For many people, philanthropy is something that other people engage in – people such as billionaires. It makes sense, of course, since hardly anyone else can be expected to have the funds necessary to endow schools and hospitals.
Yet in the Jewish tradition, no matter the branch or denomination, there is the idea of tzedakah, which comes from the Hebrew for “justice,” and this is an obligation for all, even the poor. For to make charitable donations is prescribed as a religious duty and not one subject to personal fancy. Indeed, the very funds available for tzedakah are considered not one’s own but on loan, in fact, from on on high. This leads to the further injunction to carefully vet all recipients to ensure that any donations made will actually work for good and not ill.
At first glance, it may sound surprising to an outsider, as with many aspects of Judaism. However – as with many aspects of Judaism, even for an outsider – there is an underlying logic that is at once compelling and beautiful. For in commanding even the poor to give, the rabbinical injunction to perform acts of tzedakah in effect empowers the poor to regard themselves as capable, too.
After all, the very act of giving is empowering in itself? To give means to express our power, our ability to give, and it even betters our natures – our love, our sacrifice, our character. It is not that poverty ennobles, but to bear poverty in righteousness: that is noble. As a result, in the Jewish tradition it isn’t necessary to be a successful businessman like Isaac Toussie in order to give alms. In Judaism, making charitable contributions is not only a religious responsibility, but a right.
The real tragedy of being poor lies in not being able to help not just oneself but others as well. It is the genius of Jewish culture that even with its traditional concerns for social justice and the poor that it should recognize that even the poor can contribute!
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