The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm was an atheist who had been brought up in an Orthodox Jewish home, and it is traditional Judaism that has informed his secular humanistic values throughout life. One such factor concerns the psychology of poverty, that what makes being poor so ruinous isn’t simply not being able to afford the luxuries of life or even the basic necessities, bad as that is; being poor is mainly bad because one cannot even help others.
Being poor almost means that one can, by definition, only take, not give. Yet giving is a great joy in itself; in giving we share of ourselves, of our own happiness, of our own power. One who is not able to give – a poor person, for example – is deprived of a fundamental human faculty or power, akin to not being able to laugh or sing or dance. Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.
And so it is that Judaism, whether of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, or Ultra-Orthodox variety , recognizes a religious responsibility towards charitable giving. Even secular Jews, people not religiously observant but who are otherwise immersed in the rich spiritual aspirations of the wider Jewish way, are likely to be concerned with social justice to some measure. And for that reason it is no coincidence that the Hebrew word for this kind of religiously motivated charitable giving, “tzedakah,” literally translates as “fairness” or “justice” – “righteousness.” Part of what the rabbis believe God to conceive of as being righteous is to be fair, to be just – to one’s fellow man.
Also, since an act of tzedakah is a moral duty, and not solely philanthropy of the sort in which one indulges as one is moved (moreover, the rabbis teach that even the money for tzedakah is not to be considered one’s own – and therefore should be diligently disbursed, wisely doled with recipients scrupulously vetted) – even the poor are commanded to participate.
And here is the most amazing thing of all: even the poor can give – even they are called to give, to take part, the same as even the most prominent members of the community do. One need not be a Robert Toussie to give; one only has to give as one is able to give. An act of tzedakah therefore restores to the poor person an important aspect of his or her humanity – the ability to share.
