Thursday, January 24, 2013

BeShallach: Do Miracles Really Happen?

Today we read about Jews fleeing to red sea, and the splitting of the sea. It splits one week after the exodus, a timeline we re-enact in the week between Passover and the 7th of Passover—on Passover we run off, on the 7th of Passover, the sea splits.
Some have suggested that this is a natural process. Rambam depicts it as a law built into the nature of water, based on the midrash that He made a stipulation with it when he made it. For Rambam, a miracle is an exceedingly rare natural; event, but it’s natural, and doesn’t involve God stepping in at the moment and changing the course of nature.
This theory has found favor with a lot of contemporary, scientifically minded individuals:
“Colin Humpreys, a professor, has investigated what is called tidewinds. This when the tide has the same direction as a strong wind. This will push the water even further into one direction which will cause dry spots in lakes or even seas. In lake michigan this had occured several times, that one side were large area's had turned dry and on the other side where the tide and wind were going,the water had risen for more then 5 meters. It is like having a glass of water and blowing on the water, which will cause a rise of the water on one side and a lowering of the water on the other. C.Humpreys has investigated this for years at the red sea and found out this tidewind phenomena still occurs every so often, where a part of the sea turns dry, while on both sides there is still water. So the splitting of the sea still occurs today. The miracle with Moses then was the exact timing they were there when this tidewind occured. So the splitting is no miracle, the timing is. When the wind stops, all the water will rush back with tremendous force, which is the flood that took Pharoah and his people”
Ex 14:21 supports this: “a strong wind blew all night”—this wouldn’t produce vertical walls of water, but a low tide exposing a sandbar. It was a natural event, caused by winds, maybe the moon too, a perfect storm. The Jews walked across a sandbar. Pharoah had the hubris to try to chase them in chariots, which turned out to be a bad idea. And Moses added a dramatic flair by hitting the sea with his staff, but it would have happened anyway, without the staff.
This interpretation is not without difficulty. Verses 22 & 29 say the Water was like walls on either side- so maybe the Torah took a little poetic license.
There is an island where something very similar happens regularly, and the locals developed a story around it not unlike the Exodus narrative. “In North Korea, Jindo Island becomes accessible via a sandbar twice a year, an event called the Moses miracle.
“Two times a year, during a low tide, a land path 2.8 kilometers long and 40 meters wide is revealed, uniting the islands of Jindo and Modo for a period of one hour. A festival is dedicated to this natural wonder and people from all around the world attend every year & cross over. “
Local legend explains it: “Jindo village was attacked by tigers and all the villagers ran to Modo island for shelter. All, except for a helpless old woman who was left behind, out of despair she prayed to the Sea God, who split the sea and helped her escape the bloodthirsty animals.” Sounds a lot like Moses and the Israelites fleeing from the Egyptians!
I don’t like this explanation
It basically gets rid of the whole notion of miracle. The midrash actually has a tradition of increasing, not decreasing, the sense of miracle. Pirke Avot says: 10 miracles at the sea, and 10 plagues struck the Egyptians at the sea. Avot DeRebbe Natan lists them as::
Tunnels were made in the sea
The sea was turned into a valley before them
Multiple paths were opened up in the sea (later: become 1 for each tribe)
The path was turned into clay
The path was dry as a desert or wilderness
The sea was broken into pieces
The sea was turned into rocks
The sea was turned into dry land
The sea was turned into walls
The sea stood up like flasks containing liquids, which released honey and oil into the mouths of children
And (11th miracle) some say that fresh water came out of the sea for them.
The Haggadah, too, increases the sense of the miraculous. Pirke Avot says there were ten plagues at the red Sea; The rabbis play a game of seeing who can inflate the number of plagues at the Red Sea:
Rabbi Yossi HaGalilie:
in Egypt the Egyptians suffered ten plagues
that is only referred to as the finger of G-d
at the Red Sea the hand of G-d is mentioned
=50 plagues at the Red Sea.
Rabbi Eliezer:
each plague was four fold
=two hundred plagues.
Rabbi Akiva:
each plague was five fold
=250 plagues.
It is a game: who can reach the highest number? Who can produce the movie with the biggest explosion, Bruce Willis jumping out of the highest window? By increasing the number of miracles, the rabbis were attempting to paint the most amazing scene they could, to increase the sense of the miraculous, to magnify the sense of divine Glory.
Miracles are important to us. Miracles are at the core of being Jewish. To believe in miracles means that we we believe that we can overcome what seem to be the obstacles of nature. To believe in miracles means things don’t need to be the way they are—they can change.
Whenever I teach some halacha that seems hard to follow, or something nobody wants to follow, there’s always someone who says, “but rabbi, that’s how everyone does it,” or, “that’s just unrealistic.” In the ethics class a few weeks ago, we were talking about the ethics of downsizing, and halachically you can’t lay off a well paid employee to save money by hiring someone young and cheap. You can’t just fire an employee to save money—it’s assur. And I got that response, “rabbi, that’s just how people do business.” With a little laugh and a twinkle, and I think the questioner was honestly amused by my naivete of believing that someone might actually practice business at the level of Jewish ethical standards.
To believe in miracles means to believe that things can be different. That the world can be different, can be fair, can be compassionate. That I can be different, that I can change my bad habits, that I can even do something which seems unnatural or unrealistic or against human nature.
There was a study a while back about how gossip is hardwired into us to facilitate social bonding. The implication was, that’s just how we are, so we should embrace it. But for me, it says the opposite-yes, we all have the yetzer, and we all have to fight it. And the fact that it’s hardwired makes the battle with our yetzer that much harder. Human nature is never an excuse.
Last Shabbes, Peter Madoff, Bernard Madoff’s brother who participated in bilking thousands of people out of billions of dollars, was allowed to delay prison to attend his granddaughter’s bat mitzvah, a lavish affair at the Central Synagogue which cost an estimated 75-100k. Even though Madoff forfeited all his assets, he still lives in a $3000/month pad. Peter Rubinstein, the rabbi at Central synagogue, wrote the judge asking for Madoff to be allowed to attend, saying:
"I suspect that the unfolding tragedy of Peter’s circumstances . . . were hatched early on in his dependence on his older brother as the closest father figure he had."
Quite an excuse for bilking thousands of people!
It reminds me of the song in West side Story, when the cops tell the street gangs to stop fighting, they all sing:
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!

