Editing Alms (section)

=== ''Tzedakah'' ===
{{main|Tzedakah}}
[[File:Jewish cemetery Otwock Karczew Anielin IMGP6721.jpg|thumb|Sandstone vestige of a Jewish gravestone depicting a ''[[tzedakah]]'' box (''pushke'') in a [[Jewish cemetery]] in [[Otwock]] (Karczew-Anielin), Poland.]]
[[File:Tzedoko gelt.JPG|thumb|''Tzedakah'' pouch and ''gelt'' ([[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] for coins/money) on fur-like padding.]]
In [[Judaism]], ''[[tzedakah]]'', a [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] term literally meaning righteousness but commonly used to signify "charity",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Donin |first1=Hayim Halevy, Rabbi |title=To Be A Jew |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |year=1972 |page=48}}</ref> refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just.<ref name="JTauber">[http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1079/jewish/The-Myth-of-Charity.htm Tzedakah vs The Myth of Charity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313154027/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1079/jewish/The-Myth-of-Charity.htm |date=2012-03-13 }}; by [[Yanki Tauber]]; Retrieved 03-11-2012.</ref>{{efn|name=YTauber}} In the Greek [[Septuagint]] ''tzedakah'' was sometimes translated as {{lang|grc|ἐλεημοσύνη}}, "almsgiving".<ref>As per [[Wilhelm Gesenius|Gesenius]] Lexicon; "Deuterony 6:25 καὶ ἐλεημοσύνη ἔσται...", "... derived from the Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (mercifulness), used by Greek-speaking Jews to denote almost exclusively the offering of charity to the needy, from a feeling of both compassion and righteousness (ẓedaḳah). (See [[LXX]]. (note: Septuagint) on Prov. xxi. 21, and Dan. iv. 24.)"</ref><ref name="Alms">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kohler |first=Kaufmann |title=Alms |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1295-alms |encyclopedia=1906 Jewish Encyclopedia |access-date=November 26, 2018}}</ref>

In Judaism, ''tzedakah'' is seen as one of the greatest deeds that a person can do. ''Tzedakah'', along with prayer and repentance, is regarded as ameliorating the consequences of bad acts. Contemporary ''tzedakah'' is regarded as a continuation of the Biblical ''[[Maaser Ani]]'', or poor-tithe, as well as Biblical practices including permitting the poor to glean the corners of a field, harvest during the ''[[Shmita]]'' (sabbatical year), and other practices.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} Jewish farmers are commanded to leave the corners of their fields for the starving to harvest for food and are forbidden to pick up any grain that has been dropped during harvesting, as such food shall be left for the starving as well.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}{{efn|[[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]] 19:9–10 (KJV) "And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God."}}

In the [[Mishneh Torah]], Chapter 10:7–14, [[Maimonides]] lists eight "laws about giving to poor people" (''{{lang|he-Latn|hilkhot matanot aniyim}}''), listed in order from most to least righteous, with the most righteous form being allowing an individual to become self-sustaining and capable of giving others charity:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45907/jewish/Eight-Levels-of-Charity.htm|title=Maimonides' Eight Levels of Charity - Mishneh Torah, Laws of Charity, 10:7–14|website=www.chabad.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807162607/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45907/jewish/Eight-Levels-of-Charity.htm|archive-date=2016-08-07}}</ref>
# Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant.
# Giving when neither party knows the other's identity.
# Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient doesn't know your identity.
# Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity.
# Giving before being asked.
# Giving after being asked.
# Giving less than you should, but giving it cheerfully.
# Giving begrudgingly.