Behar: Slipping?

For over 35 years, I have represented individuals who have suffered tremendous life setbacks. Some have lost their jobs, their housing, or their ability to support themselves. Some have been chronically homeless. An epiphany came from these thirty-plus years of both observation of and interaction with distressed individuals: it is far more productive to help the future homeless than it is the homeless.

This realization ties into a Torah Portion Behar passage.

Helping Those Slipping

Cruel as the saying is, the assertion arises from both utility and success. With limited resources, saving those starting to slip delivered the best overall results. Some Social Workers have agreed with me; they too have found the approach of helping those “at risk” of being homeless to be both valuable and effective.

Perhaps, the reason is that many of the people “at risk” of losing their housing still possess the ability to right their ship. With some assistance, their continued employment or steady reliable income gives them stability moving forward. For them, simply getting caught up on their financial obligations, i.e. rent or mortgage payments, is just enough to get them back on track.

As such, from time to time, I have assisted these individuals with arranging for advances to get their rents or mortgages caught up. The results have been quite successful.

In contrast, there are the chronically homeless; their situations have been far more problematic.

The Chronically Homeless

Assisting the chronically homeless is a different story that those who are experiencing slippage. These are individuals have spent considerable time on the streets, i.e. over one year. Many of their lives are chaotic. Most of them were homeless when I first met them.

In my interactions, I found most of them to be their own impediment. Many are simply incapable of either appreciating or playing by society’s rules. Their habits-natural or acquired- presented as barriers to becoming housed and productive. Alcoholism, substance abuse and mental illness often deterred successful assistance. For some, their pre-existing inability to function played a role that led them to becoming chronically homeless.

For instance, a client’s mother had a room ready for them at all times. It, however, came with one condition- no alcohol. Due to that requirement, the individual declined on the housing.

As a result of these habits, assistance efforts have failed. For example, I, like many others, have paid for their hotel accommodations. Resulting from these efforts I received angry calls from hotel managers. They complained about to me that my clients were disrupting their business operations.

My opinion on the complexities in assisting those in need arose bares some similarity a passage from the Torah Portion Behar. A significant part of Behar discusses scripture’s viewpoint on assistance.

The Torah Portion Behar

Torah Portion Behar captured thousands of years ago how social assistance is to be provided. Behar- rich in content- offers many directives towards aiding those in need, i.e. limitation on charging interest with respect to lending. Leviticus 25:36.

There is one passage of interest about slipping that connected to my personal experience. It is the following: “And when your brother will be low so that his hand is slipping with you, then you shall take hold of him- an alien and a visitor- and he shall live with you.” Leviticus 25:35.

One of the most famous scriptural commentators as well found the passage discussion worthy.

Rashi

In Eleventh Century France, the Medieval Commentator Rashi elaborated on this Behar concept; he provided the following example: “i.e., do not let his fortunes drop and collapse, as then it will be difficult to set him up again; rather, support him as soon as he begins to falter. To what is this comparable? To a slipping load on a donkey – as long as it is still on the donkey, one person can grab it and set it right, but once it has fallen to the ground, even five people cannot set it right.”

The Social Needs’ Dilemma

The commandment and concept concerning slipping constitutes merely an element within a greater scriptural scheme on addressing social needs. Further, the Torah’s social needs programming is not limited to the Portion Behar. As such, the question when it comes to looking at matters of utility and efficiency is whether there overriding concerns that take precedence. How should matters be prioritized?

These questions become a reality in modernity. This specific slipping methodology to address social needs strikes to a debate with respect to social resources’ allocation. How should social service resources be distributed when there is a limited budget? Should societies look towards getting the best return on its social investments? Or, should other guiding principles be employed at a higher cost?

Conclusion

While the Torah comprehensively addresses societal social needs, it is worthy of giving pause with respect to the wisdom of a particular methodology expressed within the Torah Portion Behar; helping those who are slipping. This is an effective means of social welfare. As the Torah offers a multitude of approaches to social needs, modern societies also attempt wide-ranging approaches to tackle the diverse problem.

The Commentator Rashi wisely adds to the Portion Behar dialogue. He noted that it takes less effort to adjust a slipping load than to pick it up from the ground. The result from using financial assistance funds to prevent slipping, in the grand scheme of things, provides excellent results. Should these measures take priority of far costly endeavors which fail to provide significant results?

Thus, the painful question arising from this effective approach is whether social services budgeting should factor in utility and success into funding determinations. Given instances of limited resources, should money be prioritized towards providing this type of relief? Further, should cost-effectiveness, results, and serving a larger population be legitimate factors in addressing social needs? Or, does scripture, in its grand scheme, suggest otherwise? Do certain needs override others?

Be well!!

Please like, follow, comment or share.