Whereas Judaism believes in the equality of all human beings regardless of race, creed or financial position;
Whereas Deuteronomy 16 commands, “You shall not judge unfairly: you shall know no partiality; you shall not take gifts, for gifts blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just”;
Whereas the Talmud Bavli in Tractate Ketubot (105b) notes, “As soon as a man receives a gift from another he becomes so well disposed towards him that he becomes like his own person, and no man sees himself in the wrong”;