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Weekly Parsha
A Tzedakah perspective on each week’s Torah portion — practical insights that connect learning to giving.
15 parshot
The Eight Levels of Tzedakah — Guide to Giving with Compassion
Rambam, also known as Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon), outlined eight distinct levels of giving Tzedakah in his work, the Mishneh Torah (Laws of Charity, 10:7–14). As not all Tzedakah is equal, the levels are ranked in descending order of merit, from the most virtuous act to the least commendable, though still considered an act of giving.
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Tzedakah Stronger Than Death: Rabbi Yehuda on the Power of Giving
We usually think of strength in terms of how durable an object is. The longer it lasts, the “stronger” it must be. But Rabbi Yehuda’s teaching in Bava Batra 10a challenges that assumption, concluding that charity is strongest as it saves from death. Instead of defining strength in purely physical terms, he creates a poetic chain of comparisons—each “strong” item is eventually overcome by something else. Mountains are strong, but iron cleaves them. Iron is strong, but fire melts it. Fire is strong, but water extinguishes it. Water is strong, but clouds carry it. Let’s analyze the talmudic source.
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The City That Banned Tzedakah: Sodom’s Tragic Legacy
The Torah’s account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Bereishit (Genesis) is among the most powerful narratives of divine justice due to the fact they were the first city that banned charity. In Bereishit 18:20, God informs Abraham: “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.”
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