September 4, 2009

In the always lively Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Rabbi Elliot Dorff writes in a cover essay that \”support for universal health care is an imperative in Jewish law.\” Is it now? On health care reform, Rabbi Dorff has his classical sources all lined up — most having to do with obligations on the community to rescue its needy, the captive, and those otherwise endangered. The communal court system can compel a person to give charity in support of the poor. Proper medical services are a necessity in a Jewish community. And so on. Whether through socialized medicine or government health insurance, something must be done: the fact of there being 40 million uninsured Americans is \”intolerable.\”