The Jewish Response to Homelessness

⁷ If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman. ⁸ Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs. ⁹ Beware lest you harbor the base thought, "The seventh year, the year of remission, is approaching," so that you are mean to your needy kinsman and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will incur guilt. ¹⁰ Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the Lord your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings. ¹¹ For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.

(19) For thy waste and thy desolate places And thy land that hath been destroyed— Surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. (20) The children of thy bereavement Shall yet say in thine ears: ‘The place is too strait for me; Give place to me that I may dwell.’ (21) Then shalt thou say in thy heart: ‘Who hath begotten me these, Seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, An exile, and wandering to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; These, where were they?’

(6) No, this is the fast I desire: to loosen the fetters of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? (7) It is to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out to your house; When you see the naked, that thou cover him, and that you do not ignore your brethren.

(8) Someone who has 200 Zuz [ancient Israelite money] does not take from the food shelf, gleanings, untouched corners of the field, and poor-man's tithes. If he has one Dinar less than 200, even if he is given 1000 [as tzedakkah] at once, indeed he may take. If they are pledged to his creditor, or his wife’s marriage contract, indeed he may take. He is not obligated to sell his house or his clothes.

(6) The one who rented a house to his fellow, in the rainy season, he cannot kick him out from Sukkot until Pesach [this is the winter/rainy season]. If [he rented to him] in the summer, he must have thirty days. And in large cities, whether the rainy season or the summer, twelve months.

If the rich man says to the poor man, “Why do you not go and work and get food? Look at those hips! Look at those legs! Look at that fat body! Look at those lumps

of flesh!” the Holy Blessed One, says to the rich person, “It is not enough that you have not given him anything of

yours and helped him out, but you must mock what I have given him, how could you?

(7) One must not give [Tzedakah] to the poor who wander from place to place less than a loaf that is the price of a Pundion, when four Seah [of grain] cost a Sela. If he spends the night, one gives [bedding] supplies for the night. If he stays for Shabbat, one gives him food for three meals. One who has [enough] food for two meals must not take from the soup kitchen. [If he has enough] food for fourteen meals, he must not take from the charity box. And the charity box [funds] are collected by two people and distributed by three people.

This question was actually put by Turnus Rufus to R. Akiba: 'If your God loves the poor, why does He not support them?' He replied, 'So that we may be saved through them from punishment.'

'On the contrary,' said Turnus Rufus, 'it is this which condemns you. I will illustrate by a parable. Suppose an earthly king was angry with his servant and put him in prison and ordered that he should be given no food or drink, and a man went and gave him food and drink. If the king heard, would he not be angry with him?

R. Akiba answered him: 'I will illustrate by another parable. Suppose an earthly king was angry with his son, and put him in prison and ordered that no food or drink should be given to him, and someone went and gave him food and drink. If the king heard of it, would he not send him a present?

(5) If a poor person asks of you [to give him something], and you do not have anything in your possession to give to him, comfort him with words.¹⁸⁴See Leviticus Rabbah 34:15 as well as Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 9b. It is forbidden to speak harshly to a poor person or to raise your voice in a shout, for his heart is broken and crushed. Thus it says in Scripture, (Psalms 51:19) God, You will not despise a contrite and crushed heart. And it says, (Isaiah 57:15) Reviving the spirits of the lowly, reviving the hearts of the contrite. And woe to anyone who shames a poor person! Woe to him! Rather, let him be like a father to him, in compassion and in words, as it is said, (Job 29:15) I was a father to the needy.

One should always push himself, and live in straits rather than rely on others and not impose himself on the community. Anyone who takes charity without needing it will come to need it before he dies...Anyone who is unable to survive without charity but refuses it is guilty of bloodshed...And anyone who needs charity but holds off as much as possible and takes as little as possible will come to see the time when he is able to sustain others from his own wealth. Concerning such as him it is written, "Blessed be the man who trusts in God."

Rabbi Abba said that Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: One who loans another money is greater than one who gives him charity. And the one who places money into a common purse, i.e., one who enters into a partnership with a needy person, is the greatest of them all, since in that case the needy person is not embarrassed when receiving the assistance.

