Parashat Behar: That Your Brother May Live with You

Leviticus 25:35-36:
How shall we treat others?
Leviticus 19:18 commands, "Love your neighbor as yourself." But our tradition instructs that is impossible, against nature. Who can love a neighbor the same as himself? So, what's next?
In the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 62a, we read the story of two men in the desert who have enough water for only one to survive. Rabbi ben Petura observes that both should drink and both die, since neither life is more sacred. Rabbi Akiva teaches that the one holding the water should drink it, for then at least one will survive. What's the rule: when only one can survive, your life takes precedence.
But is that all?  No, there's more.
In this week's Torah portion, Leviticus 25:36, we find, "... that your brother may live with you."  What does that mean? In the Babylonian Talmud Kiddushin 20a we find that if you own a slave you must treat him as you would treat your neighbor. He must eat like you and sleep like you. If there is only one pillow, the slave uses it, "That your brother may live with you." So we discover that if only one person can survive, your life takes precedence. But you may not treat those dependent on you , like a slave, as inferior, and you must provide for him as for yourself. Tradition says, "If you own a slave, the slave owns you."
The Talmudic Encyclopedia says that the mitzvah is to save a person whose life is in danger, both because we are not permitted to "stand idly by the blood of a stranger," (Lev. 19:16) and because of the law of returning a lost object. If a Jew sees a lost object, it must be returned to the owner. If you see someone about to lose his life, you must return that life to him! A person in danger must be saved, even if we are not sure that the danger will take his life, whether save him bodily or financially. (Talmudic Encyclopedia)
This is also a source of the mitzvah to give money to the poor (Maimonides, Laws of Gifts to the Poor, chpt. 7:1) and of redeeming captives (ibid. 8:10)(See Nicholas Kristof's column in Friday's Star re: Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, where Buddhists are murdering Muslims and they are fleeing to the sea.)
The Torah in Leviticus 25 discusses not charging usury or interest. (Think: Payday Loans in contemporary society) However, Torah Temimah to Leviticus (note 192, p. 539) discusses cogently why loaning at interest is now permitted. In Biblical times, Torah Temimah instructs us, the basis of making a living was from the land. Anyone who needed to borrow was borrowing for the staples of life, like bread, and therefore it was forbidden to charge interest. But in the Middle Ages (Yamei haBeiniyim), when Jews did not work the land, the basis of earning a living was from money -- buying and selling -- and therefore charging interest became foundational to making  a living itself. The basics of making a living changed. But the law's essence, "That your brother may live with you," did not change. That remains.
So what do we conclude?  In Kansas and Missouri, at the beginning of the 21st Century, religious people are commanded to ordain laws, "... so that your brother may live with you." No, we are not commanded to sacrifice our lives for our brothers and sisters. But we are commanded to save them from death, whether physical or financial. Clearly, allowing people to die because they do not have access to medical care because of finances is therefore forbidden by the Torah and Jewish Law. Allowing people to starve is also forbidden. And charging interest so that people are placed in very dangerous circumstances, also forbidden by the Torah.
Shabbat shalom.