Rabbi's Blog

Budgets & values

Our city, state, and nation are still in the grip of recession, requiring difficult decisions about planning and budgeting in the face of reduced revenues. As I am often reminded when we do our budgeting at GJC, budgets are value statements - by choosing to fund particular programs and activities, we are saying that we are committed to the values those represent. In the case of governmental budgets, our Jewish obligations to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and lift up the poor are at least partly fulfilled through the large-scale activities that our government funds on our behalf to achieve those goals. On our own, we could never approach the scale of assistance that government programs provide. Yet we have seen this week a proposed state budget that deals with reduced revenues largely by eliminating or deeply reducing programs that serve the poor in the face of rising need. The laws of the Torah and the teachings of our tradition impel us to raise our voices in support of these programs and in support of a state budget that reflects our values. If a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members, we have a long way to go until we are ready to withstand that judgment.

Last Edited by projects@germantownjewishcentre.org at 2/17/2012 11:18 AM

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