Charity Box

Not exactly a piggy bank, and not so popular these days with digital philanthropy, but the Jewish charity box, used in homes and sacred centers to collect change for communal needs, is one of the oldest and most practical sacred objects that gets us to walk our talk of love. What is the sound of generosity and justice? Find out about the history of this tradition of handheld kindness, learn how to make your own box, even online, and activate generosity, one coin at a time.

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Pushke/Etymology:

The word is derived from the Polish word for can, “Puszka.” Thus, a pushke is simply “a little can or container kept in the home, often in the kitchen, in which money to be donated to a charity is accumulated.”

Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish

פּוּשְׁכָּא, פְּשַׁךְ, פֻּשְׁכָּא m. Aramaic (פשך, cmp. פשח to split, part) [to spread fingers,] hand-breadth, palm

Jastrow Dictionary, פּוּשְׁכָּא

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The market creates wealth: that is its virtue. But it does not necessarily distribute it in such a way as to alleviate poverty, granting everyone the means of a dignified life. That is its weakness. So there are two possibilities: either abandon the market, or mitigate its negative effects. The first has been tried, and failed. The second can be done in two ways: through the government by taxation or welfare, or through individuals. Governments can do much, but not everything. Tzedakah is Judaism’s way of saying that each of us has a part to play. Every one of us must give.

Tzedakah means both justice and charity, because we believe that they go hand in hand. Justice is impersonal, charity is personal. Giving to others is one of the most beautiful things we can do, and one of the most creative. We create possibilities for other people. We soften some of the rough edges of the world. We help alleviate poverty and pain. Nothing more marks Judaism as a religion of love than its emphasis on tzedakah. We do not accept poverty, hunger, homelessness or disease as God’s will. To the contrary, God’s will is that we heal these fractures in His world. As God feeds the hungry, so must we. As God heals the sick, so must we. We become good by doing good. We walk in God’s ways by acting out of love.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Tzedakah: Love as Justice

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During most of their history, charity boxes were bulky affairs permanently affixed in the synagogue. Many synagogues would have a charity box with separate sections (and chinks in which to place the money) for all communal organizations. Besides upkeep of the synagogue, every Jewish community would have its special groups to collect and disburse funds for hospitality, endowering poor brides, helping the sick, aiding the poor, upkeep of Torah students, interest-free loans and other worthy causes.

Besides giving donations directly to beggars who stretch out their hand (the Torah forbids us to send them away empty-handed), everyone, even the poorest, would regularly place coins in these boxes. Times especially appropriate for this were before prayer (mentioned in the Talmud), at the end of prayer, before doing various commandments, and before the start of Shabbat and Holidays — particularly women before lighting Shabbat and Holiday candles.

Around the end of the 18th century, the custom became prevalent to keep small charity boxes in every home. At that time, a large group of Chassidim had gone to live in the land of Israel, spending their time in Torah-study and prayer in the exalted sanctity of the Holy Land. The Chassidim remaining behind undertook to support them, each family would regularly donate its allotted sum. Outstandingly active in this cause was the renowned Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad, who arranged regular collection of the funds through a nation-wide system that was a model of methodical organization.

His son, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch (1773-1827), second leader of Chabad, in a remarkable letter mentions this custom of family charity boxes, calling for its widespread observance. “The most appropriate place”, he writes, “for this pushkah is on the wall close to the table, so that everyone can place a coin or two there before sitting down to eat morning and evening. With our Temple now destroyed and no altar to help atone for our misdeeds”, he explained, “our table is in place of the altar and can equally help atone, when we give charity before every meal”. He adds that this custom of affixing a charity box in a prominent place in the home is most appropriate to the general concept of charity, which should be practiced constantly.

Soon there was no Jewish home in Eastern Europe without its charity box. Many would use their box to collect for a favorite charity. Charities would usually would be local — our first obligation in Jewish law — but extended to other less fortunate communities, too.

