Recycling Thefts Linked to Poverty in Santa Monica

One of the passages from our law that we read during the Jewish High Holidays (from Leviticus) commands us to leave a portion of our fields unharvested, not to go back over the picking to get the fruit we missed the first time through, to leave something to gather for the poor, the needy, the “gleaners.”

When I first noticed Santa Monica’s wandering poor picking through my recycling, I too was indignant. “Hey! That stuff belongs to the city--to pay for the recycling program!” But recycling has its own rewards--as does sharing our recyclables--and if there is a shortfall of revenues in the city’s program, let the fortunate ones among us make up the difference. Too bad about the blue buckets that are getting ripped off (Times, Oct. 18), but you missed the real story, which is how cold our hearts must have grown to begrudge the poor even our bottles and cans.

MICHAEL KATZ, Santa Monica