17 replies to this topic

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[Moshi]

No, seriously...what is meant by tzedakah and mishpat? I doubt tzedakah in scripture means what we take it to mean today in terms of giving charity to poor people and to torah institutions. And how does an individual implement mishpat?

why not?

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[Moshi]

The Stone Chumash says that this is prooftext for Yevamot 79a with 3 traits of Jewish people, and for Rambam Hil Matanot Aniyum 10:1 to practice the mitzvah of tzedaka more than any other.... Now looking it up in the Birnbaum Mishneh Torah, they actually translate the pasuk as "doing what is right".

[Snag]

tzedakah biblically/etymologically is the feminine form of tzedek, which itself is a less strict form of justice than mishpat (let's say justice vs. judgment), and the femininity softens it further. so, while it does not, as you pointed out, necessarily refer only to charity in the monetary sense, it does jibe with the truer meaning of charity (as in the common phrase "Xtian charity", which does not refer to financial assisstance). so i understand this verse (again, in the peshuto shel mikra) to mean that they will practice charitable acts as well as judgment.

[rvn2590]

No, seriously...what is meant by tzedakah and mishpat? I doubt tzedakah in scripture means what we take it to mean today in terms of giving charity to poor people and to torah institutions. And how does an individual implement mishpat?

Hashem gives us a warning about reform style tzedakah by this. Reform Jews, being Jews , have a heart which inclines them to give charity. This is a warning that it is not true tzedekah when one mails in a check to Planned Parenthood or some other leftist organization. Tzedekah must be given bamishpat. In a just fashion promoting goals compatible with Judaism and not as a hilul HaShem. There is good tzedekah and bad tzedekah this is an instruction that reminds us of this.

[Snag]

With regard to mishpat, is that a trait incumbant on the individual or on the community and therefore on the individual indirectly as a member of the community?

i'd say it's incumbent upon the individual as well, to make sure to practice judgment in his own life, to judge his own actions stringently.

Hashem gives us a warning about reform style tzedakah by this. Reform Jews, being Jews , have a heart which inclines them to give charity. This is a warning that it is not true tzedekah when one mails in a check to Planned Parenthood or some other leftist organization. Tzedekah must be given bamishpat. In a just fashion promoting goals compatible with Judaism and not as a hilul HaShem. There is good tzedekah and bad tzedekah this is an instruction that reminds us of this.

???? i'd say supporting planned parenthood is actually a good way to support societal mishpat, since statistics show that the rise in unwanted pregnancies seen through to birth corresponds directly to a rise in crime rates about 15-20 years later.

[Snag]

You think the pesukim are referring to things like being dan lechaf zechut? I don't.

no. what i mean is that avraham will teach his offspring to measure an judge their own actions, weighing them on the scale of their intellects to decide whether they are G-d's Will or mere self-gratification.

[rvn2590]

???? i'd say supporting planned parenthood is actually a good way to support societal mishpat, since statistics show that the rise in unwanted pregnancies seen through to birth corresponds directly to a rise in crime rates about 15-20 years later.

To word it in a more neutral fashion: Jews by their very nature are compassionate and want to help other people by giving charity. Some charitable causes may sound good on the surface, but not actually be promoting justice (mishpat) in the world.