What makes a Yom Tov special? Is it the family that came together to celebrate and share meals? Is it the special destination where you marked the hag—Israel or somewhere unique in the world? Was it something special, unusual, that occurred? I’ll come back to this question later.

Fifty years ago, in 1964, Lyndon Johnson, then the President of the United States, called for a War on Poverty. At the time, US poverty was approximately 19 percent. After many years of effort and many policy changes, it remains at 15 percent. That is approximately what the rate is in Canada.

A few years later, while in university, I helped to survey the Jewish poor of Chicago. We went door to door, starting with the lists of who received food from the Pesaẖ Ma’ot Hittin campaign and names from various rabbis. Over four decades ago, in Chicago, we discovered unreported numbers of poor Jews. We brought this issue to the Jewish Federation which responded in a positive and powerful way.

This year, the annual UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty will fall on October 17, on our holiday of Simhat Torah. In the midst of our plenty and our yom tov celebration, poverty remains an issue. And now I am speaking of Canada.

The Jewish community’s experience with poverty mirrors the broader Canadian reality. Almost 15 percent of the Canadian Jewish population, including one in five children, lives below the poverty line. But poverty within the Jewish community is as elusive as it is pervasive: it remains largely hidden.

Thirty years ago, in The Poor Among Us, the research paper noted that “the Jewish poor are a minority among Jews because they are poor, and are a minority among the poor because they are Jews.” Today, the invisibility of Jewish poverty persists.

Jewish individuals and families living in poverty attend our day schools, worship in synagogues and participate in community activities. They are new immigrants here to make a fresh start; our seniors; and families with dual working parents. They may struggle with mental and physical illness. They are like all of us. They are our neighbours, friends and family. Poverty affects not only the individual or family in crisis, but also our community’s overall health and welfare as well.

Let me tell you a bit about poverty. In Ontario, over the past 35 years, somewhere between 9 and 13 percent of the population lives in poverty. The usual fluctuation is between 10 to 12 percent, indicating that this is a condition deeply embedded in our society. In Ontario, the government defines poverty as one person living on less than $20,000, or a parent with one child living on less than $28,000.

In Canada, we estimate that there are 57,000 poor Jews. Almost 24,000 of them live in Ontario. Most in Toronto. The most vulnerable are adults on disability or public assistance, disabled adults, children living with one parent, older adults—often Holocaust survivors—and more recent immigrants.

Let me focus in on one family. A single mother has issues of mental instability. Despite advanced degrees, she is unable to hold a job and pay her bills. She depends on government assistance for food and housing. She depends on extra funds sent from family for clothing. She depends on scholarships for her son’s education. She depends on the generosity of synagogues for worship on the Holidays. She depends on the Jewish community for her child to attend summer camp. She depends on the Jewish hospital for medical care. She depends on a community clinic for dental care. She and her son often face eviction. There is tremendous instability and insecurity.

What can we do? Across Canada, Jewish Family Service agencies and the Jewish Federations are joining together to raise awareness about this critical issue. As a leader of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, I can tell you that we are committed to instilling an increased awareness of poverty in our community coast to coast. And we are committed to being part of a national solution.

We cannot change what we don’t acknowledge. The Talmud teaches that hearing is not as powerful as seeing, eyn domeh sh’mi’ya l’r’i’yah. We have to open our eyes. We need to sensitize and educate ourselves.

Once we see and recognize, we can proceed to develop community-specific responses to the needs of our people living in poverty. We will have to invest in our youth and support our seniors. We will have to recognize the structural poverty of our society. We will require visionary governmental policies to create, fund and deliver adequate social and economic programs to limit poverty. Ideally, we should even seek to prevent social injustice to the benefit of us all. Strategies will vary by city and by community, but fundamentally, we need to act.

Many in our community are familiar with Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon’s eight levels of charity. We understand that we attain the highest level of tzedakah by helping our brothers and sisters to become self-sufficient. But the imperative to help the poor is expressed more clearly in other writings of the Rambam.

Regarding the celebration of Purim, Rambam writes in his Mishneh Torah (Laws of Megillah and Hanukkah 2.17): “It is better for a person to give generously to the poor than to spend lavishly on his own festive meal or sending gifts to friends.” Why? “She-ein sham simhah gedolah u-m’fu-eret ella l’same-ah lev aniyyim, v’yetomim, v’almanot, v’gerim – There is no more supreme and splendid joy than to bring joy to the hearts of the poor, orphans, widows, and converts.”

Elsewhere in Mishneh Torah (Laws of Festival Rest 6.18) Maimonides is even more explicit: "When a person eats and drinks, he is obligated to feed and give drink to the foreigner, orphans, widows and other despondent, poor people. But one who locks the doors of his yard and eats and drinks with [family], without feeding and giving drink to the poor and the downtrodden—this is not the joy of a mitzvah, but rather the joy of his belly… "

What makes a real yom tov? What is the best way to celebrate our hag? By caring for others. As we enjoy the bounty of yom tov, it is important that we not only open our sukkot for the sacred ushpizin guests. As Rav Adam and I have each noted, we must open our hearts and eyes to see the actual poor in need of shelter and food, care and support.

The Torah tells us: “If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them—as you would a convert or a stranger—so they can continue to live among you, v’hai imakh. (Leviticus 25:35).

Earlier, I spoke about a single woman and her son. I am that son. Without a network of support, one that came from various governmental agencies and from the Jewish community of Chicago, from Federation and Jewish Family, from the Jewish hospital and camps, from synagogue and school, I would not be here as your rabbi.

Over the coming months, there will be opportunities in various Canadian Jewish communities to become informed and to act.  Anyone can be affected by poverty. In a similar way, any one of us has the capacity to help individuals and families to overcome poverty, improve the lives of the most vulnerable, and benefit all society. We owe it to them. We owe it to ourselves.

Some of the language of this sermon is taken directly from the National Think Tank on Jewish Poverty in Canada: National statement

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/

http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/news/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-poverty-in-canada

Aviva Silberman, Who Are the Jewish Poor? (1971)

http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=17965

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Levels_of_Giving.html

https://www.mhcny.org/pdf/Holidays/Sukkot/1.pdf

http://www.beth-tzedec.org/page/sermons/a/display/s/1/item/ushpizin-shabbat-sukkot-5774