I find that the majority of the phone calls I receive at the Shul in a given week come in between Monday and Thursday. I probably get two or three phone calls or messages per day, but for some reason on Fridays the number dips dramatically. Maybe it’s because Fridays are a hectic time for any Rhode Island Jew, what with finishing all the work at the office and needing to get a shabbas meal on the table in time. Or maybe it’s because my thoughtful congregants assume that their rabbi is busy at work crafting his latest insightful sermon on the week’s parasha. Whatever the reason, the fact is that my phone is unusually silent during these Friday hours as Shabbat approaches.
So you can imagine my great surprise when my phone rang yesterday morning at 8:30am Eastern Standard Time. But for me the real surprise came when our receptionist told me who was calling. “He’s says it’s Timothy Geithner,” she said. “Like the Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner?” I asked astounded. “That’s what he said,” she assured me, “It’s a Washington D.C. area code too,” she added. “Okay, put him through,” I reluctantly responded, “Though I really have to finish this sermon and these distractions are killing me.”
“Hello Rabbi Seltzer, this is Timothy Geithner.”
“Good morning Mr. Geithner, how can I be of assistance to you?”
“Well as you no doubt know Rabbi, I am currently serving at the pleasure of President Barack Obama as the United States Treasury Secretary.”
“Yes, I am aware,” I responded, quickly adding, “But did YOU know that I am serving at the pleasure of the President Nate Beraha as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El?”
“Yes, I had read that on your website, Rabbi.”
“Well at least someone looks at our website,” I said.
“Listen Rabbi, the reason I am calling is I need some rabbinic advice.”
“But Timothy,” I interrupted, “I read on your Wikipedia site that you are a Protestant.”
“Well that is true, but nonetheless I decided to turn to you Rabbi, for some sage advice from your Holy Scripture with regard to the current economic situation.”
“Well Timothy I am flattered, but you should know that I once got a D in Trigonometry, so I imagine that may disqualify me from being an economic expert of any kind.”
“Well yes Rabbi it would,” he responded, “But you do know the Bible don’t you?”
“Yes Timothy, I am familiar with the teachings of our Torah.”
“Then, your nation and your President need your help Rabbi. Allow me to explain. As you know we have inherited the worst economic situation in nearly a century, and we are looking for something, for anything that may work to bring us out of this current crisis, and into a time of prosperity again. Just this week the President signed into law the biggest stimulus package in our nation’s history, and we still are not sure if that will work. So at the President’s behest, I was asked to explore what the world’s most ancient, respected, monotheistic religions might have to say about the best way to spend our way out of this crisis. Which brings me to you Rabbi Seltzer…well actually, your receptionist told me that Rabbi Franklin was out of town, so that technically brings me to you.”
“Hmm.” I thought for a moment. “Well as luck would have it Mr. Secretary, this week’s Parasha, Parshat Mishpatim, as well as our special Maftir portion for Shabbat Shekalim, does have a lot to say about how a just society is to behave economically.”
“Hold on a second, Rabbi Seltzer, let me get a pen.” He said.
“Of course Timothy, I’ll wait.”
“Are you ready? Okay great. This week’s Torah Portion, Mishpatim, marks a departure from the previous sections of the Torah. Whereas up until now, the Torah has been mainly a device used for narrative, telling the stories of our foreparents and of the national exodus from Egypt, beginning with this week, the Torah starts to flex its muscle as a Law code; in fact Mishpatim, means laws or statutes.”
“Interesting,” Mr. Geithner responded.
“Included among these first sections of legal code,” I explained “are some very relevant texts given our current economic situation. “For instance, in Exodus Chapter 22, verse 24, the Torah states:
אִם-כֶּסֶף | תַּלְוֶה אֶת-עַמִּי אֶת-הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ לֹא-תִהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנֹשֶׁה לֹא-תְשִֹימוּן עָלָיו נֶשֶׁךְ:
“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor: exact no interest from them.”
“Wait a second Rabbi, you lost me there with that whole no interest thing.”
“Well actually Timothy that is a fundamental difference between the ancient Israelite religion and our current economic system. You see the ancient Israelite community was one where many were agrarian farmers, who needed to take out loans from the richer Israelites in order to buy grain, or even food in a year that was damaged by pestilence or famine. In that type of society, the Torah tells us that it is a responsibility, not a choice to lend money to your fellow. And given that this is a Mitzvah, a commandment from God, something to be done no matter what, interest should not be your motivating factor.”
“But Rabbi,” the secretary responded, “I’m no Biblical scholar, but when you read the verse weren’t the words of the Torah clear? “If you lend money,” With a presumed emphasis on the “if.” If you read it that way, how can you say that it is a commandment to lend money to the poor and not a issue of personal choice?”
“Very good Timothy, very good indeed, there is a future for you in the world of Talmud study. Actually you are right, but you are nonetheless wrong. Allow me to explain: As the famous Torah commentator Rashi says, according to the opinion of Rabbi Ishmael of the Midrash, “Every time the Torah uses the word ‘If’, or “and if” it means that given law is optional, except for three cases in the Torah. And this happens to be one of them.”
In fact the commentator Abraham Ibn Ezra adds, that the ‘if’ here should be read as follows: “If, you happen to be so fortunate that God sees fit to give you more money than you need to survive….then you are obligated to lend some of it to the poor with no interest.” Got it Tim?”
