Next to the Jewish day school our children attend is a 7-11. When I pick the kids up from school, I park nearby and walk in to get them. Each Monday after school, I take my kids to the 7-11 for a snack on the way back to the car. There's a homeless man who sits in front of the store, and I routinely give the kids change to give him as we walk by. My daughter, Hannah always runs up and gives him the change with a big smile, and he comments to me on her great personality. After a while, I asked his name, and now as soon as we approach the 7-11, the kids ask for change to give Edward.
This Monday, after we got our snacks and headed back to the car, my son Jeremy said, "Maybe Edward can save up the money he gets from us and other people and buy a house."
I wasn't sure how to reply. I was touched by Jeremy's concern for Edward and his sweet plan for Edward to remedy his situation. I was reluctant to tell Jeremy that there's no way the change that we and others give him would ever add up to buy a house in West Los Angeles. I didn't want to tell Jeremy that his plan for Edward was unrealistic, so as not to squelch his compassion and optimism.
This Torah portion reiterates commandments that are designed to prevent a situation like Edward's, of people who cannot lift themselves out of poverty. Debts are to be remitted and Hebrew servants are to be freed every seven years. The portion reiterates the commandment to help the poor, stating, "If there is a needy person among you, ... don't harden your heart and don't shut your hand from your brother, the needy-one. Rather open your hand and give him sufficient for whatever he needs."
The parasha also seems to be torn between optimism and realism. Moses states, "There shall be no needy among you since God will bless you in the land that God is giving you as an inheritance to possess." However, just a few verses later, Moses says, "for there will never cease to be needy people in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to your brother, to your poor, and to the needy people in your land." The portion simultaneously states the ideal that there should be no needy people and the reality that there always will be someone in need of help.
I told Jeremy, "maybe Edward could buy a house someday, but it might take him a long time to save up." Jeremy agreed, and suggested he also could use the money to take a bus to go wherever he would want to go. Jeremy seemed satisfied with that answer, but I was left with a pit in my stomach.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said that the job of a prophet is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Children have that same prophetic power. Kids have a special capacity to cheer us up when we're sad. They can also make us deeply uncomfortable with the injustices around us and the ways we've failed to give them a world worthy of their pure hearts.
Shabbat Shalom.