{"id":82626,"date":"2020-11-03T10:19:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T08:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82626"},"modified":"2020-11-03T10:19:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T08:19:44","slug":"the-righteous-shall-not-lack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-righteous-shall-not-lack\/","title":{"rendered":"The Righteous Shall Not Lack"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chapter 37 is a rather unusual psalm because it does not address God, in either praise, petition or lament. Rather it is a didactic text in which an elder encourages listeners to neither fret because of evildoers nor envy their success because God, steadily present in the background, is worthy of their trust. Even in famine, good people will not go hungry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Righteousness is defined as generosity, listeners are encouraged not only to shun evil and do good but also to lend freely and support those in need. In one of the many verses of reassurance, the speaker declares \u201cI have been young and am now old, but I have never seen a righteous man abandoned, or his children seeking bread (verse 25).\u201d In the context of the Psalm, it is hardly remarkable, blending nicely with other claims about God\u2019s concern for the needs of worthy people and that \u201cthe righteous shall inherit the land, and abide forever in it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the liturgical use of verse 25 can sometimes catch in the throat. Many (but not all) Jewish communities include it in the last paragraph of <\/span>Birkat Hamazon<\/span><\/em> (Grace after Meals), with five additional verses that similarly promise that those who fear God will lack for nothing. That paragraph, like much of Psalm 37, has a feel of wishful thinking, voicing promises often left unfulfilled. Stating explicitly, in the first person \u201cI have never seen\u201d so contradicts reality that many Jews, including those whose tradition includes the verse, skip it or recite it silently even when the blessing is sung aloud. Not only do we fear praying a lie, there is concern lest righteous people or their children who have hit hard financial times be insulted by the implication that somehow they actually aren\u2019t worthy. This leads Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and many others to understand the verse as he translates: \u201cOnce I was young, now I am old yet I have never watched a righteous man forsaken or his children begging for bread\u201d (Koren Siddur). If only that were true, and every encounter with a worthy, needy person ended with their needs being met!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also encountered another train of thought, one of which we must be wary: understanding the verse to mean that anything a good person lacks is something they don\u2019t really need. The righteous understand this, and therefore feel no lack. Despite the merit of making do, managing with the resources at our disposal, some needs are genuine, and we must be careful not to glorify deprivation, such as, say, malnutrition, especially of children. In that spirit, we ought to understand the verse as neither a promise nor a truth-claim, it is a challenge to society, and each of us within it, to ensure that no one goes hungry.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Righteous Shall Not Lack","main_caption":"The verse is neither a promise nor a truth-claim, but a challenge to society, and each of us within it, to ensure that no one goes hungry","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82627,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82626\/revisions\/82627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}