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Jewish Responses to Poverty: Charity, Loans, and Prevention — with David Rosenn

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What does it mean to help someone without taking away their dignity, and is it harder — and holier — to give a loan rather than a gift?

On this episode of TEXTing IRL, Elana Stein Hain speaks with Rabbi David Rosenn, President and CEO of the Hebrew Free Loan Society, about Jewish ideas of dignity, episodic poverty, and prevention.

They interrogate the Torah’s fixation on interest-free lending and why Jewish tradition insists on seeing the whole person in moments of financial crisis. A provocative and important conversation that begs the question: when (and when isn’t) charity the most ethical form of Jewish giving?

EPISODE SOURCE SHEET