Tzedakah

From Shabbat

Tzedakah (Hebrew: צדקה) in Judaism, is the Hebrew term most commonly translated as "charity", though it is based on a root meaning "justice" .(צדק). In Arabic, charity is "sadakah" (صدقه) and an obligatory type of it, the Arabic term "zakat", is considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam.

Judaism is very tied to the concept of tzedakah, or charity, and the nature of Jewish giving has created a North American Jewish community that is very philanthropic. Because Judaism puts emphasis on the doing of good deeds, one's acts of righteousness are extremely important in living a sacred life. Because the second highest level of tzedakah is giving anonymously (Matan Beseiser) to an unknown recipient, anonymous donations are especially common in the Jewish community.

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Levels of tzedakah

Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah defined the following eight levels of charity:

  1. Giving a poor person work (or loaning him money to start a business) so he will not have to depend on charity. This is because the person is now free from having to rely on charity. The giver has not just helped the recipient for the short while, but instead for the rest of their life. There are four sub-levels to this:
        1. Giving a poor person work.
        2. Making a partnership with them (this is lower than work, as the recipient might feel he doesn't put enough into the partnership).
        3. Giving a loan.
        4. Giving a gift.
  2. Giving charity anonymously to an unknown recipient.
  3. Giving charity anonymously to a known recipient.
  4. Giving charity publicly to an unknown recipient.
  5. Giving charity before being asked.
  6. Giving adequately after being asked.
  7. Giving willingly, but inadequately.
  8. Giving unwillingly.

Source Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 10:1,7-14

How tzedakah is lived

Most Jews live out tzedakah in practical terms by donating a portion of their income to charitable institutions or to a needy person that they may encounter. The fourteenth chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy says that "You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all the yield of your sowing that is brought from the field." However, if this is not possible, the law of tzedakah still requires that something is given.

Special acts of tzedakah are specially performed on certain days. On one's wedding day, one is supposed to give to charity to symbolize the holiness of the day. On Passover, a major holiday in Jewish tradition, one is encouraged to welcome hungry people to the table, for Jews were once slaves in Egypt and should help those in need as they were once helped by God. On the holiday of Purim it is an obligation for every Jew to give two people food which is equivalent to a meal to increase happiness in the month of Adar which is the happiest time on the Jewish calendar.