, ALL impoverished folks. But it specifically names people for whom the impact might be especially hard because of who they are.
Ahh nice. I stand nuanced. https://twitter.com/quixotequest/status/1019682272037879808
Also yes let the record state in the leket section that it’s not corn, it’s “harvest”, mostly wheat and barley. That is an awful translation and I own my bad screengrab there—I was in a hurry and looking for a usable definition, that site did the job but man, it’s not corn.