Rav Huna says: Charity collectors examine the level of poverty of one who asks for food, but they do not examine the level of poverty of one who asks for clothing. If a person comes before the charity collectors in tattered clothes, he is given clothing without any questions being asked. If you wish, say that this distinction is derived from a verse; if you wish, say instead that it is derived via logical reasoning. If you wish, say that this distinction is derived via logical reasoning: This one who stands before us in rags is exposed to contempt, whereas that one who is hungry is not exposed to contempt. If you wish, say instead that this distinction is derived from a verse, as it is written: “Is it not to share [paros] your bread with the hungry?” (Isaiah 58:7). The word paros is written with a shin, alluding to the word parosh, meaning examine and investigate, and only then should you give him. And there in the same verse it is written with regard to clothing: “When you see the naked, that you cover him,” indicating that “when you see” him you should immediately cover him. And Rav Yehuda says just the opposite: Charity collectors examine the level of poverty of one who asks for clothing, but they do not examine the level of poverty of one who asks for food. He too adduces supports for his opinion. If you wish, say that this distinction is derived via logical reasoning; if you wish, say instead that it is derived from a verse. If you wish, say that this distinction is derived via logical reasoning: This one who is hungry suffers, whereas that one who is in tattered clothing does not suffer in the same way. And if you wish, say instead that this distinction is derived from a verse. Here, it is written: “Is it not to share [paros] your bread with the hungry?” meaning, share it immediately, just as the word is read. Since the word is read with a samekh, Rav Yehuda does not understand it as alluding to examining the recipient. And there, it is written: “When you see the naked, that you cover him,” meaning, when it will be clearly apparent to you, after you have investigated the matter and found that the supplicant is deserving, then you shall cover him. The Gemara comments: It is taught in a baraita in accordance with the opinion of Rav Yehuda: If a poor person said: Cover me with clothing, the charity collectors examine him; but if he said: Sustain me with food, they do not examine him. We learned in a mishna there (Pe’a 8:7): One does not give a poor person who is traveling from place to place requesting charity less than a loaf worth a pundeyon, one forty-eighth of a sela, when the standard price of grain is four se’a for a sela. If the poor person sleeps in that place, one gives him provisions for lodging. The Gemara asks: What is meant by provisions for lodging? Rav Pappa said: A bed and a pillow [bei sadya]. And if he spends Shabbat in that place, one gives him food for three meals. A Sage taught in a baraita: If a poor person was going door to door asking for charity, one is not required to attend to him and give him money from the charity fund. It is related that a certain poor person who was going door to door requesting charity came before Rav Pappa, the local charity collector, but Rav Pappa did not attend to him. Rav Sama, son of Rav Yeiva, said to Rav Pappa: If the Master does not attend to him, nobody else will attend to him either; should he be left to die of hunger? Rav Pappa said to him: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If a poor person was going door to door asking for charity, one is not required to attend to him? Rav Sama said to him: That baraita means to say that one is not required to attend to him and give him a large gift, since he is already collecting money as he goes door to door, but one does attend to him and give him a small gift. Rav Asi says: A person should never prevent himself from giving at least one-third of a shekel a year in charity, as it is stated: “And we also established mitzvot upon ourselves, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the House of our God” (Nehemiah 10:33). And Rav Asi says: Charity is equivalent to all the other mitzvot combined, as it is stated in that verse: “We also established mitzvot upon ourselves.” A mitzva is not written here, but rather mitzvot, in the plural, thereby teaching that this mitzva is equivalent to all the other mitzvot. The Gemara offers a mnemonic device for the following statements extolling the mitzva of charity: Greater; Temple; Moses. Rabbi Elazar says: One who causes others to perform [me’aseh] a meritorious act is greater than one who performs that act himself, as it is stated: “And the causing [ma’aseh] of righteousness shall be peace, and the work of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever” (Isaiah 32:17). If one merits, the following verse is applied to him: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” (Isaiah 58:7), i.e., he will wholeheartedly give charity to the poor. If he does not merit, the latter clause of that verse is applied to him: “You shall bring the poor that are cast out to your house,” i.e., he will be compelled by the government to billet soldiers in his house and sustain them against his will. Rava said to the people of Meḥoza: I beg of you, strive with each other to perform acts of charity and righteousness, so that you will live in peace with the government, since if you do not act charitably toward each other, you will end up paying fines to the government. And Rabbi Elazar says: When the Temple is standing, a person contributes his shekel for the Temple service and achieves atonement for his sins. Now that the Temple no longer stands, if people act charitably, it will be well for them; but if not, the nations of the world will come and take their money by force. The Gemara comments: And even so, the money taken from them by force is credited to them as if they had freely given charity, as it is stated: “And I will make your oppressors charity” (Isaiah 60:17).

When that great calamity came upon Job, he said to the Holy One, blessed be He: "Master of the universe, did I not feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. . . ? And did I not clothe the naked?" Nevertheless the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Job: ''Job, you have not yet reached even half the measure of Abraham. You sit and stay in your house and the wayfarers come in to you. To him who is accustomed to eat wheat bread, you give wheat bread to eat; to him who is accustomed to eat meat, you give meat to eat; to him who is accustomed to drink wine, you give wine to drink. But Abraham did not act in this way. Instead, he would go out and around everywhere, and when he found wayfarers, he brought them into his house. To him who was unaccustomed to eat wheat bread, he gave wheat bread to eat; to him who was unaccustomed to eat meat, he gave meat to eat; to him who was unaccustomed to drink wine, he gave wine to drink. And more than that, he arose and built large mansions on the highways and left food and drink there, and every passerby ate and drank and blessed Heaven. That is why delight of spirit was given to him.