Philanthropy - Should We Give Money to Charity? – Yes! - Every One of Us!

Even a pauper should give to charity.  The eminent capitalist philosopher Adam Smith believed that monetary systems would somehow be guided by an “invisible hand.”  According to Adam Smith, free market existence would essentially provide the same goodness for us that Gd provides.  He might as well have said that money is like God because the invisible hand, god which is money, has done away with the basic principle of religion; that it is necessary to give to charity.  Thus, Adam Smith believed that just given laissez faire capitalism, then charity would not be necessary.

From - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/invisiblehand.asp - quoting from Adam Smith’s book "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"

"Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it ... He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for society that it was no part of his intention. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."

Adam Smith was wrong.  The monetary system of the world can be likened to the plumbing system of a vast building.  The belief that an invisible hand fixes all the plumbing isn’t true.  Real hands and active participation are required to fix both plumbing and monetary problems.  In order for the system to run, maintenance is often required.  The belief that laissez faire capitalism will take care of problems is akin to believing drains never clog.  We all know that in a given plumbing system, the drains can clog, so why would anyone conclude that the world’s monetary system isn’t similar?

Torah takes charity even further, suggesting that not only is His justice a part of this world, but that we are an extension of the hand of justice.  Ethics of Our Father's 3:13 (courtesy of www.chabad.org)

Rabbi Akiva would say: Jesting and frivolity accustom a person to promiscuity. Tradition is a safety fence to Torah, tithing a safety fence to wealth, vows a safety fence for abstinence; a safety fence for wisdom is silence.

To one whom has been given wealth, charity is paramount to keeping it!  Hashem commands us to participate in justice, such as charity because He likes it when we imitate His just and upright ways (Deuteronomy 28:9).  God sees to it that justice occurs, but we should hope for betterment greater than that through participation in religious activities, such as charity.  It is 

Hashem’s will that we give to charity, and this is what is promised in return (from Ethics of Our Fathers 4:9):

“Rabbi Jonathan would say: Whoever fulfills the Torah in poverty, will ultimately fulfill it in wealth; and whoever neglects the Torah in wealth, will ultimately neglect it in poverty.”

Life in a Post Capitalist World

If I remember correctly, in high school my teacher taught me how the invention of the assembly line was supposed to revolutionize the idea of capitalism. Things would be made much faster, and by everyone in the assembly line having a small but focused job, there would be extra time for stuff like fun. I don’t think many assembly line workers have free time in mind when they go to work these days.

First of all, assembly lines are usually no longer profitable in America, although we do farm them out oversees to people that we are allowed to pay whatever we want, and there always seems to be takers for these jobs. Let’s look at why? First of all, these workers lack skill sets, so when American Corporations defend the wages they pay overseas they play this card saying offering that we pay them so poorly essentially because we can get away with it. Fast forward to the modern era and now we are closing in on the idea that we don’t need anyone at all, and therefore there is no reason to pay someone anything, because everyone is replaceable.

And, now that I think of that, I don’t agree that people are replaceable just because we can get a machine or another person to do their job based upon a mere whim. A job can be found in Him merely though worship of Him. Yet, that day has yet to fully come, so don’t yet quit your day job. Most people probably like to think they are valuable, and they are, but the difference in today’s world is that their value is not going to be determined by their occupation. Those that accept that people are replaceable are probably going to be the first to say, something like, “Gee! Now that I have realized that I am useless, what can I do now?” For some that thought is pure bliss, for others that thought is a reason for suicide. Unfortunately, some people worship capitalism, as if it was a Gd, and the thought of life without capitalism brings nothing but the greatest sorrow of sorrows.

These are probably the people I least worry about: If you have the knowledge to know you can probably be outpaced by a machine, or someday in the near future, that that is right around the bend, you’ve probably taken some time to entertain yourself spiritually. Possibly, like me, you have gone on the quest to find the one true Gd, or something similar. These will be the types of escapades that will go on more often starting in about year 6,000 on the Orthodox Jewish calendar. This will be the 7th millennium, which in Judaism is known as the age of Moshiach. I like to explain this age as if it were Eden. If you paid it forward and did your good deeds, in the age of Moshiach, there will be no more work for you, although life will be better than just good.

In the Middle Ages and the Dark Ages times were much tougher. Now we have the time to explore the world at our leisure because really, few people need to work more than 40hr weeks, unless they want to. Just as the inventions from 1990 to 2000 where greater in number (and downright amusingness) than we have seen in the entirety of the rest of all other time periods, so too will technology cause us to all be obsolete if we allow ourselves to believe the lies about life in an atheist world.

As we head towards socialized healthcare in America, as well as for places that are more impoverished, such as in Africa through charities such as Heifer International, I think that it is safe to say that we are headed to a world that might be described as being like the Garden of Eden. In my mind, the rules of the universe will remain the same. Live by the golden rule and karma, and chances are that somehow you will come out on top.

If I had to refute the late Christopher Hitchens, then I would say, “Live a life of superstition because I can guarantee you that doing good deeds is the best way to choose no matter how superstitious it may seem.” Ozzy Osbourne was spot on in his song, “I don’t know,” in which he rather ironically claims, “Nobody ever told me, I found out for myself. You got to believe in foolish miracles.” Thus, it is such with reality; if we are able to make peace with our Creator, then indeed He will probably allow us a share of life in a peaceful world for our good deeds. Likewise, I should importantly say, good deeds are not always easy to do. I have spent a good deal of my lifetime trying to communicate over the net the blessings of doing what is moral, and upright. Learning to write didn’t happen in a day, a month, or even a year.

My take home message is to go study, be it books or baseballs, etc., with the aim of making yourself useful, and eventually, though you may crawl and cry, eventually things will work out for Gd. Take for instance the passage in Genesis that Joseph says, “You intended to harm me, but Gd intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” I guess that makes me a priest of sorts. So, when I go to write, I share what I know for the sake of helping people that I don’t know. In my darkest hour, You were there for me, Gd. You told me of your anger saying, “I am punishing you,” which was as music for my ears because I thought that not only wasn’t there a Gd, but also the Gd I had been told of was a wimp, so I dismissed my knowledge of a wimpy Gd. Gd you were there to accuse me, such that my soul repented out of love for your voice, and I realized that You, Gd, are a vengeful and wrathful Gd. He, Gd, reached out to me, so following that pattern, to imitate His just ways, I reach out to you, in the hope that Eden will be for all of us, from the greatest to the least, and none will be able to say, I am not important, because we can derive that Gd is reasonable because His creation is reasonable, and for His creation to be reasonable, each soul in it must have a share in the World to Come, as each soul has a share from the breath of Gd that came from Him in the creation week of Genesis Chapter 1.