“Yes Rabbi, I’ve got it. But what about the rest of the verse: “to my people, the poor among you.”
“Well I’m glad you asked Timothy, (you know you are a real help to this sermon after all.) The Torah, much like the teachings of Confucius, encourages us to think of our world as having concentric circles of need. First, you must reach out to those who are in need in your immediate family, then to those in your greater community who need assistance. Finally, you are to reach out to anyone around the world who needs to be cared for.”
“I understand Rabbi, but what about those people in the House and the Senate, when they asked for tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans a few years back, were they following the Torah’s laws?”
“Actually Timothy, no, no they were not. You see Rashi explains that when given the choice between lending money to a poor person or lending money to a rich person, the poor person must come first in our accounting. Although, he goes on to say that when given a choice between helping the poor in your community versus helping the poor in someone else’s community, you must work to help those who are in need in your own district first. So I guess you could make the argument that special earmarks which send money to a congressperson’s home district are actually justifiable according to the Torah.”
“I see Rabbi, so what was John McCain getting so upset about then?”
“I don’t know Tim, I just don’t know.”
“Rabbi, before I go, I have a meeting with congress in a few minutes, do you have some time to explain to me the Biblical view of taxes? As you may have heard, I am not exactly an expert in that area.”
“Yes Timothy, I did hear that, and I implore you to do some heshbon ha nefesh, some soul searching, as well as some heshbon he’heshbon, some searching of your bank accounts before next Yom Kippur, I mean tax season.”
“Will do Rabbi. Will do.”
“Well Timothy, remember a few months ago during the presidential campaign when Joe Biden got in trouble for saying that thing he did.”
“Rabbi you will have to be more specific than that.”
“Oh, I mean that time he claimed that it actually may be patriotic to pay a higher tax to your government?”
“Yeah, I remember that one.”
“Well, according to the Torah he may have been right. This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shekalim, one of four special shabbatot that precede the Passover holiday. Timothy, do you know what the shekel is?”
“Yes Rabbi, it is takes about 4.142 of them to make a dollar.”
“That’s a good one Tim, you just better hope it stays there. Anyway, the shekel is a Biblical form of currency, it wasn’t an actual coin, but rather a specific weight of gold or silver, in fact the Hebrew root word of Shekel, is Shakal, to weigh. But I digress. The Bible tells us in Exodus 30:13 that any Israelite who wanted to be entered into the census record, that is to officially enroll in all the benefits of organized civilization had to pay a tax of half a shekel. Everyone who is twenty years or older pays this tax, and according to the Bible, the benefits you receive are really great: you are guaranteed that no plagues will come upon you while you are enrolled in this government program.”
“Sounds great Rabbi, but how do you decide who pays what, is there some sort of tax code I could read online?”
“Actually Timothy, the Bible is pretty clear about this. In verse 15 the Torah explains that:
הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא-יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט מִמַּחֲצִית הַשָּׁקֶל לָתֵת אֶת-תְּרוּמַת יְהֹוָה לְכַפֵּר עַל-נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם:
“The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving the LORDS’s offering as expiation for your person.”
“Wait so you mean the Bible is advocating for a Flat Tax? That’s so Huckabean!”
“Well maybe it is, but it may be a bit more nuanced than it seems. Rebbe Yehoshua Isaac Shapira, a nineteenth century rabbi known as “Eizel Harif”, “The sharp one,” points out that when the Torah tells us that the rich and the poor should give no more and no less than a half-shekel, it does so because this particular tax was levied in public. Therefore the rich may have been tempted to pay more, in order that they would receive more honor and adulation from the community as a whole. Likewise, the poor may have been embarrassed if they only paid the minimum amount, and so the Torah leveled the playing field. However, Rav Shapira goes on to say, that Tze’dakah, that means the commandment to give charity Tim, is to be done in private. In other words, true Tze’dakah, truly righteous giving is to be done according to one’s own means. Therefore the rich are encouraged to give generously, but not in such a way that would embarrass those who are less fortunate.”
“Ah, I understand Rabbi. You know, the Jewish tradition is a truly wise one, giving meaning and insight into our world even in our complicated times.”
“You are right Timothy. And if you will permit me, I would like to add one more thing.”
“Of course Rabbi, go ahead.”
“Timothy, I would encourage you and the President to advocate for a Biblical Stimulus Package. A stimulus that helps those who are less fortunate in our society, that gives loans and credit to those who need it most and finally a stimulus that is based upon the precept, and indeed the commandment of philanthropy. “
“But in these difficult times rabbi, do you really think people are inclined to give more charity?”
“Timothy, allow me to tell you a story from our Talmud. There the rabbis paraphrase the Prophet Isaiah as saying that “The one who loans money to the poor in his hour of need, is truly blessed.” (Is. 58:9) And so they ask, but when you are poor, aren’t you by definition in an hour of need all the time? So what is the meaning of the verse? The Rabbis respond saying, read the verse as follows, “The one who loans money to the poor, even though it is in the lender’s hour of need, is truly blessed.”
“Ah, Rabbi, I understand.”
“Timothy, I thank you for listening to me this morning. And I pray that you, your administration and our new president will lead us out of this hour of our need, into a time of prosperity for rich and poor alike.
“Amen rabbi. Amen.”
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