DEUT746 Obligatory Giving: Tzedakah. … tzedakah, a Hebrew word often translated inaccurately as "charity." The root of the word actually comes from a source meaning "righteousness," "justice," or "fairness." That gives a very different slant on obligatory generosity as the Jewish tradition sees it. Giving tzedakah is one of the traditional obligations of a Jewish life. It has the weight of a commandment directly from the Torah, where the instruction is unambiguously stated in four verses, including [this and preceding verse]. That primary handbook to Jewish observance, the Shulchan Aruch, states that everyone is required to give tzedakah appropriate to his or her capacity. A person cannot be considered pious--a tzaddik, from the same etymological root as tzedakah -- unless he or she gives to others, especially the needy. To give less than ten percent is considered miserly. The law cautions against giving beyond one's means, however, and so it also sets an upper limit of one-fifth of one's income, because it will be of no benefit for a person to become impoverished because of excessive giving.

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DEUT941 See [[DEUT370]] Deuteronomy 8:6 ways MORINIS 56-57 and [[DEUT435]] 289-90

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DEUT1093 "Do not go a single day without doing something for someone else, whether directly or by money or by speech." (motto from Rabbi Simcha Zissel's (student of Rabbi Israel Salanter) yeshivah). That this idea and guidance is a central principle of Jewish living is revealed in a fundamental difference between civil and Jewish law. Under common law a person who merely sees the lost property of another person is under no obligation to take possession of the object and to arrange its return. Jewish law, by contrast, says that one who sees lost property is fully obligated to involve himself in that property and to assist in its return. Three verses in the Torah [this and two subsequent verses] provide the basis for this obligation ... (Michael J. Broyde and Michael Hecht, "The Return of Lost Property According to Jewish and Common Law: A Comparison," in Jewish Law Articles, www.jlaw.com). Jewish law is based on an encompassing worldview that, in this case, reveals the responsibility we have to others. … Caring for the other is essential to our own spiritual lives. As the sage Hillel says in Pirkei Avot: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?" He questions: "If I am only for myself, what am I?" The answer is that I am ego, nothing more. Mussar sees connecting oneself to others as a great antidote to the selfishness that lies at the root of every negative soul-trait. Only by stretching to bear the burden of the other do I extend my being beyond ego and come to live in the realm of soul that is my potential and my highest destiny.

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DEUT1491 See [[DEUT370]] Deuteronomy 8:6 ways MORINIS 56-57 and 289-90

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DEUT1534 See [[DEUT647]] Deuteronomy 13:18 compassion MORINIS 82-3

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DEUT1587 See [[DEUT436]] Deuteronomy 10:16 cut MORINIS 3-4 and [[DEUT465]] MORINIS 289-90

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DEUT1623 Overindulgence drives us from the way of moderation. We also lose our way when we defy the natural level of desire that is healthy. In our affluent society, overindulgence is the more common pattern today. The Jewish tradition is clear not only accepting the reality of our desires but also in seeing that, at their root, desires are a force for good. Those inner urges that compel us to eat and to sleep, to procreate and to grow, motivate us to participate in the processes of life, and as the Torah says, we are to "choose life" [this verse]. But like all sources of physical energy--fire, nuclear power, electricity--our desires need to be handled properly or the result is almost certain to be disaster. Desires arise like sparks, grow to become surging currents and, if not channeled or guided, can end up jolting our lives toward outcomes we would never choose. Desires can be like the charge that passes safely along the well-ordered and insulated wires that the licensed electrician installs in our home, or they can run more like the lightning bolts the flash cross the night sky, wildly following their own course without predictable pattern, striking destructively wherever they will. We gain the benefits of a life of moderation only when we govern our desires instead of being governed by them.

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DEUT1732 See Leviticus 25:55 servants MORINIS 89

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