Parshas Behar – Bechukosai: Balancing the Budget

“If your brother becomes impoverished and his hand falters in your proximity, you shall hold on to him – proselyte and resident – so that he can live with you.” –Leviticus 25:35

“You shall hold on to him: Do not allow him to decline and fall, and then it will be difficult to raise him up. Rather, strengthen him from the time his fortune begins to take a turn for the worse. This is comparable to a load on a donkey. So long as the donkey is standing and stationary, and its load begins to fall, one person can grab it and set it in place. However once the load has fallen to the ground, five people cannot set it in place.” –Rashi ibid

This past Erev Yom Kippur, my friend’s brother who works in real estate received an urgent phone call on his cell phone. His boss was on the line. His boss seemed overly stressed, and he explained that he just cut short his vacation to Israel due to the economic downturn. Everybody was expected to report to work on Yom Kippur, otherwise they shouldn’t bother reporting to work again. His decision will forever haunt him. He showed up to work on Yom Kippur. Nobody should ever be faced with this terrible and heart wrenching dilemma, but people all over are facing challenges, the likes of which they have never faced before. As the saying goes, “show up to work on Sunday, so that you’ll have a job on Monday!”

As unemployment reaches gargantuan proportions and many people’s financial cushions have been obliterated, we look to our sacred texts for guidance and inspiration. No less than four times does this week’s Torah portion address the current crisis utilizing the term “If your brother becomes impoverished.” Why does the Torah refer to this person as a brother as opposed to a friend?

Perhaps the following story will shed light on this enigma. An American family grew up on the brink of poverty. After the two older boys grew up, the parents moved to Indonesia, had a third child, and lost touch with their kids left behind in the United States. One of the brothers got involved in politics, made connections, and became financially comfortable, while the other brother moved to Kenya, and lingered in his Kenyan village surrounded by the bare walls of his hut. One day, the brother in politics received an invitation for his youngest brothers wedding in Indonesia. His father wrote that any expenses incurred for the trip or clothing for the wedding purchased for the father’s honor would be fully covered. He also asked him to arrange that his brother in Kenya will attend with his family. He went all out, buying the most expensive clothes for his family, and they all traveled in first class to the wedding. He arranged bus transportation for his Kenyan brother, and did not mention anything about clothes for the wedding. The fancy US Politician showed up looking like a model while his Kenyan brother arrived in rags. Following the wedding he approached his father for reimbursement. The father refused. He explained that he only agreed to cover expenses incurred for his honor. If he really cared about his father’s honor he would have taken care of his Kenyan brother and not allowed him to show up in rags.

Accordingly the Torah uses the term brother for good reason. When we see our neighbors and friends losing their jobs and salaries while we are still living the high life, we must view them as a brother and help them out. Otherwise G-d views us as not caring for his honor, and who knows when the wheel of fortune will turn on us.

There are so many ways to help out those in crisis today. Firstly, help them out while they still have something. Don’t wait for them to foreclose on their homes; preempt the situation. Find out if your firm is hiring and pass along the information. Help people fix up their resumes. Network for them. If we would make a concerted effort to help out our fellow brothers who unfortunately have fallen on hard times, G-d will surely take note and help us out.

This obligation is not limited to those who have fallen on financial hard times. It includes those who have fallen on spiritual hard times. We must take the effort to help them out, even if they themselves don’t see the writing on the wall that the foreclosure is imminent. There are so many ways to help. Be creative and get the job done. After all, it’s your brother we are talking about.