Whatever we are given as out nature, from our DNA, our upbringing, our society, is given to us as a challenge to overcome. The Slonimer Rebbe says on lech lecha that when it says “go to yourself, from your land, your father’s house, your birthplace,” it means we find our purpose in life by looking at those circumstances. What are the bad character traits I have genetically, or learned from my house or frineds, that I need to overcome? That is my task in life. The fact that’s it’s my nature, that my mom’s to blame (you can always blame mom), isn’t an excuse, it’s my personal challenge.
The medievals put it in terms of divine nature and base or animal nature. When we talk about how it’s just human nature to gossip, or to profit at another’s loss, or to be less than totally honest in business, that’s true, it’s our animal nature. The divine aspect of us is the part that can question those patterns, that can make us realize we can be more.
To affirm that miracles exist, that God is above nature, implies that nature can be overcome, that my nature can be overcome, that “that’s the way things are” never means that’s how they have to always be.
Notice that the name God reveals to Moses at the burning bush is “Ehyeh”—I will be, I am always becoming. God is not static—God is pure becoming, God is self-transformation. To grow, to evolve, to be constantly redefining oneself, is to be in the image of the divine.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Introduction to Hynes: MLK and Doing what is Right

By way of introduction to this talk, I want to share a quote from Martin Luther King:
“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?
There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.”
Just over a week ago a prominent Satmar Hassid, Nechemya Weberman, a man who had conducted therapy as a “rabbi” in the community for children who were going off the path, mandatory therapy sessions, and who had been raping some of his clients. Mr. Weberman (he wasn’t a real rabbi) was found guilty of 59 counts of child abuse. This represented a major victory for the fight against abuse in the ultraorthodox community.
In the Satmar community, victims of abuse have been seriously intimidated and harassed, offered tickets to Israel and large amounts of cash in exchange for their silence, pressured to go through the bet din instead, only to find they were told to be quiet, threatened with expulsion from school, and the prospect of being unable to marry. In the Weberman case, the victim’s husband had the hashgacha taken away from his restaurant, which went out of business, and they had difficulty finding a single catering hall to host his wedding.
So we are excited about this turning point, which is hopefully just the beginning of an aggressive approach to this issue, and incredibly grateful to DA Hynes for joining us today. Mr. Hynes, we are all here to tell you that we care about this issue, and that we want you to do what’s right, to face evil with courage and honesty, and will support any effort you make in that fight.

