Tzedakah
Is Medical Research Tzedakah?
Medical research doesn't obviously fall into the category of tzedakah, and it doesn't obviously fall outside of this category either. When thinking about putting tzedakah money into medical research, we can ask ourselves: Will this research mostly or largely benefit the poor?
Read moreBasics
Tzedakah 101
Brush up on the basics of tzedakah.
Giving and Doing
Charity is directed to the poor; benevolence is the expression of goodwill to all.
Tzedakah in Jewish Tradition
How one gives may be as important as how much one gives.
Modern Tzedakah
A group of Jewish women from Seattle began Hebrew free loan societies.
Teaching Tzedakah
Using your common cents.
History
History of Tzedakah
The development and history of charitable giving in Judaism.
Tzedakah in the Bible
Exhortations to assist the poor plus laws that gave poor people a claim to a share of society’s wealth.
Traditional Priorities
Helping others, emulating God.
Maimonides' Ladder
The best forms of charity make the recipient self-sufficient.
Tzedakah Collectives
Making decisions about tzedakah in the context of a group.
Guidance for Giving
Investigating Recipients
How much to ask about a person who solicits us for tzedakah--or whether to give to all who request our help.
Requirements
It is necessary to set priorities for allocating funds for tzedakah.
Medical Research
Does giving money for research count as charity?
Charity Before Breakfast
One spiritual leader's approach to the relationship between giving and taking.
Preventing Dependency
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Social Action
Seeking Out the Poor
The lives of Abraham and Job provide us with two models for confronting poverty.
The Corners of Our Fields
Rabbinic commentators interpreted this law in light of their own concerns about the poor.
The Gemach
A Jewish institution that takes the shame out of sharing.
Providing Housing
Jewish law demands that everyone have adequate and permanent housing.
Helpful Organizations
Resources for alleviating poverty.