gavra_at_work,
So you accept the status quo.
Fallacy of the excluded middle. Just because I disagree with your draconian ideas doesn’t mean I fail to see a problem with the current situation.
The poor among us should not just be helped to get by, but should be raised to the level of everyone else who helps pay for it. This is not a Torah concept, but a bleeding heart liberal one.
Ah, so that’s what this is about. Does Torah inform your political views, or do your political views inform your views of Torah? In sefer Devarim (15:8), Rashi notes: ??? ???? ??: ????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????. I don’t think anyone here is arguing that the community should make a poor man rich, or ensure that he has a lavish wedding, but rather a wedding that leaves him and his kalla with a sense of dignity. We can certainly state that our current societal standards are way out of whack and work to change them (I agree completely with that), but that’s not the poor man’s fault.