Bo: growing through mitzvot

The Midrash says that the Jews in Egypt were idolaters, and we were only redeemed by merit of the mitzvah of circumcision and of the blood on the lintels. Befdore that, they were like an embryo in the womb of a donkey--thewy couldn't move, there was not spiritual breathing room. So the redemption was first that they could moan, they could dream (or at least complain). But complaining means you can imagine that life could be different. Then, they did a mitzvah--life could be different, they could aspire to holiness.

One of the things Chabad appreciates, that many movements don't, is the power of a single mitzvah. For many people not living an observant life, they resist the first mitzvah: it seems like hypocrisy. How can I go to shul if I don't keep shabbes? How can I light candles if I'm going out shopping? But the truth is, it is inconcsistency, and we are all inconsistent, but walking on a path of increased integrity, increased holiness.

Now, that mitzvah that I do, to bring me along on that path, can't be a cover for immorality, can't be a way of me saying, "I'm so great, i'm observant. I went to minyan, or I kep kosher, so I'm such a good Jew." My wife counseled a woman who was becoming muslim, covering herself head to toe in black, moving in with her husband because that was what her religion required. She is on welfare but she is starting a business, and Tanya mentioned that she would have to report that income. She had no intention of reporting it! She was trying to be religious, extremely religious, but basic ethics, forget about it. Rituals can be self-serving; hypocrisy has always been a problem.

One answer lies in another teaching from the parsha: it says during the plague of darkness that lo rau ish et amito, velo kam ish--nobody saw his fellow, and no man rose from his place. When we can't see each other, there is no spirituality, there is no rising, no holiness. There is only spirituality when my prayer transforms me, makes me more concerned about my fellow human being, my society, the world. The Gerer rebbe said that when you lay tefillin, you let God's word permeate through to your heart. When I davven, does it make me more sensitive, more compassionate, more caring? This is the kind of mitzvah, like the blood in Egypt, that can redeem us, that can bring us fully into a life in service of the divine.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Shemot: Exile from our deepest Selves

Rebbe Nahman/prince forgets he’s a prince story
Prince wants to go out and see the world
Wastes away money
Sleeping outside
Biggest desire: have a real house, out of straw
King passes by, throws note into carriage:
Could I have some straw?
King cries: this is what's become of my son?

One of the hardest parts of exile: we forget who we are
Idea of that story: we are royalty
Bnei melachim—because we have a holy soul a neshamah
A pure part of us capable of amazing deeds

But we are in exile from our selves
We have many layers of our selves
There’s the face I show driving, or shopping
Totally impersonal, want to get things dome
Face we show at work
Hopefully skilled, knows a few things
Face we show at home
More loving, more honest
Face we showed when we met our beloved, when we are in love
Each level is closer to out Heart, what we truly love
These are the Layers over our neshamah
Each of them closer to it
deep down, our soul is an extension of the divine

To be in exile from ourselves means we forget our core
We forget the deepest things we care about
We forget ever having cared, about anybody, about anything
We walk mechanically through the world
We go to work
We make dinner for our family
But we lose what motivated us

I had a job where the cleaning lady was miserable
She had straight, moppy black hair, and blah round glasses
Didn’t care about appearance
She picked garbage out of bins with hands, instead of using bags
Didn’t care about cleanliness
Every day, she emptied the cans with a broken spirit
Complaining about her life
& Counting years until she could retire

Painful: she had given up on anything that made her passionate

Forgetting who you are, what you love
Is a sad process

Carlebach story about Moishele and Ivan the Magician:
Moishele was poor, Ivan the Magician earned thousands. I don't mean he was an ordinary magician with smart tricks like you see on television. Ivan knew the real secrets of heaven and earth, powerful secrets from the "Other Side" and he was not adverse to using them for his own personal benefit.
One day, Moishele couldn't bear his own poverty anymore. He went to Ivan and said: "Magician, I want to become your follower."
Ivan pointed to the couch. "Sit down. I'll have to hypnotize you first."
Moishele lay down and Ivan said: "Okay, now. Forget your name."
Forgotten
"Forget all the names you've ever so much as heard in the world."
Gone.
"Forget those you love, your wife and children."
Wiped out. Erased.
"Forget your father and mother."
Done.
"Forget there's only One God."
Moishele jumped out of his trance. "What! I can't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a Jew!"
"So, forget you're a Jew!"
"How can I when there's only One God?"

