Class 7 - Tzedakah

We lend power to the holiness of this day. For it is tremendous and awe filled, and on it your kingship will be exalted, your throne will be established in loving-kindness, and you will sit on that throne in truth.
It is true that you are the one who judges, and reproves, who knows all, and bears witness, who inscribes, and seals, who reckons and enumerates. You remember all that is forgotten. You open the book of records, and from it, all shall be read. In it lies each person's insignia.
And with a great shofar it is sounded, and a thin silent voice shall be heard. And the angels shall be alarmed, and dread and fear shall seize them as they proclaim: behold! the Day of Judgment on which the hosts of heaven shall be judged, for they too shall not be judged blameless by you, and all creatures shall parade before you as a herd of sheep. As a shepherd herds his flock, directing his sheep to pass under his staff, so you shall pass, count, and record the souls of all living, and decree a limit to each persons days, and inscribe their final judgment.
On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed - how many shall pass away and how many shall be born, who shall live and who shall die, who in good time, and who by an untimely death, who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by earthquake and who by plague, who by strangulation and who by lapidation, who shall have rest and who wander, who shall be at peace and who pursued, who shall be serene and who tormented, who shall become impoverished and who wealthy, who shall be debased, and who exalted. But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severity of the decree.
For your praise is just as your name. You are slow to anger and quick to be appeased. For you do not desire the death of the condemned, rather, that they turn from their path and live and you wait for them until the day of their death, and if they repent, you receive them immediately. (It is true -) [For] you are their Creator and You understand their inclination, for they are but flesh and blood.
(We come from dust, and return to dust. We labour by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, and like a withered flower; like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream. But You are the king who lives eternal.

when My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray, and seek My favor and turn from their evil ways, I will hear in My heavenly abode and forgive their sins and heal their land.

Rebbi Eleazar said, three things annul the harsh decree. They are: prayer, charity and repentance. All three are from one verse: My people, over whom My Name is called, will submit and pray, this is prayer, and desire my presence, this is charity as you are saying, by charity I shall see Your presence. They will repent their evil ways, this is repentance. When they act in this way, what is written there? Then I shall hear in Heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.

And Rabbi Isaac said [further]: Four things cancel the decree against a person, and they are: charity, crying out [in prayer], changing one's name, and changing one's conduct. Charity (tzedaka), as it is written, "and righteousness (tzedaka) saves from death," (Proverbs 10:2). Crying out, as it is written, "they cried out to the LORD in their suffering, and God took them from their distress," (Psalms 107:28). Change of name, as it is written, "as for your wife Sarai, do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name" and continues, "I will bless her and further I will give you a son from her" (Genesis 17:15-16). Change of conduct, as it is written, "And God saw their conduct [as they turned from their evil ways]," and continues, "and God renounced the punishment that had been pronounced upon them and did not carry it out" (Jonah 3:10).

Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: There are three matters that abrogate evil decrees, and they are: Prayer, charity, and repentance. All three are in one verse; this is what is written: “My people, upon whom My name is called, will submit, and pray, and seek My countenance, and repent their evil ways; I will hear from the heavens, and forgive their sin and heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:14). “And pray” – this is prayer; “and seek my countenance” – this is charity, as you say: “I will behold your countenance in righteousness” (Psalms 17:15); “and repent their evil ways” – this is repentance. Then, “I will hear from the heavens…” Rabbi Mona said: Fasting as well, as it is stated: “The Lord will answer you on your day of trouble” (Psalms 20:2).

A similar tale is told of R. Isaac. One day he was walking along the highway when a poor man passed him, having in his hand half a mea (small coin) in silver. He said to R. Isaac: ‘Save, I pray thee, my life and the life of my sons and daughters.’ Said R. Isaac: ‘How can I do this, seeing that I possess no more than half a mea?’ ‘Nevertheless,’ the poor man replied, ‘two half meas are better than one.’ So R. Isaac took out his coin and gave it to the man.

Later, R. Isaac dreamt that he was walking by the sea in a strange place, and some persons wanted to throw him into it, and then he saw R. Simeon stretching out his hand to him, and the poor man whom he had assisted came up and pulled him out, and brought him safe and sound to R. Simeon. When he awoke, the verse: “Blessed is he who considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” came automatically to his lips.

Later, R. Isaac dreamt that he was walking by the sea in a strange place, and some persons wanted to throw him into it, and then he saw R. Simeon stretching out his hand to him, and the poor man whom he had assisted came up and pulled him out, and brought him safe and sound to R. Simeon. When he awoke, the verse: “Blessed is he who considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” came automatically to his lips.

R. Eleazar thereupon remarked: ‘It is indeed so, but where do we find these foods in our days?’ R. Simeon replied: ‘This is also a good question,and the real answer is this. First, there is the food for the whole of humanity, natural food for ordinary men.

Then there is the food which emanates from the sphere of “righteousness” (zedek), the food of the poor, which is turned into “beneficence” (zedakah), both to him who gives and to him who receives: “righteousness” is turned into “mercy” (hesed), and “a man of mercy does good to his own soul” (Prov. 11, 17).

And if ye strive to establish thus the Holy Name, all those blessings from above shall abide firmly with you. Similarly it is written: “And they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement” (Gen. 18, 19), to signify that he who keeps the ways of the Torah, as it were, “makes” justice and judgement. And who are these? The Holy One, blessed be He.’ R. Simeon here wept and exclaimed: ‘Alas for mankind that they know not and heed not the honour of their Master! Who is it that “makes” the Holy Name every day? You must say, he that gives charity to-the poor.

As we know, the poor man takes hold of judgement and all his food is judgement, the place that is called Zedek (righteousness). Hence he that gives charity (zedakah) to the poor makes the Holy Name complete as it should be above, since zedakah is the tree of life, and when it gives to Zedek the Holy Name becomes complete. Hence he who sets this activity in motion from below, as it were, fully makes the Holy Name.

It has been stated elsewhere which is the place of the poor man. Why is it so? Because the poor man has not anything of his own, save what is given him, and the moon has no light save what is given her by the sun.

Why is a poor man counted as dead? Because he is found in the place of death. Therefore, if one has pity on him and gives him charity, the tree of life rests upon him, as it says, “Zedakah (charity) delivereth from death” (Prov. 10, 2).

This applies only to charity done for its own sake, for then the doer links together zedakah with zedek so that the whole forms the Holy Name, since zedek is not established without zedakah.’

And Rabbi Yitzḥak said: A person’s sentence is torn up on account of four types of actions. These are: Giving charity, crying out in prayer, a change of one’s name, and a change of one’s deeds for the better. An allusion may be found in Scripture for all of them: Giving charity, as it is written: “And charity delivers from death” (Proverbs 10:2); crying out in prayer, as it is written: “Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses” (Psalms 107:28); a change of one’s name, as it is written: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be” (Genesis 17:15), and it is written there: “And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her” (Genesis 17:16); a change of one’s deeds for the better, as it is written: “And God saw their deeds” (Jonah 3:10), and it is written there: “And God repented of the evil, which He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).