[Avodah] Tzedaka & middot Q

[Elazar M. Teitz]

RToby Katz writes:

<Tzedakah is the /opposite/ of socialism.  Tzedakah means it is your  money 
and you voluntarily give it to beneficiaries whom you consider  worthy.   In 
the case of terumos uma'asros, you have the halachic  right to decide which 
kohen and levi you will give to and the kohen can't come  to your house and 
take his donations by force -- even though you do have a  general 
obligation to give and he does have a general right to receive.   The kohen therefore 
has an incentive to make himself agreeable and useful to his  fellow 
citizens -- rather than coming at them with "attitude" and "es kumt  
mir.">

     T'rumos and ma'asros are _not_ tzedaka.  They are the price a grower pays for having land on which to grow.  And while the Torah gave him the right to choose which kohein or leivi should get it, it is not his -- it is mamon hasheivet. Collectively, "es kumt zei yuh."  There were also the various mat'nos aniyim (leket, shichcha, peiah, peret, ol'los), where the poor came into the field and took, even if they came with "attitude" and "es kumt mir."


     As for actual tzedaka, in Talmudic times it was not "your  money and you voluntarily give it to beneficiaries whom you consider  worthy."  It was collected by gabbaim from each city resident according to his means, and distributed by gabbaim to each poor person according to his needs.   Of course, many gave to individuals over and above their assessment, but the basic system was far from the opposite of socialism. 

EMT
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