The Torah Teaches That Welfare Should Be Granted to the Truly Needed — But Never Abused

In this week’s Torah portion, we read: “If a fellow Hebrew male or female is sold to you, they will serve you for six years. And in the seventh year, they should go free, but when you set them free, do not let them go empty handed. Provide for them out of your flock … with everything the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord redeemed you, therefore I command you this day” (Deuteronomy 15;12).

Of course, such laws were only relevant in the past. But there are still important lessons to be learned.

A Hebrew “slave” (really an indentured laborer) was someone convicted of a civil crime but unable to pay off the penalty — or someone unable to support his family, who worked in exchange for board and lodging for himself and his family. He or she would work for a maximum of six full years, unless a redeemer bought their freedom before that. Their living conditions, according to the Torah, should be exactly the same standard as their master’s. But if they refused to go free because they were happy in this state of servitude, they would be penalized by having their ears pierced and then they could stay.

In explaining why the ear was pierced, Rashi quotes: “Because the ear heard on Sinai that you should serve Me, not serve my servants.”

The comparison between serving God and serving other human beings makes the point that — ideally — we should not willingly enslave ourselves, even if sometimes it might be necessary. But when this happens, the master or mistress must treat the indentured servant as an equal, and not lord it over them.

Still, as the Torah makes clear, servitude, even if accepted willingly, is dependence — and dependence is not the ideal. Human dignity has an important role in Biblical society — and to avoid this, the Torah commanded that when releasing them, we have to make provisions and ensure they are not thrown back onto the streets, but also enable them to set up their own businesses and to provide for themselves.

One of the great benefits that modern societies provide is welfare. But the trouble with welfare is that it can be abused.

Here is an excerpt from a recent blog by Dr. Emile Woolf,  the best-selling author and expert in economics. It refers specifically to the UK economy, but is equally relevant to all economies battling to balance caring, legitimate welfare, with economic burdens that limit the capacity of welfare to meet crucial needs:

The benefits system, including public sector pensions, has strayed beyond providing a safety net for the most vulnerable, and now costs taxpayers £300 billion p.a. Almost 4m people are receiving out-of-work benefits without even having to look for a job. Perhaps it’s worth adding that, as police and the courts are struggling with the rising number of violent attacks on our streets, we can no longer safely assume that the attacker is a “terrorist”. We increasingly hear instead is that “he is a mental-health patient”. …  So rapid and ubiquitous is the spread of the mental disability syndrome that no section of the community could possibly be immune.

One might also apply this reliance and dependency to the refusal of many in Israel, both secular and Haredi, who prefer to rely on government handouts.

Those who excel in their studies, whether secular or religious, are entitled to help to continue their studies. But a whole generation of many who do not want to or cannot study is another form of dependency that, in my opinion, the Torah would not have approved of.

As the Talmud says, “Many tried full time study and did not succeed. And many tried combining study with earning a living and did succeed.”

The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.