Fairness and Judaism
A concern with justice, with fairness, resides at the center of Judaism, from the very moment when Abraham questioned G-d over the morality of destroying a whole city for its wickedness lest there should prove to be even just ten righteous men or women residing there. This passion for balanced dealings is what lead Talmudic scholars to sanction Jewish farmers from yoking oxen with horses for ploughing the field, for being stronger it is evident that an ox would always have to do most of the work. It is a similar sense of responsibility that informs Jewish notions of the tzedakah, or religiously prescribed donations to charity.
In fact, the Hebrew word “tzedakah” literally means “justice,” “righteousness,” but now refers to the cultural practice – in truth, the cultural institution – of setting aside money out of religious duty. Performing tzedakah is considered a religious responsibility, such that tradition holds the act to be one of only three which could possibly mitigate a divine decree. Thus it is that even criminals will donate to charity in the hopes of actually annulling any heavenly judgment!
Such hopes and fears aside, at the heart of tzedakah is a spirit of social responsibility and social justice. Judaism teaches that all men are brothers – then asks, why does my brother not fare as well as me? From this simple yet not-easy-to-answer question comes the rabbis’ injunction to look after others as a matter of course. And so performing tzedakah is so common in the Jewish community that two kinds of tzedakah have developed: the classic religiously motivated type and one done to underline special events including bar mitzvahs and high holy days including Pesach. This latter class returns a sense of individual choice to the act of giving, while the former continues to be an essential feature of the Jewish religion – so crucial, for that matter, that even the poor themselves are commanded to donate, as they are able, so that one need not be a Robert Toussie in order to help out.