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Giving Tzedakah - Just A Good Thing To Do?

child | Tzedakah's many meanings |
The biblical term tzedakah is often used synonymously with justice, truth, kindness, ethical conduct, help and deliverance. It is applied, in post-biblical Hebrew, specifically to the relief of poverty as an act of justice and moral behavior. The word tzedakah, designating any work directed toward aiding the poor, signifies that the poor man's right to food, clothing and shelter, is considered by Judaism as a legal claim which must be honored by the most fortunate. Concerning the duty to support the poor generously the Torah declares:

"Take heed lest…..you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing …..You shall give to him freely, without ill will ….Poor people will never cease to be in the land; hence I command you: You shall open your hand to your brother, to your poor and needy in your land" (Deuteronomy 15:9-11).

| An act of justice |
In Jewish thinking, tzedakah is not a matter of philanthropic sentiment, but an act of justice. The Torah contains a variety of laws that benefit the needy, including: tithe for the poor (ma'aswer ani), the gleaning of the field (leket), the year of release (shemittah), and the field corner to be reaped by the poor (peah). And since the assigned gifts are legally considered as the property of the poor, the previous owner is not entitled to decide who should receive them. They must be shared by all the poor who happen to come to the fields.

It is interesting to note that the Talmud discusses in detail the Jewish methods of cooperative tzedakah enterprise, including the collection of food and money for the poor.

| In praise of charity |
Jewish literature is rich in praise of beneficence and liberality to the poor:

Charity equals all the other commandments.
A penny for the poor will obtain a view of the Shekhinah.
Whom God loves, he sends a golden opportunity for charity.
By benevolence man rises to a height where he meets God.
Do a good deed before you begin your prayers.
God provides the means; if you really want to do charity.
What you give to charity in health is gold; what you give in sickness is silver; what you give after death is copper.

| Who should give? |
In his Mishneh Torah, Maimonides devotes ten chapters to Mattenoth Aniyyim (gifts to the poor) and the rules and regulations related to this subject. He writes: Anyone who can afford it must give charity to the poor according to their needs. One's first duty lies toward his poor relatives, then toward the needy of his town, and finally toward those of other towns. Anyone who stays in a town for thirty days should be compelled to contribute to public charity. Any man who gives aid to the poor in a surly manner and with a gloomy face completely nullifies the merit of his own deed. Charity should be given cheerfully, compassionately and comfortingly. He who induces others to contribute to charity is more deserving than they.

Maimonides asserts that, in Jewish religious law, there are various degrees of giving charity. He addresses himself to the poor in these terms: A man should ever strive not to be dependent on other people. The sages said: "Rather make your Sabbath a weekday with regard to festive meals than be dependent on human beings" (Shabbat 118a). If reduced to poverty, even a distinguished scholar must not disdain manual work, no matter how unworthy of him, in order to avoid dependence on others.

Give Before the Wheels Turn
Rabbi Israel al-Nakawa of fourteenth-century Spain writes in his Menorath Hammaor (lamp of illumination), that the world is like a revolving wheel: one who is rich today may be poor tomorrow. Let a man therefore give charity before the wheel has turned. Prominent men in France used to make their coffins out of the tables on which they served food to the poor, to show that a man can take nothing with him except the good he has done.