THE TORAH has narrowed this commandment to the needy “who is among you, an indigent from your brethren, within your gates”, but we can safely assume that its message has become universal and can serve as blueprint for a compassionate human society.

For is there any other purpose to Torah than to speak to all humankind? It is the foundation of Christianity and to a large extent to Islam as well. Its wisdom is universal and it is echoed in other spiritual traditions. In a global world, it is important to feel rooted in one place, but also to understand that we belong to the same species, in all our diversities, and that there is a general wisdom for all human beings.

The concerns addressed by these verses are as old as humankind, and as widespread as we are today. Poverty, inequality are woes that our ancestors knew, and that are still known to us today. To some extent, the way a society understands itself as either founded on compassion or on greed will determine the depth of the gaps between the richest and the poorest.

The more we grasp our common destiny, the more this verse is accurate. “Open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs” doesn’t mean that all wealth must be equally shared. It focuses more on the needs than the greed and this applies to all human beings.

That begs the question, when enough is really enough? When does it become greed? Do I need to amass wealth to feel fulfilled? And if I do so, how much will I have to take from others who may need it more than I do?

If we have learnt one lesson from this pandemic, it is that we are all in the same boat, that what happens to me has consequences for you, and that we need to see beyond our own selfish interests.