Exile from ourselves is exile from being a Jew,
from remembering we have a holy soul that deeply yearns to serve God.

Zohar: our kol (heart) in exile from our dibbur (speech)
We talk, but don’t really feel deepest passions of our soul
We talk about weather, about what’s to eat
I know someone at end of meal, already planning the next meal

Trauma, especially, can cause our words and our heart to become disconnected
I talk, but it’s empty, and my heart is elsewhere
If I’ve lost someone, I act as if I’m functioning in the world
But my heart is obsessed with the person I love
That’s all I want to talk about but nobody would listen
And if I try, the words get stuck in my throat

When the Jews went down to Egypt, they knew who they were
They had their Hebrew names, they had Jacob, their patriarch there
But in the process of slavery, they forgot
They forgot they were anything but slaves
They forgot that life could be different, that there was any such thing as freedom
Maybe they forgot the prophecy that God would free them, or figured God had forgotten.

Pharoah starts this process by forgetting Joseph
1:8 vayakom melech chadash al mitzrayim asher lo yadah et yosef
Rashi: he made himself as if he didn’t know him—the first one never died
He forgot Joseph’s true being,
pretended not to remember what he had done—he saved country!
This was a weapon—dehumanizing the slaves, forgetting what made them great, forgetting they had a divine destiny.
Pharoah kills the babies en masse, like in the holocaust—just a number to put on the list

Compare that to when the jews go to Egypt, god counts them one by one
Each one precious as a star

One of the amazing moments this week, if it wasn’t a hoax
Was the letter found in Halloween decorations at Kmart
Claiming to be from a slave laborer in a Chinese prison
Asserting: I exist, I am here, don’t forget about us

China can only pass off a product made at a slave camps by pretending to the world they don’t exist
By effacing the identity and experience of people in these camps
Or in the sweatshops around the globe
They make it possible for us to buy their goods
Nobody would buy anything made by a slave if they could see it
If the store was a concession at the entrance of a slave labor camp
If every pieve of cheap toy or clothing had a letter from the laborer detailing labor conditions, all of us would make more careful decisions when we shop.

The amazing thing about the letter was that this person as a human broke through the wall of silence, a cry reaching across the ocean, breaking through the iron wall!

The Ari says: If the Jews had stayed any longer, they could not have been redeemed
They had reached the 49th level of impurity.
if they had stayed one second longer, couldn’t have been redeemed. 50th level means you’re lost—Like a deep ladder where you’ve descended past the last rung on the ladder, and fallen into the pit.
Meor Eynayim: exile so deep not only were bodies in exile, minds were in exile.
Exile is not just a physical process, it’s forgetting
They started to believe they were worthless slaves, they forgot their lives were worth anything.
I hear about a woman who was abused, and she lived outside in a doghouse. Imagine forgetting you deserve to live in a house, or perhaps losing the hope that you can live in a house like a human!

The haggadah says if God didn’t take us out, we’d still be there
It would have broken us: we would have forgotten our selves
Even though Egyptian pharaohs gone, we would’ve lacked the vision to yearn for anything else

America in many ways seems like it’s not exile
America is a great place to be a jew
Get very comfortable—want to fit in
On a pshat level, it is exile from Israel—from kind of religious community Torah envisions
Deeper: exile is making us forget we’re yearning for anything more
Easy to say, hey, I work, go to shows, that’s enough!
Think there’s nothing deeper in the universe other than going to work, coming home and watching tv
Gets us out of touch with our yearnings for anything deeper—with the depth of our soul


we don’t study torah—we rely on our own value judgments, don’t look for inspiration from the Torah, dond’t see the need for spiritual inspiration
we think That we don’t need shabbes—we start fitting in with American culture, doing things americans do on days off like going to baseball games or shows or working. The American
Think we don’t need to davven—
don’t need to connect with the divine for inspiration,
or to awaken our gratitude and self awareness.
Minyan not just about “duty”—daily spiritual practice. It pains me when people say you should go to minyan as a duty, or to help someone say kaddish, or it’s painful but at least it’s short. We davven because our souls need to be refreshed with a moment of deveykus, of deep personal encounter with the divine, on a daily basis.

