The destitute will not cease to exist within the Land. Therefore, I command you, saying,“You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor, to your destitute.”[2]
Well, why not? Why does poverty need to last forever? Isn’t this a pretty pessimistic view of human existence?
Furthermore, the Torah is not in the habit of providing explanatory prologues to its commandments. Why do we need to learn about the long-term forecast for “inequality of outcomes?”
Maybe that’s the point. Listen to what the Zohar[3] says (paraphrased). “HKBH created the world, and installed Man to rule over it. Man branched off into many forms. Some are tzadikim; others resha’im. Some are fools; others are wise. Some are rich; others poor. All of these forms exist so that one group can achieve merit through the other. The righteous achieve merit though the evildoers, the wise through the fools, and the rich through the poor.”
In other words, the inequalities and disparities between people and groups are there by design. They will remain in place till the days of Moshiach. Hashem wants us to take note of the disparities, and to react. Those who have more of any gift or talent must use those blessings to enhance the lives of those who have less. This is so vital to their development, that they cannot achieve what they need spiritually without participating in this kind of sharing. The sense of our pasuk is that Hashem ordains that the distribution of wealth be uneven; there will always be those in deep need. Therefore, He says, declare this reality to everyone: Open your hands to give, because this giving is crucial to the spiritual world order.
Our pasuk, therefore, should be appreciated as taking direct aim at those who clamor for a new world order that will abolish the difference between rich and poor by creating absolute equality between people. (These people have been active long enough for the rest of us to observe the vacuousness of their plan. Not only do they not succeed in erasing difference between all people, but they leave behind a trail of destruction and tragedy.) Our pasuk declares: Know that any attempt to erase the difference between the haves and the have-nots is doomed to failure. Poverty will not disappear in a non-redeemed world. You cannot erase the many differences between people, in many areas. This is true by design. Hashem wills it this way, so that everyone should have ample opportunities to do chessed with his neighbor.
Chessed remains the most important way we have of imitating our Creator. In its present configuration, the world is designed to maximize chessed opportunities – not sameness.