A Prayer for Millions Facing the Disgrace of a SNAP Hunger Crisis
Amid hopes that a Rhode Island judge will keep the food supply chain open for the most vulnerable among us. But the stomachs of hungry Americans should never be held hostage.
As an estimated 41.8 million Americans (1 out of 8) brace themselves for the possibility of a needless and heartless denial of SNAP food benefits, I share below a meaningful prayer written on behalf of “MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger,” by Rabbi Michael Rothbaum. Make it part of your weekend / Sabbath / Halloween commemorations.
While it is encouraging that a federal judge today ordered the government to pay for food stamps during the government shutdown - money that was set aside for just such an emergency1 - just the fact that so many people should be facing such a cruel threat at all is unthinkable and unforgivable. The stomachs of hungry Americans should never be held hostage.
That this has happened, while Congress suns themselves and the president collects trinkets in Asia, is worse than a shame. Worse even than a disgrace. It is the government’s shame but it is also ours - if we allow it to happen on our watch.
The Hebrew word for shame is Busha. The Hebrew word to dress is lil-BOSH. In the Garden of Eden, God clothed Adam and Eve after they discovered their nakedness. God recognized that shame paralyzes us. Shame isolates us. Shame convinces us that we are unworthy. Shame goes beyond simple generational guilt.
But our embarrassment prods us into the realization that shame need not be a permanent state – that we can, in fact, change things, as God did for Adam and Eve. The denial of food to the innocent and vulnerable is a Busha. It’s a Busha in Gaza, in Darfur, in Chicago and Appalachia. It is a Busha whenever it happens - but especially when it didn’t have to happen.
Around 750 million people around the world go hungry every day, according to a 2023 study, and 2.33 billion are food insecure. As we begin a month that will culminate in a holiday where we give thanks for our food, there is no better way celebrate than to use our resources to alleviate hunger worldwide. Below the prayer are some links to worthwhile charities that I have supported, here in the US, in Israel and around the world (including Gaza, Africa, and other places where the problem is most acute).
And let us pray that - as this prayer states - enough people have the courage to stare down the Pharaohs who exploit the suffering of our neighbors.
-Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger
- Buzzfeed - 17 Charities for Hunger
- Yad Ezra: Feeding Israel’s Hungry
- Yad Eliezer: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in Israel
- Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County
- Feeding Pets of the Homeless
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders)
For lots of material on food insecurity and our obligation to feed the hungry, from Jewish sources, see Hazon’s “Food for Thought” supplement.
RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW FOR MY UPCOMING SEMINAR!
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/us/politics/federal-judge-food-stamps.html?smid=url-share
I think the SNAP funds will be released in November, although only because the growing closeness to Thanksgiving is going to make the withholding of emergency funds seem more heartless and likely to generate thousands of sermons. Maybe the Rhode Island judge will agree and Trump will either be silent or save face by postponing an appeal until December and after the funds are spent.
The set aside for gleaners in Leviticus and the Book of Ruth is an aspiring initiative, although the later tides of feeling about the poor often resisted the offering of life preservers. The charitable approach to gleaners seems to have lasted into the Middle Ages, but increasingly it came under attack as nobles and humbler landowners resisted the set aside as rewarding nonlocals and the undeserving - a conflict that hints at more modern battles between the promoting of charity and the derogation of welfare assistance.
Thank you, Rabbi Hammerman, thank you as always for your great and informative Notes. I so appreciate your wisdom and the wisdom you bring us together with each week. I have learned so much from A Rabbi´s Notebook. And thank you for that list of opportunities to contribute.