The Shame of Hunger

By RABBI DAVID ROSENN

Parashat Toldot (Genesis 25:19-28:9)

There was a famine in the land—apart from the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham—and Isaac went to Avimelekh, King of the Philistines, in Gerar.

(Genesis 26:1)

Famine was a constant threat in the ancient world, often causing widespread death and the uprooting of large populations in search of food. The deaths that resulted from starvation were harrowing, as reflected in the following rabbinic teaching:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha said: There is no death harsher than death from hunger, as it says: Those who died from the sword were more fortunate than those who died from famine (Lamentations 4:9).

Why is dying of hunger considered such a cruel death? One reason is the humiliation suffered by those who cannot provide even basic support for themselves or their family. The prophet Ezekiel calls this herpat ra'av, "the shame of famine" (see Ezekiel 36:30).

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel understands "the shame of famine" in a different way. In a speech he gave in 1996, Weisel wondered aloud to his audience:

"Why is famine alluded to as 'the shame of famine?' The hungry shouldn't be ashamed for dying of hunger. Others should be. It is the only disease for which there is a certain cure."

Today, despite a multitude of advances in agriculture, famine kills over 800,000 people each year. And that is only 10% of the nearly nine million people worldwide who die each year from hunger or hunger-related causes. What is particularly galling about these statistics is that more than enough food exists in the world to feed every hungry person. Famine and malnutrition are not necessary; they are largely the consequences of political and economic arrangements. As another Nobel laureate, economics Professor Amartya Sen. has noted, no country ruled democratically has ever suffered from famine.

America is a democracy, and while we have never experienced a famine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that approximately 12 million American children were "food insecure" in 1999, meaning they were hungry or at risk of hunger. Yet there is little public sense of shame or scandal over hunger in this country. Why not?