DEUT805 While the Torah places great emphasis on helping the poor, it also teaches that there will "never ceased to be needy ones in your land" [this verse]. This verse should inhibit the more affluent from feeling that the problems of poverty are invariably the fault of those in need; rather, the Torah's words remind us that a certain degree of poverty is part of the human condition, an insight that should make us less judgmental of those who suffer from it. [In addition, this verse helps explain why Jewish giving has historically focused more on the problem of the "individual poor rather than with trying to solve the problem of poverty" (Sherwin and Cohen, How to Be a Jew, 214). Elsewhere, Sherwin notes that "when discussing economic justice, many contemporary Christian ethicists call for the eminent realization of full employment and an end to poverty. Jewish ethicists perceive this view as a messianic hope rather than a realistic confrontation with the problems presently besetting us in our 'messy' [as opposed to messianic] world. An example of the messianic approach characteristic of a great deal of Christian ethics is the 1986 'U.S. Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter on the Economy.' In that document, the eradication of poverty and the attainment of full employment are considered realizable goals, rather than desirable hopes. Nowhere does this document quote the biblical assumption that 'There will never cease to be needy ones in your land.'" (Jewish Ethics for the Twenty-First Century, 131)].