Tzedakah in the Jewish Tradition

The Rabbis regulated the giving and receiving of tzedakah even while recognizing that how one gives may be as important as how much one gives.

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Excerpted from Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals, published by Pocket Books.

Tzedakah has its own set of imperatives. Tzedakah is loosely translated as "charity," but that is a misrepresentation of the concept. The Hebrew has its root in another word, tzedek/justice. In the Torah we are strongly enjoined, "Tzedek, tsedek tirdof/Justice, justice thou shalt pursue." Rabbinical commentators have said that the repetition of the word justice is designed to underline the importance of the command. Tzedakah is not charity given out of caritas, in the Christian understanding of those words; it is given as an act of redress, as part of the process of seeking a just world. 

How does tzedakah differ from gemilut hasadim? Actually, the Talmud says that the latter is greater in three ways: charity can be performed only with one's money, but acts of lovingkindness require one's body, time, or money; charity is only for the poor, but one can perform gemilut hasadim for everyone; and charity can only be given to the living, but gemilut hasadim is for the living and the dead (as in the mitzvot associated with burial).

Even so, we are enjoined explicitly to give tzedakah, particularly just before the Sabbath and festivals. The Torah tells us, "You shall surely open your hand to the poor and the destitute of your land." Elsewhere it is said that Israel will be redeemed by its acts of charity. And in the Book of Proverbs we are told, "The doing of righteousness and justice is preferable to Adonai than the sacrificial offering."

How we give tzedakah is as important was what we give. "Do not humiliate a beggar," the Talmud warns us. "God is beside him." Rabbi Eleazar said, "The reward that is paid for giving charity is directly related to the kindness with which it is given." Deuteronomony 15:10 cautions, "Your heart shall not be grieved when you give."

Everyone is required to give tzedakah according to her means. Even the poorest Jews, those who need help themselves, are expected to put aside something from what they receive in order to give tzedakah. But that poor Jew's tiny donation is as great as the large donation of the wealthiest. (If making a donation would impair the impecunious Jew'sability to sustain himself, he is absolved from giving. The doctrine of pikuach nefesh ["saving a life"] applies here: he must not endanger his life to perform this mitzvah.) It is forbidden to turn away a poor person empty-handed, but if one truly cannot give, a Jew is expected to at least offer words of comfort.

George Robinson, author of Essential Judaism, is the recipient of a Simon Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism from the American Jewish Press Association. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, Jewish Week, and The Detroit Jewish News.