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Tzedakah - צדקה
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Resource Type: Shiur in: English
Age 13 - 16
Group Size 1 - 100
Estimated Time: 30 minutes
שיעור על צדקה.doc
(46 KB)
Goal: The chanichim will understand that there are levels of giving charity. In addition, they will understand that giving charity is meant not only to help the poor man, but to make us into better and giving people. Finally, The chanichim will internalize that according to Judaism although people have private property, essentially all of their money belongs to God. There are many laws that demonstrate this idea, asking each Jew to give of their own to the weak.
שיעור על צדקה
Goal: The chanichim will understand that there are levels of giving charity. In addition, they will understand that giving charity is meant not only to help the poor man, but to make us into better and giving people. Finally, The chanichim will internalize that according to Judaism although people have private property, essentially all of their money belongs to God. There are many laws that demonstrate this idea, asking each Jew to give of their own to the weak.
- Give out the 8 levels of charity according to the Ramba"m and ask the chanichim to act them out, then they have to stand in order- from the most ideal way of giving charity, to the least. (this is the correct order by the Ramba"m)
1. To assist a poor person by lending him money, giving him a gift, providing him with employment, making a partnership, or any similar act, which enables the person to free himself entirely from the need for charity. |
2. To give charity in such a manner that the recipient does not know who the donor is, and the donor does not know who the recipient is. |
3. That the donor knows the recipient, but the recipient does not who the donor is. |
4. That the recipient knows who the donor is, but the donor does not know the recipient. |
5. To give without being asked. |
6. To give after being asked. |
7. To give less than is proper, but with a good attitude. |
8. To give in an unpleasant manner. |
- Discuss the basic ideas brought by these levels- lending is the best, the principle of not embarrassing the poor person. Ask the chanichim if they think charity is only a money issue.
- The Ramba"m recommends giving many small sums of money to charity as opposed to one large sum at once. What do you think about that? Doesn't it make more sense that one person should get enough to get onto his feet? Why does the Ramba"m say this?
- Read the Ramba"m and discuss:
"שאין המדות הטובות נקנין על פי גודל המעשה אלא ברבוי מספר המעשים, והוא שאין המדות הטובות נקנות אלא כשאדם חוזר על המעשים הטובים פעמים רבות ובכך נקנית לאדם תכונה לכך. לא כשיעשה האדם מעשה גדול אחד ממעשי הטוב, כי באותו מעשה לבדו לא תיקנה לו תכונה לכך. המשל בזה אם נתן האדם למי שראוי ליתן, אלף דינרין בפעם אחת לאדם אחד לא תיקנה לו מדת הנדיבות בזה המעשה היחידי הגדול כמו שנקנית למי שנתנדב אלף פעמים באלף דינרין ונתן כל דינר מהן בדרך נדבה, לפי שזה חזר על פעולת הנדיבות אלף פעמים וניקנת לו תכונה חזקה, וזה פעם אחת בלבד נתעוררה הנפש התעוררות גדולה למעשה הטוב ואחר כך חדלה ממנו ... וזהו עניין אמרו לפי רוב המעשה אבל לא על פי המעשה" (פירוש המשניות לרמב"ם אבות ג, יח). " The good character traits are acquired not based on the significance of one deed, but by the number of times the deed is preformed. When a person repeats his good deeds many times they become a part of him, not when a person does one significant good deed once. For example, a person who gives a thousand coins at one time will not acquire generosity by this single act, the way one who gives out those thousand coins one by one will. This is because the latter repeated the deed many times and he acquires the character trait in a strong way, as opposed to the former who only acted this way once, and his heart awakened once and then stopped…" |
- Think of the root of the word- צדקה from the root צדק, justice, righteousness. Why does giving charity have anything to do with justice? On the contrary, giving charity is going one step further, it's beyond justice? Explain that the torah teaches us that the money we own all comes from God, and he has a way of distributing things. The lack of equality was created to teach us how to act.
- Divide the chanichim into 2 groups and each of them needs to come up with as many מצוות that portray this idea.
- שמיטת קרקעות
- שמיטת כספים
- השבת אבידה
- צדקה
- איסור ריבית
- לקט
- שכחה
- פאה
- עוללות ופרט הכרם
- עבד עברי
- הפרשת חלה
- מעשר ראשון
- תרומה גדולה
- מעשר עני
- יובל
- אסור הלנת שכר שכיר
- עזוב תעזוב עמו
- איסור הלנת משכון
- איסור נשך
- אונאת ממון
Cut up these strips and give them to the chanichim for acting out, and lining up,
To assist a poor person by lending him money, giving him a gift, providing him with employment, making a partnership, or any similar act, which enables the person to free himself entirely from the need for charity. |
To give charity in such a manner that the recipient does not know who the donor is, and the donor does not know who the recipient is. |
That the donor knows the recipient, but the recipient does not who the donor is. |
That the recipient knows who the donor is, but the donor does not know the recipient |
To give without being asked |
To give after being asked |
To give less than is proper, but with a good attitude. |
To give in an unpleasant manner. |
פירוש המשניות לרמב"ם אבות ג, י"ח
"שאין המדות הטובות נקנין על פי גודל המעשה אלא ברבוי מספר המעשים, והוא שאין המדות הטובות נקנות אלא כשאדם חוזר על המעשים הטובים פעמים רבות ובכך נקנית לאדם תכונה לכך. לא כשיעשה האדם מעשה גדול אחד ממעשי הטוב, כי באותו מעשה לבדו לא תיקנה לו תכונה לכך. המשל בזה אם נתן האדם למי שראוי ליתן, אלף דינרין בפעם אחת לאדם אחד לא תיקנה לו מדת הנדיבות בזה המעשה היחידי הגדול כמו שנקנית למי שנתנדב אלף פעמים באלף דינרין ונתן כל דינר מהן בדרך נדבה, לפי שזה חזר על פעולת הנדיבות אלף פעמים וניקנת לו תכונה חזקה, וזה פעם אחת בלבד נתעוררה הנפש התעוררות גדולה למעשה הטוב ואחר כך חדלה ממנו ... וזהו עניין אמרו לפי רוב המעשה אבל לא על פי המעשה" (פירוש המשניות לרמב"ם אבות ג, יח). " The good character traits are acquired not based on the significance of one deed, but by the number of times the deed is preformed. When a person repeats his good deeds many times they become a part of him, not when a person does one significant good deed once. For example, a person who gives a thousand coins at one time will not acquire generosity by this single act, the way one who gives out those thousand coins one by one will. This is because the latter repeated the deed many times and he acquires the character trait in a strong way, as opposed to the former who only acted this way once, and his heart awakened once and then stopped…" |
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