Monday, April 04, 2005

morality and economics

I'm having great difficulty with the congruence of religion and economics. I can believe in the words of the Neviim that we as society must support the impoverished, the widow and the orphan, yet why must it be the goverment that enforces this through taxation? Can't I also believe in Small Government allowing society itself to fund the charities, NPOs and Gemachs? The problem is exacerbated in Israel. Yes, I believe in supporting Torah study, but why should the taxpayer bear such a cumbersome burden? Torah study can and should be subsidized, but the taxpayer should also be given the choice to donate and support the institutions he chooses to.

Can anyone help me?

TRK

2 Comments:

At 4/04/2005 4:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

totally agree with you. the israeli taxpayer obviously doesn't want to pay for other people to learn Torah. And the political maneuvers that are used to get funding for yeshivot turn a lot of people off from judaism.
maybe the gov't could start weaning the yeshivot off the dole. in the states yeshivas get donations and live off of that and it should be similar here. that way more people will work and donate to the few(er) that learn.

 
At 4/18/2005 4:31 AM, Blogger TRK said...

girl,

I wish it was that simple. Many factors in Israel mitigate against that. I will try and post more on this issue.

TRK

 

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