People Are Starving, We Are Not

How many times do we say, “I’m starving,” even though we don’t truly know hunger? How many times do we say, “I’m so hungry, I am going to die,” even though there is plenty of food in our refrigerators and pantries?

When Esau returns from hunting, he is understandably hungry and so he asks his brother Jacob for some of the stew he prepared. Jacob insists Esau first sell him his birthright. And Esau responds, “I am at the point of death, so what use is my birthright?” (Genesis 25)

The Hebrew is even more dramatic. Esau states, “Anochi holech lamoot—I am walking towards death.” Esau’s emotions are the center of his universe. He sees nothing of the struggles of others. He forgets that there are many people who are hungry and could in fact die from starvation. He thinks only about his own needs.

Today, thirteen percent of Americans face food insecurity. Forty-seven million Americans do not have sufficient or adequate food. This might mean that they are forced to skip a daily meal or they cannot purchase the right kind of food and far too often, healthy food. In this land of plenty fourteen million children face such conditions. On Long Island 300,000 people are food insecure!

These are staggering numbers. They are so large that we often feel like they are too large to conquer. We feel like we cannot do anything to change these facts and we are tempted to do nothing. But we cannot give up. We cannot give in to the inclination to do nothing. This is why our synagogue collects food for the local food pantry, People Loving People. We can help to ensure that the shelves of this pantry are never bare.

Too often we retreat to worries about our own needs and our own feelings. Like Esau, we come to believe that our pangs of hunger are the center of the universe.

The rabbis suggest we redirect these feelings. This is why they insisted we recite a blessing before we eat. Even if it is a morsel of food, we are required to say the motzi. The theory is that if we fill our souls with gratitude and condition are mouths to offer thanks, then we will not make the preposterous claim that we are starving when in fact we are not. If we begin with gratitude, we are more apt to think about the needs of others.

It begins with a blessing. And leads to making room for others.

This offers us the opportunity to make sure less people mean the words we too often say, “I’m starving.”