Many cultures in USA have habits or traditions that include giving and serving others. We can serve a little and give a little. We can serve a lot and give a lot. We can have family of origin traditions that include volunteering and donating. We can have children who have not seen a life each month that includes – How will we help others this month ?
Barbara Blumberg Moore, Executive Director of Jeffco Eats has been to Israel several times on a food justice trips. Tzedakah is a biblical tradition of something like a recollection of the life of a woman named Ruth. She was an immigrant and widow and needed help. She got help . She got very consistent generous help. She gleaned the fields edges which was not harvested and sold for money but kept intentionally for the poor and the widows and orphans.
The Book of Ruth Summary. Ruth was a Moabite princess of very fine character, who became the great-grandmother of King David. She was dissatisfied with the idol-worship of her own people, and when the opportunity arose, she gladly gave up the privileges of royalty in her land and accepted a life of poverty among people she admired.
Maimonides (also known as Rambam) was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher that defined tzedakah (charitable giving) in terms of levels from least to most holy.
This giving “ladder” ranges from giving reluctantly to giving in a way that helps a person become independent and self-supporting.
Among the highest forms of giving, he taught, is giving anonymously: the person gives without knowing to whom they give, and the recipient does not know from whom they receive.
We hope in Jefferson County Colorado and in the city of Lakewood to help develop more of a legacy in families to give sacrificially. Beyond a little dab will do you, to giving that is truly a consistent way of life and generous.
If your family or you as an individual have some stories about this type of life habit of giving please share it in comments below.