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It was during the early 1970’s, when there were several shocking terrorist attacks on Israeli men, women and especially children. The Chabad leader, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, deeply concerned for the physical and spiritual safety and wellbeing of every Jew everywhere, called upon Jews throughout the world to intensify observance of several precepts that our Sages tell us have the power to protect physically.

One of the precepts the Rebbe called for all to intensify was tzedakah, giving charity. The rabbis of the Talmud tell us that the merit of giving charity to the unfortunate has the power to protect us from harm and prolong our life. The merit of the good deed casts its mantle of protection not only over the giver but over all.

At that time, the Rebbe explained that charity can be compared in this respect to a helmet. Although a helmet does not guarantee its wearer total freedom from risk, it does greatly increase his chances of protection, saving his life in most cases.

As part of this "Tzedakah Campaign," the Rebbe suggested distributing charity boxes bearing the name of no specific charity, in order to encourage Jews to simply give charity — to whichever worthy cause they choose.

[...]

In America, the Lubavitcher Rebbe mentioned the importance of having a charity box (in addition to Jewish holy books) in every home, office, shop and store, at banks, hospitals, army-bases and other public institutions, and also in every car and bus (where safety is especially urgent), particularly school-buses. And he emphasized that we should make sure to actually use these charity boxes regularly, preferably daily.

'A History of the Charity Box', Chabad.org

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Put simply, the domestic charity box revolutionized both the exercise of and the context for tsedakah, particularly in the New World. In the Old*, tsedakah boxes were far more of a communal venture than a private one, more of a synagogal phenomenon than a domestic institution. Maintained by the organized Jewish community or *kehillah, they were stationed typically in the Jewish equivalent of the public square: outside the sanctuary or at the entrance to the cemetery.

The domestic charity box stood all that on its head. For one thing, it expanded the range of opportunities for, as well as the meaning of, charitable giving. One no longer needed to attend synagogue, let alone a funeral, to give. All anyone had to do was to sit down at the kitchen table where the pushke was within easy reach and deposit a coin here and a coin there. More dramatically still, with the introduction of the JNF box in 1904, tsedakah was increasingly bound up with the national project of regeneration rather than with alms for the poor or the institutional needs of the local community. A “mighty instrument for good,” the modest blue and white JNF box transformed the giving of charity from an exercise in amelioration and remediation into a bold assertion of possibility — into an “eloquent symbol of our people’s faith in, and hope for, a better fortune in a peaceful world.”

For another thing, the homebound charity box enlarged the pool of givers, making room for women and children to fulfill this most fundamental of ritual commandments or mitzvot on a regular basis. A male prerogative no more, it became an agent of democracy, enabling women and children to lay claim to, and proudly bear that mantle of responsibility as well.

Jenna Weissman Joselit, When Pushke Came To Shove, The Forward

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Throughout the High Holy Days, both on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there is a prayer which concludes, "Teshuva -Repentance, Tefilah- prayer and tzedakah may avert the evil decree.” So important is tzedakah that the Talmud tells us that tzedakah is the equal of all of the commandments of the Torah combined.

I haven't translated tzedakah because there are some ideas that cannot be translated into another language. Every culture has its unique language. "Omnis traductor traditor" -- everything translated is treasonous.”

Shabbat is not Saturday. Saturday is borrowed from the Latin "saturnus,” the planet Saturn, from which we get the word "saturnine," which means a gloomy or surly disposition. Shabbat is not Saturday.

And tzedakah is not charity, which comes from the Latin "caritas"— referring to love "— and neither is "schnorrer" a beggar. A beggar begs, entreats, beseeches, solicits, implores. A schnorrer is not a beggar. Chayim, for example, in the well known story, is a schnorrer. He goes to Professor Levin, a prominent eye doctor, and at the end of the visit Professor Levin tells him that the visit will cost him $200. Chayim says, "I can't pay that." "Fine,” says the professor, "I will reduce the fee to $100." Chayim says "I can't afford that." "Okay, what can you afford?" says the professor. Chayim says "I can afford nothing." The professor is indignant "If you can afford nothing, how dare you come to me a specialist, an expert!" Chayim responds, "Dear Dr. Levin, for my health nothing is too expensive."

