(א) אֵלּוּ דְבָרִים שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם שִׁעוּר. הַפֵּאָה, וְהַבִּכּוּרִים, וְהָרֵאָיוֹן, וּגְמִילוּת חֲסָדִים, וְתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה. אֵלּוּ דְבָרִים שֶׁאָדָם אוֹכֵל פֵּרוֹתֵיהֶן בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהַקֶּרֶן קַיֶּמֶת לוֹ לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. כִּבּוּד אָב וָאֵם, וּגְמִילוּת חֲסָדִים, וַהֲבָאַת שָׁלוֹם בֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ, וְתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה כְּנֶגֶד כֻּלָּם:
These are the things for which a person reaps the fruits in this world, and gets a reward in the world to come: honoring one's father and mother, acts of lovingkindness, and bringing peace between people. And the study of Torah is equal to them all. [AJWS translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What do these actions have in common? How is the study of Torah equal to them all?
2. Do we as Jews prioritize actions over the study of Torah, study of Torah over actions, or view them as equal? How does our answer to this impact what we do in BBYO?
Poverty
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Why is this obligation necessary?
2. How do we determine the limit of "fulfilling all of their needs" without making them wealthy?
אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי יהודה ברבי אלעאי בא וראה שלא כדורות הראשונים דורות האחרונים דורות הראשונים עשו תורתן קבע ומלאכתן עראי זו וזו נתקיימה בידן דורות האחרונים שעשו מלאכתן קבע ותורתן עראי זו וזו לא נתקיימה בידן.
Rabbah b. bar Hana said in the name of Rabbi Johanan, reporting Rabbi Judah b. Ila’i: See what a difference there is between the earlier and the later generations. The earlier generations made the study of the Torah their main concern and their ordinary work subsidiary to it, and both prospered in their hands. The later generations made their ordinary work their main concern and their study of the Torah subsidiary, and neither prospered in their hands. [Translation by CAJE]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Do you agree with the premise that ordinary work prospers when study is the primary concern and that neither prosper if ordinary work is the primary concern? What are some examples to support your answer?
2. Which do we in BBYO view as our primary concern? How does your answer to this impact how you think we ought to do?
בְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם לֹא תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ לִקְצֹר וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט: וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תְעוֹלֵל וּפֶרֶט כַּרְמְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם אֲנִי ה' אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the corners of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am Adonai your God. [JPS translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. How is the system of leaving the corners and the gleanings and the fallen food for the poor different than donating food?
2. What practices or values from these laws could we integrate into our modern lives and societies?
וכבר היה רבי טרפון וזקנים מסובין בעלית בית נתזה בלוד נשאלה שאילה זו בפניהם תלמוד גדול או מעשה גדול נענה רבי טרפון ואמר מעשה גדול נענה ר"ע ואמר תלמוד גדול נענו כולם ואמרו תלמוד גדול שהתלמוד מביא לידי מעשה.
Rabbi Tarfon and some elders were reclining in an upper chamber in the house of Nitza in Lod when this question came up: Which is greater, study or action? Rabbi Tarfon spoke up and said: Action is greater. Rabbi Akiva spoke up and said: Study is greater. The others then spoke up and said: Study is greater because it leads to action. [Soncino translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What are times that Tarfon might be right and times that Akiva might be right?
2. Are you a Tarfonite or an Akivaite? Why? What about BBYO? How does this impact how we operate as regions or chapters?
Helping the poor help themselves
(אמר רבי) אבא אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש גדול המלוה יותר מן העושה צדקה ומטיל בכיס יותר מכולן.
R. Abba said in the name of R. Simeon ben Lakish: the person who lends money [to a poor person] is greater than the person who gives charity; and the one who throws money into a common purse [to form a partnership with the poor person] is greater than both. [translation by AJWS]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. According to this text, what is the best way to help a poor person? Why might this be the best way to help?
2. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Do you think that there is a difference between the mitzvah of leaving the corners of your field unharvested and the mitzvah of not returning to pick up what was left or forgotten? If so, what is the difference?
2. According to these verses, how much of any harvest belongs to the “owner?” Why? What does this tell us about who really “owns” the land? the trees? the labor? the produce?
3. What is the value of having the needy come to harvest their own portion?
4. We do not live in an agricultural society today. Do you think this text has contemporary relevance? How might we apply this sense of mandatory sharing of our earnings to the world we live in?
Inequality
They hate the arbiter in the gate, and detest him whose plea is just. Assuredly, because you impose a tax on the poor and exact from him a levy of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone but you shall not live in them; you have planted delightful vineyards, but shall not drink their wine. For I have noted how many are your crimes, and how countless your sins -- you enemies of the righteous, you takers of bribes, you who subvert in the gate the cause of the needy! [JPS translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. What are the people being accused of in this text? What are the connections between the various accusations?
2. How are the dynamics between rich and poor portrayed here?
3. In what ways do the punishments listed here match the crimes that brought them?
Wage Theft
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the strangers who are in your land inside your gates; At his day you shall give him his wages, nor shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and his life depends upon it; lest he cry against you to the Lord and it be a sin for you. [translation by Artscroll, adapted]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. To whom do these rules apply?
2. What assumptions are made about the various players in the text?
3. Why is it so crucial that the worker is paid each day?
3. How does the poor person's crying cause a sin upon the employer? If the poor person does not cry out is the employer free of sin?
1. What is Rav's answer to Raba bar bar Hanan's first question of whether he was legally bound to return their clothes? What is his answer to the second question of whether Raba bar bar Hanan was legally bound to pay the workers their wages? How are these two answers different?
2. Why is Raba bar bar Hanan obligated to return the workers' clothes and give them their wages, in spite of the fact that they damaged his property? What does this teach us about how we should relate to poverty? Would Rav have provided the same answer if the workers had not been impoverished?