Joseph Telushkin

Rabbi Hiyya advised his wife, __hen a poor man comes to the door, be quick to give him food so that the same may be done to your children._ She exclaimed, __ou are cursing our children [with the suggestion that they may become beggars]._ But Rabbi Hiyya replied, __here is a wheel which revolves in this world._ __abylonian Talmud, Shabbat 151b

Whoever cannot survive without taking charity, such as an old, sick, or greatly suffering individual, but who stubbornly refuses to accept aid, is guilty of murdering himself_yet one who needs charity but postpones taking it and lives in deprivation so as to not trouble the community, shall live to provide for others." __abbi Joseph Karo (1488_1575), Shulkhan Arukh (The Code of Jewish Law), Yoreh Deah 255:2

An important feature of good characterization in a novel is that the characters are dimensionalized and are not all of one piece. Human beings, as Singer noted, have contradictions.

In general, it should be noted, biblical law is evolutionary, not revolutionary...