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Tzedakah Q&A
Aron Hirt-Manheimer
What does the term tzedakah mean?
How are the poor regarded in Jewish tradition?
Who is required to give tzedakah?
What categories of people get top priority in receiving tzedakah?
Should charity also be given to the non-Jewish poor?
Should tzedakah be given to someone we suspect of deception?
How much should one contribute to charity?
Q: What does the term tzedakah mean?
 It is derived from the Hebrew tzedek, meaning "justice" or what
is right. In the Torah it is also used to mean righteousness -
in the sense of piety. One cannot be considered pious - a tzadik
- unless one lives a righteousness and just life, and that requires
devotion to helping the needy. Although the idea of charity appears
throughout the Bible, there is no special term for it. Only later,
in the Talmud and thereafter, did tzedakah generally come to mean
charity.
Q: How are the poor regarded in Jewish tradition?
The underprivileged are not to be blamed for their condition.
The Hebrew prophets held that social injustice is the cause of
poverty. Ezekiel attributed the destruction of Sodom to its lack
of charity. By Jewish law the poor have the right to receive tzedakah.
And, according to the Talmud, those who receive it because the
donors are given the opportunity to perform a mitzvah. This attitude
is based on the belief that all earthly possessions belong to
God and that one's worth is measured in mitzvot, not in material
goods.
Q: Who is required to give tzedakah?
It is required of everyone, including poor people who themselves
receive charity. The poor people who themselves receive charity.
The poor shall not be denied the feelings of joy and self-esteem
that derive from performing the mitzvah of tzedakah. As the Talmud
teaches: "When a person gives even a perutah (the smallest coin)
he or she is privileged to sense God's presence."
Q: What categories of people get top priority in receiving tzedakah?
The Bible emphasizes the mitzvah of caring for the widow, the
orphan, and the stranger. In the process of refining the laws
pertaining to charity, the rabbis of the Talmud determined that
preference was to be given to women over men and one's poor relatives
over strangers. The poor of Eretz Yisrael took precedence over
everybody.
Q: Should charity also be given to the non-Jewish poor?
Yes, it should be given to all peoples, because in doing so we
foster peace in the world.
Q: Should tzedakah be given to someone we suspect of deception?
It is better to give to a deceiver than to risk depriving the
deserving of relief.
Q: Is it preferable to give tzedakah openly or anonymously?
Every effort must be made to avoid causing shame or humiliation
to the recipient of tzedakah. As it is written in the Talmud,
when R, Yannai observed somebody giving money to a poor man in
public, he said: "Better not to have given him anything than to
have given and caused humiliation." The most famous formulation
of laws concerning the relationship of donor to recipient is Maimonides'
Eight Degrees of Charity.
From the lowest to the highest level they are to give
- but sadly,
- less than is fitting, but in good humor,
- only after having been asked,
- before being asked,
- so that the donor doesn't know who the recipient is,
- so that the recipient doesn't know who the donor is,
- so that neither knows the identity of the other, and
- in a manner so that the recipient becomes self-sufficient, thus
avoiding the loss of self-respect that may result from receiving
the lower degrees of charity.
Q: How much should one contribute to charity?
One is expected to give up to one-fifth of one's possessions
to fulfill the mitzvah of tzedakah to its fullest degree. Less
than one-tenth is considered miserly. The law cautions against
giving beyond one's means, for it is no benefit to society if
a person becomes impoverished by giving excessively.
From Journey Through Judaism: The Best of Keeping Posted. Allan
D. Bennett, ed. NY: UAHC Press, 1991. Used by permission of UAHC
Press.
Aron Hirt-Manheimer is the editor of Reform Judaism and recently co-authored Jews with Arthur Hertzberg.
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