A schnorrer is not a beggar, and to understand the proper usage of the term one has to turn back to Jewish theology, Jewish philosophy, Jewish legal and moral systems.

In Judaism, the poor have a claim on all of us. How we treat the poor, the disenfranchised, the wounded, the pariahs, the outcasts, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, is an existential test of our belief in Judaism and in God.

There is a widespread ancient idea that the poor are poor because the gods will it so. If you are poor, there must be something wrong with you. But the Bible, the prophet, the Talmud , the Midrash, Jewish law, would have none of that. Poverty is not a sin, nor is it a sign of sin. In fact, the Torah raises the poor man as God's favorite person.

Tzedakah is a commandment, it is a duty, an obligation, a sacred imperative. Tzedakah is not translatable as charity, a matter of feeling, a matter of personal disposition. The culture of tzedakah is rooted in the Bible and in encoded in the laws which every Jew knows about. For every Jew could read the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, the abridged code of laws written by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried. Section 34 reads clearly, "It is an affirmative commandment to give tzedakah to the poor. As it is written in the book of Deuteronomy, 'If there be a needy person among you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand. Patoach tiftach -- you shall "open, open" your hand. Naton, titayn -- you shall "give, give" and your heart shall not be grieved.'" Why the repetition “open, open” ? Because you must open your hand even a hundred times. You cannot say "I already gave to this man yesterday. For this hungry man is not only hungry yesterday, he is hungry today and tomorrow as well."

"Give give" means you must give with at least two motivations. The first time you give it is because it is a matter of law, a matter of obligation. The second time you give is a matter of heart and feeling.

"And," says the Codes, "you must give right away. If someone should ask for food you do not investigate his integrity. You give him quickly without questioning or hesitation."

There are a hundred blessings to be recited a day over food, over drink, over rainbows, over oceans. But interestingly there is no blessing over tzedakah. Tzedakah is not to be interrupted or delayed even with a blessing. Tzedakah is the blessing, it is intrinsic.

Who is to give? Everybody. The believer and the unbeliever, the rich and the poor. As it says in the Shulchan Aruch 34:2 – "Every person is obligated to give tzedakah according to his means, even the poor man who himself is supported by public tzedakah must himself give tzedakah. Let him give of what he receives and even if he can give davar muat, a small thing, he should not hold back. For his little is considered as important as tzedakah from a wealthy man."

It is clear from such laws that tzedakah is not only for the sake of the recipient, but also for the sake of the donor. For what is important as is that a tradition learn to cultivate in its people moral sensibility. A moral conscience is developed by the training of the hand, by habit, by the exercise of one's opening the hand that may even precede the opening of the heart.

Tzedakah is rooted in a basic Jewish principle. We are responsible for each other. We are obligated to share our physical possessions with those who are in need. It is not an accident that political surveys and political commentaries indicate that most Jews overwhelmingly support governmental programs promoting social welfare. This is not a matter of politics, liberal or conservative. It is simply a matter of basic principle. Judaism does not countenance that form of libertarianism which says to those who are in need, "You are on your own. You pull yourself out of the quagmire by your own will. Don't lean on me."

..For our people Judaism has many purposes. One of the most important is to develop in us and in our children a Jewish sensibility, a character, a collective conscience. In Judaism the essential character is a compassionate heart and an open hand and a caring soul.

..Before you light the candles of the Shabbat, before you light the candles before the festivals, before you light the candles before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, write a check for our Food Bank, or for Mazon or for any philanthropy that helps those in need. And encourage the young in our households to drop some coins in the pushke. Tzedakah helps us open our lips, our hands and our hearts. Tzedakah is indispensable for Tshuvah and Tefillah. Upon these three the world is established. Upon this triad we stand.

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Tzedakah: The Gift of the Soul

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