Tzedakah: Aspiring to a Higher Ethic

the communal construction project. However, on the reasonable assumption that the other commandments he fulfilled did not exceed those of his compatriots, the inscription likely testifies that the practice of providing special honors for those individuals whose distinctive contributions to society are monetary in nature is an age-old one within the Jewish world.

The question, though, that ought to be of concern— to Jews in particular— is whether this practice, despite the fact that it is embraced across the Jewish spectrum, is just. Is it altogether harmless to Jewish standards of justice and equality to offer wealthy donors extraordinary recognition, including naming rights, plaques, gifts, or access opportunities to events-and personalities, that are unavailable to lesser givers? While such practices have become so common in contemporary Jewish life that they have become the sine qua non of organizational fund-raising, their near-universal employment does not offer assurance that these measures comply with the highest aspirations of Jewish ethics. Nor should the reality that such techniques are extensively utilized by numerous institutions renowned for Jewish learning, or for Jewish religious commitment, be seen as any guarantee that these methods are in full conformity with the traditions that these organizations espouse.

An oft-repeated lesson of fundamental Jewish education is that the Hebrew term“tzedakah” should not be translated as“charity.” Whereas charity denotes a voluntary gift— one given from the heart ~ the mandate to engage in tzedakah, Jews are regularly reminded, is an obligatory commandment. The Hebrew root“tzedek,” the lesson Proceeds, is best rendered as“justice” or“righteousness,” behaviors that are demanded of a Jew. In other words, a Jew who wants to live as part of a community has no choice other than to participate in the Creation of the just society through the utilization of his or her fesources of money and time.! There is a powerful logic behind this requirement: the attainment of wealth— however great or small in Measure— is in part due to the talents and industriousness of the