Reply To: Government programs are not tzedakah

Neville ChaimBerlin,

There’s a very popular ideology in the non-orthodox world that you’re a better Jew if you vote for the people who will take more money away from working people and give it away because it counts as “tzedakah” or “tikkun olam.” Yes, it’s very annoying.

I have no problem with that sentiment at all. If you think that the costs of certain programs outweigh their societal benefits; e.g., they deflate entrepreneurial motivation and don’t promote self-sufficiency, that is totally valid. Come up with new ideas, or vote for a candidate with new ideas, and the country will be a better place for it. That is a far cry from demonizing people who legally utilize the opportunities available as they exist today.