There are some minhagim that constantly remind us we are in exile
Breaking glass at a wedding
Shney luhot habrit: leave house unpainted, don’t buy big houses,
Leave table unset

Also—we need to get in touch with our yearnings
With what our heart feels deeply-the place where our soul expresses something divine
Deep passions of our souls to relate to god,
to each other,
to experience holiness, and the divine,
to bring holiness and meaning into our lives,
to live lives which bring divine light into the world.

There are moments that awaken that passion, those deep stirrings of our soul.
Hurricane sandy did this, mobilizing people to feed & clothe each other,
To go and wash out strangers’ houses
I have seen too, in the hospital, when great tragedy strike,
The layers disappear
And people are at their holiest, most loving selves
In those moments, even of greatest tragedy, we connect with our deepest soul

We need to cherish these moments of being in touch with our deepest, holiest selves
What are we like in those moments? What are we capable of that?

And we can try to bring that part of ourself into our everyday life

I attended a wedding a few weeks ago
Wedding: like yom kippur, day of intense self-purification
Hattan danced with everyone
Dancing with me, he said “thank you for coming”
So sweet dancing together, with a pure smile on his face

This is what are we like when we are overwhelmed with compassion
When our defenses drop away
Whether because of simha or tragedy?
That is our deepest, holiest self

Those moments do drop away
Traditions advice:
We fight exile with that yearning
We can’t put always put words to what we’re yearning for
In Egypt, Redemption came from the inarticulate cry of the soul
3:24—god heard their cry—at that place, of the inarticulate cry, that is point of contact w/God.
We can’t get ourselves out-
Haggadah: if god hadn’t taken us out, we’d still be slaves
Zohar notes: what was heard was the cry, not the words
Because the cry is from the heart, which is closer to God.
The cry can express what’s missing even if we’ve forgotten

One way the Hassidim express this yearning is with melody
The kind of melody that expresses the soul’s yearning for closeness to God.
We can also do this with a kretch— “oy, I have forgotten who i truly am, what truly makes me joyous”
Help me remember how much more I can be
Help me remember how much more I can appreciate you, God, and those I love
Help me remember how much more I can do in this world

Recovering from Sandy Hook

I wanted to talk this Shabbes about the massacre in Sandy point
A massacre shocking in the defenselessness and innocence of the victims
Who could, god forbid, have been our own children or grandchildren
One of the questions this raises is,
Are we ever safe?
If Little 5 year olds in school aren’t safe, who is?
How can I feel safe about my grandkids who are in school?
How can I feel safe about sending Hannah to school?
When it snowed, very late--came home after 6
Generally not worried
But In back of my mind: what if they were hit by a car?
The truth is, we never are safe
Tragedy can always strike
In hospital, I knew a man who was 30, mowing lawn, dropped down, brain tumor
A woman who had turned around to buckle her kids back in the car,
Hit by a drunk driver,
Spent a month in a coma
On one level, we should live like there’s no tomorrow
What if the words I say to my wife today are the last I ever say?
Do I remember to say I love you, even if I’m angry?
But we can’t live like there’s no tomorrow
We can’t function with spectre of sudden disaster
If god forbid you knew your spouse or child would die,
You wouldn’t go shopping
You wouldn’t go out and run errands
You wouldn’t send them to school
You wouldn’t have them go to sleep on time
And your house would be a mess, with no groceries,
You’d be a tired wreck, and worried
So we have to live as if life is safe
And we have to make the most of the gifts god gives us
In the parsha, Jacob thought his son Joseph was killed,
He was a broken man
The entire time he was in Israel, it was as if he was dead
And he would not be comforted, could not move on
Only when he comes to Goshen, and is reunited with Joseph,
does it say vayechi, he lived.
When a loved one dies, god forbid, it tears the fabric of our life
we cannot imagine life without our wife, our husband, our child
I cannot imagine how these families will move on,
Their life has been irreparably torn for no reason.
They will live, they will suffer, but day will follow day.
President Obama, in his talk, asked if we can make something worth the meaning of these children
Of course we can’t
Every death is infinite, an entire world
We can get guns off the streets, out of peoples bedroom drawers.
The NRA treats guns like a toy, like it makes you a real man, an americun
And wave them around like a banner.
The Talmud discusses whether you can wear swords as ornaments on shabbes
Not an ornament or a toy; disgusting
Clearly, we also need to address the issue of violence in our society
Video games & movies make this kind of shooting seem normal
So when someone snaps, they know what to do
Violence is too normal in our culture
But most importantly, there’s something each of us as individuals can do:
we can live our lives with love and nonviolence,
we can live our lives in a way that brings peace and safety to those around us
we can speak to each other so that if god forbid this is the last thing we say,
I can go to heaven feeling good at how I left things
Limnot yameinu ken hoda—teach us to treasure each day, and our hearts will discern wisdom
Teach us to treasure the value of each precious day, in the knowledge that life can be so fragile, is such a precious gift
Teach us to treasure our children, spouses, family members, community members,
Treating them with kindness,
And thanking God for each day we have the gift of their presence in our life.

