Where it comes from
The Hebrew word tzedakah is usually translated as “charity,” but it comes from tzedek, justice. In Jewish thought, helping someone in need is not optional generosity that reflects well on the giver. It is an obligation, and the person in need has a rightful claim.
The ladder of giving
In the twelfth century, Maimonides set out eight levels of tzedakah in his code of law. Giving reluctantly is the lowest. Higher still is giving so that neither giver nor receiver knows the other, sparing the receiver any shame. The highest level of all is to help a person stand on their own feet: with a gift, a loan, a partnership or a job, so that they will no longer need to ask.
In every faith, and for none
Almsgiving is a pillar of many traditions: zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, Christianity calls for care of the poor, and dana, generosity, is central to Buddhist and Hindu practice. Many people who follow no religion give just as faithfully, out of a simple sense of fairness.
Lives that embody it
Many of the people on Jews Impact lived this value, in laboratories, courtrooms, classrooms and rescue work.
Julius RosenwaldClothier who turned Sears, Roebuck into America’s great mail-order retailer, then helped build nearly 5,000 schools for Black children across the segregated South.
Jonas SalkVirologist who developed the first successful polio vaccine; refused to patent it, calling the breakthrough a gift to the world.
Michael BloombergFired from Wall Street in 1981, he built the Bloomberg Terminal and a global news empire, then served three terms as New York’s mayor and became one of the world’s largest philanthropists.
Albert SabinBiałystok-born virologist whose cheap, oral polio vaccine, given on a sugar cube and never patented, became the backbone of the global drive to eradicate polio.
Selman WaksmanDiscovered streptomycin, the first effective antibiotic for tuberculosis. Coined the word "antibiotic." Nobel laureate, 1952.
Stories to read
- The Loan That Asks Nothing Back but the Loan: Jewish Free Lending
- The Rosenwald Schools: how a partnership built nearly 5,000 schools
- Could you patent the sun? The vaccine pioneers who gave children a future
Living it today
- Set aside a small, regular amount for a cause you trust.
- Give in a way that preserves the other person’s dignity.
- Help someone find work or learn a skill: the highest gift of all.
This value is one thread of tikkun olam, the repair of the world, and it belongs to anyone who wants to take part.