In his Washington Post/On Faith column, “Our Brothers’ Keepers, Not their Guarantors,” Rabbi Brad Hirschfield cites the Cain and Abel story to support bailing out even those who behaved irresponsibly, offering a different take than this famous TV clip arguing the government’s subsidy of “losers’ mortgages” promotes bad behavior.

When God asks him where his brother is, Cain says, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

And in many ways, the rest of the entire Bible teaches us to do what Cain could not, or would not do: Answer “yes”. We are responsible for each other.

The real test, Rabbi Hirschfield says, is to help others when you are down, not necessarily when you feel rich and on top of the world. He writes that in Jewish tradition, Charity, or Zedaka is synonymous with the word Justice. 

Justice is about what must be done, even when we have to push past our initial desire not to or when we think that we lack the resources to do it. It even extends to those who may not “deserve” our help, to those whose actions got them into the situation which now demands our rescue.

Here’s an ethical dilemma. As in the Joseph story, his brothers (and we) were each others guarantors. But is it really just to reward bad behavior? Or is it perhaps more charitable to recognize some lessons are only learned the hard way, thus encouraging good future decisions?