Confronting and Combating Poverty in the United States (2003)

WHEREAS, our teachers have said: if all the troubles of the world are assembled on one side and poverty is on the other, poverty would outweigh them all (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 31:12), and our prophets have taught: God commands us to "share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house" (Isaiah 58:7), and, according to Maimonides, the highest degree of charity is to aid a person in need by "offering him a gift or a loan, by entering into partnership with him or by providing work for him, so that he may become self-supporting, without having to ask people for anything." Maimonides, Mishneh Torah)]; and

WHEREAS, we are deeply troubled by poverty throughout our communities in North America and, indeed, around the world; and

WHEREAS, the slumping economy, the costs of war and homeland security, and inadequate attention on the national stage make these trying times for low-income families. In the richest country in the world, one in six children lives in poverty and 33 million people are hungry or at risk of hunger. Requests for emergency food assistance and shelter increased an average of 19% during 2002, and 38% of the requests by homeless families went unmet in cities across the United States. In 2001, 32.9 million people in the United States lived below the federal poverty line, while the estimated cost of maintaining a safe and decent standard of living, including food, housing, healthcare, transportation, childcare and taxes was almost twice the federal poverty threshold. Almost 30% of working families with one to three children under age 12 did not earn enough to afford these basic necessities. A record 41.2 million people in the United States did not have health insurance in 2001 and health care premiums are increasing dramatically -- at about 11% a year, five times the current rate of inflation. As the economy continues to lose jobs and the unemployment rate remains high, the number of people at risk is likely to grow.

THEREFORE, THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE OF CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM resolves to:

1. Reaffirm our commitment to helping North America's poor and work towards the eradication of poverty in North America;
2. State our opposition to tax cuts and spending priorities that do not allow our national, state and local governments to address adequately important national priorities, including the eradication of poverty, or to maintain existing social programs which benefit the poor;
3. Oppose changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Nutrition Programs, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, Head Start and the Section 8 Housing Voucher program that would harm eligible families or shift federal responsibility for these programs to the states;
4. Support a reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program and the Workforce Investment Act designed to give families the skills they need to move out of poverty and into self-sufficiency;
5. Call on congregations to assess how best to meet the needs of their local communities, and their congregants who may in be need, and to engage in advocacy and action at the local, state and national levels designed to address the causes of poverty and spur change;
6. Encourage congregations to create and fund, or seek funding for, projects that promote self-sufficiency; and
7. Call on the Commission on Social Action to prepare and disseminate resources to assist congregations in implementing this resolution, including creating a network for sharing ideas, information and best practices in congregations across the country.