Thursday, 23rd May, 2013
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A few weeks ago, I received a disturbing e-mail. It purported to show that the payment the Government gave to asylum seekers and immigrants was more than given to old age pensioners and claimed this was not how it should be. What shocked me was not the figures given but the fact that the comparison was made in the first place. Worse still, the e-mail turned out to be a viral e-mail that had first been circulated in Canada, and its claims were totally false. But it is readily believed because it perpetuates a myth that is increasingly prevalent in our society: the myth of deserving and undeserving poor.
The myth creates a scale of how deserving people are of support, with old age pensioners at the top and asylum seekers at the bottom. I do not for a moment wish to deny that old age pensioners are deserving. But this does not mean others are not. It is too easy to categorise people as undeserving so that we are relieved of the responsibility of supporting them. The unemployed are too often described by the press and the politicians as ‘workshy’ or unwilling to work, even
though unemployment 10% or more in some areas, so finding a job is extremely difficult, let alone work that is in keeping with someone’s skills and needs. Asylum seekers are only too willing to work, but the Government does not allow them to do so, despite the recommendations of reputable organisations such as the Rowntree foundation.
To blame people for the situation of dependency they find themselves in is to return down the path which led to the Victorian workhouse, where people who were already on the bottom rung of society were knocked even further down, punished for being poor. There may be individuals who choose not to work who could, or who seek asylum without genuine cause. These examples are readily picked up by the press and make the front page. But they are exceptions. In today’s climate, they make an easy target at a difficult time. It is always preferable to find someone else to blame rather than take a deep look at what is going wrong in our society.
The Torah takes a rather different approach. Time and again, the prohibition of wronging the stranger is repeated. Leviticus 19:34 goes further and commands us to love the stranger. The stranger is the most vulnerable member of society. Strangers are at the margins, speaking a different language when they arrive, unfamiliar with our customs and how our society works. It is too easy to perceive them as different, as outside, as unworthy. We know what it is like to be
perceived in that way, for not only in Egypt but throughout our history, we have been strangers. We have been excluded and despised. We have been blamed for the ills that beset society, from the Black Death to economic depression. Out of our experience has come an obligation to extend deep compassion to the stranger, for, as we are told again and again, ‘you were strangers in the land of Egypt.’ Already three thousand years ago, we had developed a sensibility to the needs and feelings of others. All the more because someone is different we must learn to show them empathy and compassion. And if we learn to show compassion for the stranger, then compassion for the poor, the orphan and the widow will follow, for they too are needy and our hearts must be open to all who need our care.
For Judaism, it is a privilege not a burden to be able to support those in need of care. Paying taxes should not be something to be avoided, but rather our willing contribution to creating a society where the poor and needy are supported. When the Jews lived in their own communities, they had a community chest, a fund to help the poor and the wayfarer. Our contributions through taxation to social security and benefits for others is our community chest. The question of whether someone deserved support simply did not arise. Rather, it is our obligation to order society so that there will be no poor. Meanwhile, the poor have a purpose – to open our eyes to suffering and make us aware of the needs of others, so that we will become more compassionate and caring of others.
Exodus 23:2 commands: ‘You shall not follow a multitude to do evil.’ At the moment, the multitude is seeking to create a climate where the poor are blamed for being poor and the stranger is blamed for many of the ills of society. We, of all people, should not to be swayed by the prevailing climate. Our duty is to defend the poor and the stranger and care for them and to work for a world where all are treated with compassion and dignity.
