{"id":41036,"date":"2018-02-02T17:19:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T23:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=41036"},"modified":"2018-06-02T04:51:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T10:51:22","slug":"say-little-do-much-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/say-little-do-much-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Little, Do Much: Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n

Pirkei Avot<\/em> (\u201cEthics of the Sages\u201d), records the favorite teaching of Yossi ben Yochanan: \u201cOpen wide the doors of your home, and welcome the poor as members of your household.\u201d This generous sentiment seems to have inspired poet Emma Lazarus, author of \u201cThe New Colossus,\u201d inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: \u201cGive me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hillel, an impoverished Babylonian immigrant to the Land of Israel, taught that there is a measure of Jewish national self-interest in this principle: \u201cHizaheru B\u2019vnei Ani\u2019im \u2013 Take particular care regarding the children of the poor, for from them will go forth Torah\u201d (Nedarim 81A).<\/p>\n

The sacred tradition of the United States has, happily, long recognized the inherent dignity and the invaluable potential for our collective well-being represented by immigrants, regardless of financial means. That ethos remains \u201ca red ribbon on a white horse.\u201d It is a dream we can all share.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi for Temple Emanuel of Northern Jersey and is the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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