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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
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CHARITY — צדקה
The Hebrew language has two words for charity: tzedaka and gemilut
chesed. Together, they cover the whole gamut of loving your neighbor.
Tzedaka describes the type of giving that God requires for righting
social injustice (justice in Hebrew is tzedek). “If there is a poor man
with you, one of your brothers…you shall not harden your heart, nor close your
hand” (Deuteronomy 15:7). In other words, it is our God-given duty to help the
poor.
Gemilut chesed, on the other hand, is the higher form of tzedaka. It
is an act of benevolence or merciful kindness performed completely
spontaneously. It is not a matter of simply giving something to the poor; rather
it means to share very personally in the other person’s sufferings, to put
yourself in the desperate position of the person in need.
Loving your neighbor this way is described as the beginning and the end of the
Torah; it is the epitome of brotherly love God instructs us to practice
(Leviticus 19:18). Yeshua (Jesus) taught this to His disciples but told the
Pharisees they should ‘learn what charity is.’
The same idea is found in the Talmud: “Charity outweighs all other religious
precepts [mitzvot]” (Bava Batra), and, in the same book, “Whoever gives
charity in secret is greater than Moses.” The Jewish sage Simeon the Just
even said, “Because of charity the world abides” (Pirkei Avot—the Sayings
of the Fathers). Proverbs 10:2 says that “righteousness [tzedaka] delivers
from death.”
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