Tzedakah: The Gift of the Soul

Selichot, 1997 by Harold M. Schulweis

Throughout the High Holy Days, both on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there is a prayer which concludes, "Repentance, prayer and tzedakah may avert the evil decree.” So important is tzedakah that the Talmud (Yurasalmi Peah) tells us that tzedakah is the equal of all of the commandments of the Torah combined.

I haven't translated tzedakah because there are some ideas that cannot be translated into another language. Every culture has its unique language. "Omnis traductor traditor" -- everything translated is treasonous.”

Selichot is not penitence, and tshuvah is not penance. Both penitence and penance are derived from the root that refers to pain and sorrow and punishment.

Latin is not Hebrew, nor is Greek. Tefillin are really not phylacteries. Phylacteries derive from the Greek which refers to amulets. Tefillin are not amulets.

Shabbat is not Saturday. Saturday is borrowed from the Latin "saturnus,” the planet Saturn, from which we get the word "saturnine," which means a gloomy or surly disposition. Shabbat is not Saturday.

And tzedakah is not charity, which comes from the Latin "caritas"—  referring to love "— and neither is "schnorrer" a beggar. A beggar begs, entreats, beseeches, solicits, implores. A schnorrer is not a beggar. Chayim, for example, in the well known story, is a schnorrer. He goes to Professor Levin, a prominent eye doctor, and at the end of the visit Professor Levin tells him that the visit will cost him $200. Chayim says, "I can't pay that." "Fine,” says the professor, "I will reduce the fee to $100." Chayim says "I can't afford that." "Okay, what can you afford?" says the professor. Chayim says "I can afford nothing." The professor is indignant "If you can afford nothing, how dare you come to me a specialist, an expert!" Chayim responds, "Dear Dr. Levin, for my health nothing is too expensive."

A schnorrer is not a beggar, and to understand the proper usage of the term one has to turn back to Jewish theology, Jewish philosophy, Jewish legal and moral systems.

In Judaism, the poor have a claim on all of us. How we treat the poor, the disenfranchised, the wounded, the pariahs, the outcasts, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, is an existential test of our belief in Judaism and in God.

There is a widespread ancient idea that the poor are poor because the gods will it so. If you are poor, there must be something wrong with you. But the Bible, the prophet, the Talmud , the Midrash, Jewish law, would have none of that. Poverty is not a sin, nor is it a sign of sin. In fact,  the Torah raises the poor man as God's favorite person.

If there is a disgrace in poverty, that disgrace is society's. For the sin is not due to some original transgression, some metaphysical flaw in the nature of Adam and Eve that calls for repentance and faith in a son of God and in other worldly salvation. The sin is not theological, it is sociological. And the solution is in the hands of human society (Deuteronomy 15:4):  "There shall be no poor among you. For the Lord will surely bless you if only you listen carefully to the voice of your God to do all His commandments."

Tzedakah is a commandment, it is a duty, an obligation, a sacred imperative. Tzedakah is not translatable as charity, a matter of feeling, a matter of personal disposition. The culture of tzedakah is rooted in the Bible and in encoded in the laws which every Jew knows about. For every Jew could read the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, the abridged code of laws written by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried.  Section 34 reads clearly, "It is an affirmative commandment to give tzedakah to the poor. As it is written in the book of Deuteronomy, 'If there be a needy person among you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand. Patoach tiftach -- you shall "open, open" your hand. Naton, titayn -- you shall "give, give" and your heart shall not be grieved.'"  Why the repetition “open, open” ? Because you must open your hand even a hundred times. You cannot say "I already gave to this man yesterday. For this hungry man is not only hungry yesterday, he is hungry today and tomorrow as well."

"Give give" means you must give with at least two motivations. The first time you give it is because it is a matter of law, a matter of obligation. The second time you give is a matter of heart and feeling.

"And," says the Codes, "you must give right away. If someone should ask for food you do not investigate his integrity. You give him quickly without questioning or hesitation."

There are a hundred blessings to be recited a day over food, over drink, over rainbows, over oceans. But interestingly there is no blessing over tzedakah. Tzedakah is not to be interrupted or delayed even with a blessing. Tzedakah is the blessing, it is intrinsic.

You don't have to be religious to give tzedakah. Indeed, when the rabbi was asked by one of his disciples, "You have told us that God creates everything for a purpose. What, then, is the purpose for atheism? for apostasy? for apikorsus?" The rabbi answered, "Apikorsus has a purpose. It is to remind us that when a poor man, a hungry man comes to you, you act as if you are no believer in God. You act as if there is no God to help him but only your yourself."

Who is to give? Everybody. The believer and the unbeliever, the rich and the poor. As it says in the Shulchan Aruch 34:2 – "Every person is obligated to give tzedakah according to his means, even the poor man who himself is supported by public tzedakah must himself give tzedakah. Let him give of what he receives and even if he can give davar muat, a small thing, he should not hold back. For his little is considered as important as tzedakah from a wealthy man."

It is clear from such laws that tzedakah is not only for the sake of the recipient, but also for the sake of the donor. For what is important as is that a tradition learn to cultivate in its people moral sensibility. A moral conscience is developed by the training of the hand, by habit, by the exercise of one's opening the hand that may even precede the opening of the heart.

Tzedakah is rooted in a basic Jewish principle. We are responsible for each other. We are obligated to share our physical possessions with those who are in need. It is not an accident that political surveys and political commentaries indicate that most Jews overwhelmingly support governmental programs promoting social welfare. This is not a matter of politics, liberal or conservative. It is simply a matter of basic principle. Judaism does not countenance that form of libertarianism which says to those who are in need, "You are on your own. You pull yourself out of the quagmire by your own will. Don't lean on me."

