Haluka - Objections To The Halukkah

Objections To The Halukkah

A good deal was said and written against the halukkah. The Hebrew and Jewish press were almost unanimous in criticizing the method, principally for the reasons: (1) that the halukkah promoted mendicancy and pauperism; (2) that it encouraged idleness and thriftlessness; (3) that it fostered divisions between the Sephardim and Ashkenazim; (4) that it gave to the rabbis who control the distribution too much power to hamper and prevent modern schools for manual labor and secular knowledge; (5) that the distributions were made unjustly, with many who do not need or deserve aid being beneficiaries, while others, like the Yemenites and the extremely poor, were ignored. It was even claimed that the halukkah managers opposed the introduction of agriculture as a means of ameliorating the condition of the poor, and that they were hostile to the Zionist movement for fear it might interfere with them and end their power.

All these accusations may have had some basis of fact. The rabbis, however, disclaimed any intention on their part to oppose agriculture and industry for the young and coming generation, so long as a proper religious training was not neglected. They held that the purpose of the halukkah was only to give aid to the helpless, and especially to learned men. Indeed, the editor of Ha-Lebanon defended the public support of the halukkah for the settlers in Palestine by analogy, pointing out that the Christians supported their cloisters and nunneries.

Currently some rabbis have pointed out the irony whereby the current State of Israel itself subsists in part on foreign support, particularly America's.