10 Minute Topics: Tzedakah

The next in a weekly series of 10 minute topics teaching about various topics within Judaism. This week's topic is: Tzedakah.

Tzedakah is derived from צדק (tzedek) - meaning righteousness, justice, or fairness, but has come to mean charity in English.

The words justice and charity have different meanings in English. How is it that in Hebrew, one word, tzedakah, has been translated to mean both justice and charity?

This translation is consistent with Jewish thought as Judaism considers charity to be an act of justice.

External Sources:
Sefer Zeraim - Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10:1 (A Maimonides Reader p. 135) (http://books.google.com/books?id=gpmH0BtxBmcC&pg=PR9&lpg=PR9&dq=s...­Bmaimonides&source=bl&ots=eLK_qp-xz1&sig=5MgJJB3TqdMrFCFT_d1f_D4rLcs&hl=en&ei=qw­AXSvmrO4yclQfbl-jwCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPA135,M1)

Tzedakah: More than Charity (http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefs/a/tzedakah_what.htm)

The Zohar Beshalach Section 29 (https://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/zohar&vol=18&sec=643#6496)

Power of Tzedakah (http://www.aish.com/hhgrowth/hhgrowthdefault/Power_of_Tzedakah.asp)

Tzedakah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah)

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Judaism
• Jewish
• Charity
• Tzedakah
• Poor
• Fatherless
• Widow
• Righteousness
• Justice
• Fairness
• Alms

[ArtLoversStudio18]

Wonderful, but I think there's a difference between tzedakah and ma'asim tovim (good deeds/charity)-- the first being a mitzvah and the latter being subjective.