Tzedakah

Tzedakah (Hebrew צדקה) is the Jewish obligation to give charity and to provide economic support to people in need. The word comes from the Hebrew root for justice or righteousness, and Jewish tradition treats such giving as a matter of what is owed to the poor rather than a purely voluntary act of kindness. The rules governing it are set out in halacha, Jewish law, and cover who must give, how much, to whom and in what manner.

Tzedakah sits alongside other Jewish economic institutions such as the interest-free loan, the communal fund and the agricultural cycle of shmita, which together form a framework for mutual support within the community.

The obligation is grounded in the Hebrew Bible, which requires farmers to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of the harvest for the poor, sets aside tithes for those without land, and commands that a needy fellow be supported. Later rabbinic literature, especially the Talmud, turned these commands into a detailed system administered by communities. Many medieval Jewish communities ran a kuppah, a weekly charity fund for local residents, and a tamchui, a daily soup kitchen open to travelers.

The emphasis on justice distinguishes tzedakah from the modern idea of charity as discretionary benevolence. In the traditional view, wealth is held partly in trust, and the poor have a legitimate claim on a portion of it.

Jewish law sets guidelines rather than a single fixed rate. The widely cited custom of ma'aser kesafim is to give about one-tenth of net income, by analogy with biblical tithes, and classical sources generally discourage giving more than one-fifth so that donors do not impoverish themselves. Even a person who is supported by tzedakah is expected, according to the codes, to give something. Rabbinic authorities, including a community's posek, rule on questions such as whether a gift counts, how income is calculated and which causes take priority.

The twelfth-century scholar Maimonides, in his legal code the Mishneh Torah, ranked forms of giving into eight levels. The lowest is giving grudgingly. Higher levels involve giving cheerfully, giving before being asked, and giving so that neither donor nor recipient knows the other's identity. The highest level is helping a person become self-sufficient, for example by making a loan, entering into a partnership, or finding them work, so that they no longer need charity at all.

That ranking has had a lasting influence on Jewish communal finance. The gemach, a free-loan fund that lends money or goods without interest, is a direct expression of it, as are modern Jewish free-loan societies that provide small-business and student loans. The ban on charging interest to a fellow Jew, known as ribbit, reinforces the same idea that lending to someone in need is a form of support rather than a profit opportunity.

Classical sources set an order of priority: the poor of one's own household and family come first, then those of one's own town, then those elsewhere. Supporting the poor takes precedence over many other good causes. Communities historically appointed collectors and distributors, and disputes over funds could be brought before a beit din, a rabbinical court.

Today tzedakah is channeled through synagogues, community federations, family foundations and specialized organizations. Many observant donors calculate their ma'aser annually, in a way that resembles the calculation of zakat in Islam.

Tzedakah has close parallels in Islamic finance. Zakat is an obligatory annual levy on wealth above a threshold, while sadaqah covers voluntary charity, and the qard hasan, or benevolent loan, plays a role similar to the gemach. Islamic law also has the waqf, a permanent endowment, comparable to Jewish communal endowment funds. Both traditions treat support for the needy as an obligation tied to justice and both favor forms of help that restore independence.

Because of its emphasis on loans and self-sufficiency, tzedakah is often cited in discussions of faith-based financial inclusion. Interest-free community lending, small grants to start businesses and support for people excluded from mainstream credit all reflect the tradition's preference for help that allows the recipient to stand on their own. Classical law also set its own test of who may receive support, such as the Mishnah's threshold of 200 zuz, long before modern benchmarks of need like the World Bank's international poverty line.