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.