R

ead these stories. Behind 
them lies an extraordinary 
insight into the nature of 
Jewish ethics:
Story 1. Rabbi Abba used to bind 
money in his scarf, sling it on his 
back and place it at 
the disposal of the 
poor. (Ketubot 67b)
Story 2. Mar Ukba 
had a poor man in his 
neighborhood into 
whose door socket 
he used to throw 
four coins every day. 
Once the poor man thought, “I 
will go and see who does me this 
kindness.” That day Mar Ukba 
stayed late at the house of study, 
and his wife was coming home with 
him. As soon as the poor man saw 
them moving the door [to leave 
the coins] he ran out after them, 
but they fled from him and hid. 
Why did they do this? Because 
it was taught: One should throw 
himself into a fiery furnace rather 
than publicly put his neighbor to 
shame. (Ketubot 67b)
Story 3. When Rabbi Jonah saw 
a man of good family who had 
lost his money and was ashamed 
to accept charity, he would go and 
say to him, “I have heard that an 
inheritance has come your way in 
a city across the sea. So here is an 
article of some value. Sell it and 
use the proceeds. When you are 
more affluent, you will repay me.” 
As soon as the man took it, Rabbi 
Jonah would say, “It’s yours to keep 
as a gift.” (Vayikra Rabbah 34:1)
These stories are all deeply 
connected to the mitzvah 
of tzedakah, whose source is in this 
week’s parshah: “If anyone is poor 
among your fellow Israelites in any 
of the towns of the land the Lord 
your God is giving you, do not be 
hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward 
them. Rather, be openhanded and 
freely lend them whatever they 
need.” Deut. 15:7-8
“Give generously to them and do 

so without a grudging heart; then 
because of this the Lord your God 
will bless you in all your work and 
in everything you put your hand to. 
There will always be poor people 
in the land. Therefore, I command 
you to be openhanded toward your 
fellow Israelites who are poor and 
needy in your land.” Deut. 15:10-11
What we have here is a unique 
and still remarkable program for 

the elimination of poverty.

MORE THAN CHARITY
The first extraordinary fact about 
the laws of tzedakah as articulated 
in the Oral Tradition is the concept 
itself. Tzedakah does not mean 
“charity.” We see this immediately 
in the form of a law inconceivable 
in any other moral system:
“Someone who does not wish to 

give tzedakah or to give less than 
is appropriate may be compelled 
to do so by a Jewish court of law.” 
Maimonides, Laws of Gifts to the 
Poor, 7:10
Charity is always voluntary. 
Tzedakah is compulsory. 
Therefore, tzedakah does not 
mean charity. The nearest English 
equivalent is social justice.
The second is the principle 
evident in the three stories above. 
Poverty in Judaism is conceived not 
merely in material terms: the poor 
lack the means of sustenance. It 
is also conceived in psychological 
terms. Poverty humiliates. It robs 
people of dignity. It makes them 
dependent on others — thus 
depriving them of independence 
which the Torah sees as essential to 
self-respect.
This deep psychological insight 
is eloquently expressed in the third 
paragraph of the Grace after Meals: 
“Please, O Lord our God, do not 
make us dependent on the gifts or 
loans of other people, but only on 
Your full, open, holy and generous 
hand so that we may suffer neither 
shame nor humiliation forever and 
all time.”
As a result, Jewish law focuses 

not only on how much we must 
give but also on the manner in 
which we do so. Ideally, the donor 
should not know to whom he or 
she is giving (story 1) nor the 
recipient know from whom he or 
she is receiving (story 2). The third 
story exemplifies another principle: 
“If a poor person does not want to 
accept tzedakah, we should practice 
a form of [benign] deception and 
give it to him under the guise of a 
loan.” Laws of Gifts to the Poor, 7:9
Maimonides sums up the general 
principle thus: “Whoever gives 
charity to the poor with bad grace 
and averted eyes has lost all the 
merit of his action even though 
he gives him a thousand gold 
pieces. He should give with good 
grace and with joy and should 

52 | AUGUST 29 • 2024 J
N

Making Poverty

History

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

ALOYS WACH (1892-1940)