[Avodah] Tzedaka & middot Q

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 12:34:34AM -0400, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: Tzedakah is the /opposite/ of socialism.  Tzedakah means it is your  money 
: and you voluntarily give it to beneficiaries whom you consider  worthy...

Then why isn't it called "chesed mamonos" os the like? The word translates
to justice, not generosity, compassion, or anything else that extends
beyond the limits of duty?

: Socialism is the opposite -- it's not your money, the government takes it 
: away from you and decides who to give your money to, whether you think  
: those recipients deserve it or not...

But what about the notion, as I quoted from RSShkop, that even once
"earned", your success is from heaven and thus the money is not yours,
it's G-d's. RSS uses this idea to say that therefore HQBH wants you to
distribute that money according to need. He doesn't mention merit.

It is also tzedaqah to give someone who was once wealthier than you dai
machsero -- including helping him obtain things you personally wouldn't
budget for yourself!

If you focus entirely on who makes the disbursment decision, rather than
worth/deservingness vs need, perhaps I could see your point. But then,
that's not focusing on Socialism, it's focusing on the Totalitarian
Fascism that allegedly socialist countries had to turn themselves into
in order to bully the money out of people.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Good decisions come from experience;
micha at aishdas.org        Experience comes from bad decisions.
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