Trump’s SNAP Proposal Isn’t True Tzedakah

This week, the Trump administration proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including a plan that half of recipients benefits come in the form of a harvest box  in the place of food stamps. The box would contain foods preselected for their economic benefit to U.S. farmers and nutritional value.

This proposal brings to mind the Torah passage that commands us not to reap the crops in the corners of our fields because we are to leave those crops for the poor and hungry. We are taught to allow the poor and the hungry to collect these crops as they see fit, retaining their anonymity. This practice teaches us that it is not for us to dictate that the poor and hungry eat on our terms. It removes a power hierarchy from the interaction and reminds us that the poor and hungry deserve not just food but also dignity. In leaving the edges of our fields unsown, we are asked to provide more than just sustenance.

Service should be as much about providing dignity as resources. After all, the crops do not really belong to us, and they are not ours to give. They belong to the earth, and we are merely stewards of it. We consume what the earth provides us, and crops belong equally to the poor and the hungry. By leaving the edges of the fields, we are merely redistributing resources in a way that is fair and just.

The root of the word “tzedakah” (charity) is the word “tzedek” (justice), meaning there is no charity without justice. Service is not meant to be an act of pity or sympathy. It should reflect empathy and solidarity. Charity without justice is based in pity, but real service is based in our relationships as neighbors on this planet.

The government’s current vision of charity doesn’t reach the bar set by the Torah. It may be tzedakah, but its missing component is tzedek. Tzedek is an enduring commitment to the needs of one’s community – not just immediate needs like food but subtler, long-term needs like dignified ways to obtain it.

As a side note, young Jews are motivated by this kind of charity grounded in Jewish values. We know from the data collected from Jewish young adults that service work is “sticky.” It increases retention rates for involvement of young people in Jewish communal life.

Tzedakah rooted in tzedek is the key to transmitting social justice as a Jewish value and the future of Jewish education. It’s also what our government’s food assistance program should look like.

Emily Strauss is a senior at Pennsylvania State University. She is a frequent New Voices contributor and an occasional contributor to The Forward and Jewish Currents. She can be reached at els5343@gmail.com.