Yes, the tradition and its Codes know very well that there are exploiters and cheats. The tradition warns those who pretend poverty that that pretense will be punished and they will be even more impoverished. The Codes, and particularly in Maimonides section on "The Gifts for the Poor," stresses that one should strive not to be dependent on other people and not to be a public charge.

Indeed, the Talmud (Shabbat 118) tells us, "Make your Sabbath a week day rather than depend upon another. One should flay carcasses rather than say I am a great scholar, I am a great priest. Provide for me."

But it continues that if a man is in need, is unable to sustain himself without tzedakah due to illness or physical disability or old age, and he is too proud to accept tzedakah, this proud man is a shedder of his own blood and commits a mortal sin.  He has nothing for his suffering but sin and transgression.  False pride is dangerous. One has no right to be so proud that he will not accept the help of the community.

The Codes do not only speak about how much one should give, but stress how you shall give. Anyone who gives tzedakah in a surly manner completely nullifies the merit of his deed, even if he gives a thousand gold pieces.  One must not raise one's voice and shout at the poor. For his heart is broken and crushed.  The Codes continue, "Do not turn away a poor man empty handed. If one has nothing at all to give him one must cheer him up with words.

This is reminiscent of Tolstoy's story of the beggar who came to a man for alms and the man had nothing to give him. "Brother I have nothing to give you." The beggar thanked him profusely and the man said, "Why do you thank me? I have given you nothing." The beggar responded "But you called me brother." To preserve the dignity of the human being is paramount, and is supported in the way in which we speak and treat the impoverished.

This is our heritage, and our children who live in a different society and in a different time have to know this. They have to know that the Shulchan Aruch stressed tzedakah is a mark of our descent from our father Abraham of whom it was said, "For I, God, have known him that he may counsel his children to do justice and tzedakah." As Maimonides put it, "If one is cruel and merciful, his lineage is pagan." In his Hilchoth Avodem 9:8, he cautions "Do not disgrace your slave or servant neither by hand or word, because the law has delivered him from service, not to humiliation."   Do not heap upon him oral abuse or anger but speak to him softly and listen to his claims. And we have read in the book of Job, "Did He that made me in the womb not make him? Did not He fathom us in the womb?"

Maimonides' assertion of the compassionate character of Jews, especially when it comes to those who are in need, is not a biological conceit. It is a consequence of the culture of character that is stressed again and again in Judaism. The rabbis note that thirty-six times in the Bible it says "You shall not wrong a stranger or press him. You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan."

Who gives tzedakah? Everyone. And to whom is tzedakah to be given? The realism of Judaism is expressed in the law that tells us that a poor person who is your relative should receive your tzedakah before others, and the poor of your household has priority over the poor of the city (Mishnah Torah 7b). We all know Mr. Goldberg who explains to the solicitor for funds for the poor, "What good are my steamships, my department stores, my estate, when my poor mother is starving in an attic?" Tzedakah begins at home, with the mother in the attic. But tzedakah does not end at home. The particular precedes the universal but in Judaism, the universal is not short changed. Here I am moved by the breadth of Jewish tzedakah. Consider the Talmudic law which is incorporated in the Codes for every man:  "One should feed and clothe the poor of the idolater together with the poor of Israel." Tzedakah is the way of God who is the Creator of all men and women.

Tzedakah is the way to God. Here is a statement from the Tanhuma, based upon the Bible and upon a verse in the book of Psalms:  "Through the righteousness of tzedakah I shall behold Your face." The commentary says, "Notice that this verse illustrates the power of tzedakah. For this verse indicates that a person who gives as little as a single penny to the poor is deemed worthy to behold the face of the Divine Presence. In the material world however, it is customary that a matron who wishes to be received by her king must fashion a suitable crown as a present for him. By presenting this crown which she brings to adorn him, the matron becomes worthy of beholding the face of the king. But in our tradition a person needs to give only a single penny to the poor in order to behold the face of the Divine Presence."

For our people Judaism has many purposes. One of the most important is to develop in us and in our children a Jewish sensibility, a character, a collective conscience. In Judaism the essential character is a compassionate heart and an open hand and a caring soul. Tonight we are focusing in on tzedakah which is the root virtue in Judaism. It is the way in which we repair the world. It is the way in which we witness to God's goodness. Tonight we dedicate the stained glass window called "Tzedakah,” a contribution by Dr. Lillian Seitsive in honor of Elliott and Madelyn Taft who are "baaley tsedakah" -- masters of tzedakah. They can declare with Job "Never have I eaten my morsel alone without sharing it with the fatherless. Never did I see any perish for want of clothing. But I warmed him with fleece from my limbs and his loins gave me his blessing."

And repentance, prayer and tzedakah may avert the evil decree. Tzedakah can rescue people from death. There is immense power in a coin. Money is not the root of all evil. Hardness of heart, the clenched fist, the absence of compassion -- these are the roots of evil and these we can overcome.

This is the evening of the preparation of the heart, and one of its ways is in prayer, in tefillah, and in tshuvah, in turning. But a powerful way is by tzedakah. Before you light the candles of the Shabbat, before you light the candles before the festivals, before you light the candles before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, write a check for our Food Bank, or for Mazon or for any philanthropy that helps those in need. And encourage the young in our households to drop some coins in the pushke. Tzedakah helps us open our lips, our hands and our hearts. Tzedakah is indispensable for tshuvah and tefillah. Upon these three the world is established. Upon this triad we stand.

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