Moshe Feiglin (probably translated from Facebook):
Israel’s cabinet unanimously voted today to accept Minister Naftali Bennett’s proposal and to send $1 million dollars of aid to the Jewish community in Houston.
I applaud Minister Bennett and the cabinet. The economic significance of this decision is strictly symbolic. But its significance is historic.
The State of Israel is a Jewish State, the state of all the Jews. When the direction of the aid turns around – from the Land of Israel to the Diaspora, and not vice versa – it is a huge, supreme message to every Jew, wherever he may be.
Some counters:
A. The State should not grant aid, nor receive any. Men and communities ought to aid one another.
B. It’s not Tzedakah when the mob does it, only individuals and Beis Din. If they would let us keep our money, we could give far more real Tzedakah and get the merit and rewards.
C. If it’s about the symbolism, why not ten trillion shekels? Why not ten Agurot? Symbolism requires (1) real costs and (2) real individuals. The state naturally lacks both.
D. Not to go too deeply here, but Tzedakah has nothing to do with helping the needy. It’s supply-side, not demand-side.
How do you know?
Because without prices the giver is blind. You can’t allocate resources rationally. To put it drastically: The market is unwittingly charitable; charity is unwittingly cruel.
Rather, Tzedakah is a Mitzvah, a central desired effect of which is personal religious growth (this is not Mussar!).
Rambam on Avos 3:15:
והכל לפי רוב המעשה, אמר שהמעלות לא יגיעו לאדם לפי רוב גודל המעשה, אבל לפי רוב מספר המעשים, והוא שהמעלות אמנם יגיעו בכפול המעשים הטובים פעמים רבות ועם זה יגיע קנין חזק לא כשיעשה אדם פעל אחד גדול מפעולות הטובות כי בזה לבדו לא יגיע לו קנין חזק, והמשל בו כשיתן האדם למי שראוי אלף זהובים בבת אחת לאיש אחד ולאיש אחד לא יתן כלום לא יעלה בידו מדת הנדיבות בזה המעשה האחד הגדול כמו שמגיע למי שהתנדב אלף זהובים באלף פעמים ונתן כל זהוב מהם על צד הנדיבות, מפני שזה כפל מעשה הנדיבות אלף פעמים והגיע לו קנין חזק, וזה פעם אחת לבד התעוררה נפשו התעוררות גדולה לפעל טוב ואח”כ פסקה ממנו. וכן בתורה אין שכר מי שפדה אסור במאה דינרים או עשה צדקה לעני במאה דינרים שהוא די מחסורו כמו שפדה עשרה איסורים או השלים חסרון עשרה עניים כל אחד בעשרה דינרים ואל זה ההקש, וזה ענין אמרו לפי רוב המעשה אבל לא לפי גודל המעשה.
Translation added (via Claude):
And everything is according to the abundance of the deed – he said that excellences will not come to a person according to the abundance of the magnitude of the deed, but according to the abundance of the number of deeds. That is, excellences will indeed come through repeating good deeds many times, and through this a strong acquisition will come – not when a person performs one great act from among the good deeds, for through this alone he will not achieve a strong acquisition.
The example of this: when a person gives to one who is worthy a thousand gold pieces at once to one man, and to another man gives nothing at all – the trait of generosity will not arise in him through this one great deed as much as it comes to one who donated a thousand gold pieces in a thousand times, giving each gold piece in a generous manner. For this one repeated the act of generosity a thousand times and achieved a strong acquisition, while that one – only once did his soul arouse itself with a great arousal toward a good deed, and afterwards it ceased from him.
And similarly in Torah law: the reward of one who redeemed a captive for one hundred dinars, or gave charity to a poor person with one hundred dinars which sufficed for his needs, is not like one who redeemed ten captives or completed the deficiency of ten poor people, each one with ten dinars – and apply this analogy. This is the meaning of their saying ‘according to the abundance of the deed’ – but not according to the magnitude of the deed.
End.
Sure, it’s better for whichever near-randomly selected recipient of 100 Dinars to be “put on his feet” financially. As the Rambam himself says (Matnos Aniyim 10:7):
שמנה מעלות יש בצדקה זו למעלה מזו מעלה גדולה שאין למעלה ממנה זה המחזיק ביד ישראל שמך ונותן לו מתנה או הלואה או עושה עמו שותפות או ממציא לו מלאכה כדי לחזק את ידו עד שלא יצטרך לבריות לשאול ועל זה נאמר והחזקת בו גר ותושב וחי עמך כלומר החזק בו עד שלא יפול ויצטרך.
But so what? Who cares about the poor?! Do you care about other “Cheftza Shel Mitzvah”s? Helping the poor man is details; the Mitzvah itself is for the benefit of the actor.
Conversely, the problem with giving more than Chomesh (a fifth) of one’s income to Tzedakah is the cruelty. Cruelty toward oneself and one’s dependents, and also towards the future buyers of whatever good the money would likely otherwise be used to sell. Put another way, demonstrated preferences over never demonstrated preferences. (Examine the sugya, and you will see this is so.)
E. If the motley Knesset-dwellers have any goodness at all, perhaps they can distribute their very own ill-gained “salaries” in the same sum to Diaspora Jewry?
Better yet, how about equivalent tax breaks for all Jewish Texans making Aliyah in the next year? But no, that would remind their victims of government’s parasitical nature, and grant those in government nothing in terms of personal control over newcomers (taxes are about control).
F. And, though not as evil as regular “foreign aid”, I’ll bet even in the Houston case there was politics and political favors involved. Who got the Tzedakah money itself? Which organizations did and which didn’t? Who gave Bennett the idea?