Limnot Yameinu ken hoda venavi levav hohmah
Teach us to treasure each day, that we may open our hearts to your wisdom

War on Israel

For the past two weeks, in parallel to the Thanksgiving joy and thankfulness, most of us have also had an eye on the news from Israel. Hamas sent almost 1,500 missiles toward Israel, many of them Iranian supplied Fajr-5 missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv. It is incredibly fortunate, perhaps a modern day miracle, that Israel had recently deployed the Iron-Dome defense system, which knocked out the vast majority of these rockets. If they hadn’t, there’s no telling how many Israeli casualties there would have been. Our hearts are on Israel, and we pray for the continued well being of her citizens.
We should be proud of the standards Israel hold itself to. Those anti-missile rockets cost Israel 25-30 million dollars. It would have been far easier to target Gaza’s civilian population, and threaten a one-for-one retaliation, far less than America did by dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Israel holds itself up to higher standards than any other Western democracy. What other country would leaflet, call, and make announcements on radio before bombing, to avoid civilian casualties, when fighting an immoral enemy which uses human shields and values death as a martyr more than life. Even Abbas, the moderate leader of the West bank, called Hamas to congratulate them on their victory. It would be easier tactically to do whatever is necessary for victory. We should all be proud of the way Israel has defended herself.
We pray for the continued peace of Israel, that the world should see and respect her morality and integrity, that she should continue to be able to defend herself and have victories in all of her endeavors.

Fire in Bangladesh

I wanted to talk this week about the recent fire at Tazreen Fashions, a factory in Bangladesh.
-details of fire
Death toll:112, 150 wounded
Reason: a manager locked the doors, thinking it was a false alarm
Factory provides clothes for Sears, Walmart, and Disney.
Parent company provides for IKEA
Walmart had known for a year about the unsafe conditions
Didn’t use factory but Was still placing orders through Li and Fung
This is not the first fire in Bangladesh
People earn as little as 21 cents/hr, work in dangerous conditions
600 factory fire deaths over the last 5 years
-reminiscent of triangle shirt fire just over 100 years ago
(146 workers died, fire escapes locked)
Led to much better labor laws
-but in the last 20 years, we have seen manufacturing outsourced
Free trade agreements which had no worker rights guarantees
cheaper to produce clothes under terrible safety & environmental conditions
-is it relevant to us?
I know it feels far away.
If we buy clothes made in bagladesh, or other places with terrible worker conditions, then yes.
Much of our clothing is being outsourced there; Walmart, Hilfiger
Doesn’t affect us,
but it is about how we affect somebody else
worker around the globe,
as well as our neighbor in America who no longer has a job.
By spending our money on these cheap clothes & other products, we are enabling them to do it

Midrash Hagadol: one who strengthens the hands of a sinner is violating the prohibition on placing a stumbling block before the blind

You could also say, the money I save by buying these cheap goods made by workers in inhumane conditions are actually considered material elements of idol worship:
1. Sefer Hinuch #429-not to gain pleasure from approaching idol worship
Within the commandment is that one should not attach to his own money, which God graced him with, the money of another which was gained through theft, violence or exploitation, or from any disgusting element, because all of these are included in the elements of idol worship. For man’s heart is inclined toward evil, which desired [items paid for by any means] and brings it into the home; and this inclination toward evil is called idol worship…

Very hard situation: not just Walmart. Sears.
Try to find something made in America!

The fact is, everything is so globalized, that it is hard to see what impact I am having with my money.
Which means we all need to be careful where we shop, and who we give our money to,
try to buy products that are produced ethically,
shop at locally owned businesses.