Dear 7th Grade Families,
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
This week we began exploring the Jewish value of Tzedakah. While the Hebrew root of the word Tzedakah means justice, we often hear it translated as “charity.” So what does it mean – justice or charity? How are these concepts similar to and different from one another? We learned that justice comes from an obligation to makes things right, while charity is a desire to act in a way that helps others. Some Jewish opinions understand justice and charity as inherently different, while other Jewish opinions see them as two sides of the same coin.
One important Jewish thinker, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks,
explains that in English, things can only be either justice or charity. If
I give you 100 dollars, it’s either because I owe it to you (justice), or I
don’t owe it to you (charity). In Judaism, however, Tzedakah is both justice and charity. As Jews, what we
possess we don’t ultimately own since everything we have is really God’s, given
to us in trust. One of the conditions of this trust is that we share it people
that have less than we do. Therefore, in Judaism, charity is justice and
justice takes the form of charity. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks teaches that Tzedakah, in this way, is one word that
has “the power to change the world.”
We look forward to continuing this important exploration
with your children over our next few classes together. Have a wonderful weekend
and Shabbat Shalom!
Rachel Rudman and David Lerner
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