The Power of Tzedakah: Why Charity Saves from Death and Brings Endless Blessing

1. The Torah’s Command to Give

It is a mitzvah (commandment) to give charity to any Jew in need, as it says: “If there shall be among you a poor man, one of your brethren, within any of your gates, in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. But you shall surely open your hand to him, and surely lend him sufficient for his need, that which he lacks.” (Devarim 15:7–8)

Withholding charity is not only neglecting a positive commandment, but also violating a prohibition — “Do not harden your heart and do not close your hand.”

2. Charity Equals All Mitzvot

Charity is one of the greatest mitzvot in the Torah. The Sages said: “Charity is equal to all the commandments combined.” (Bava Batra 9a)

One who gives charity emulates the Creator Himself, who sustains and provides for all His creatures. Because charity brings life and sustenance into the world, it also saves from death, as it says: “Tzedakah delivers from death.” (Mishlei 10:2)

3. A Moral and Communal Obligation

Charity is not optional generosity — it is a moral and communal obligation placed upon every Jew and society as a whole. Its purpose is to assist the sick, elderly, orphans, and widows who are unable to sustain themselves.

The Talmud teaches that one who refuses to give charity is likened to an idol worshiper (Bava Batra 10a), because he accepts the world’s suffering as unchangeable, like the pagans who deny humanity’s power to repair creation.

The Sages also said: “Whoever saves one life in Israel, it is as if he has saved an entire world.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5) By relieving suffering and supporting those in need, we become partners in repairing the world (tikkun olam) and hastening redemption, as it says: “Maintain justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is near to come.” (Yeshayahu 56:1)

4. “Charity Saves from Death”

Shlomo Hamelech wrote: “Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness (tzedakah) delivers from death.” (Mishlei 11:4)

The Midrash explains: “Just as a person gives charity so that the poor may live and not die, so too God decrees that the giver himself shall live and not die.”

5. A True Story: Binyamin the Righteous

Binyamin the Righteous was in charge of the community charity fund. One year, during a famine, a woman came to him and pleaded, ‘Rabbi, feed me!’ He replied, ‘I swear there is nothing left in the fund.’ She answered, ‘If you do not help me, my seven children and I will die.’

He then supported her from his own pocket. Later, Binyamin fell ill and was near death. The ministering angels said to God, ‘Master of the Universe, You declared that one who sustains a single life is as though he sustained an entire world — shall Binyamin the Righteous, who saved a woman and her seven children, die so young?’ 

Immediately, his heavenly decree was torn up, and twenty-two years were added to his life. (Bava Batra 11a)

6. Maimonides on the Power of Charity

Maimonides (Rambam) wrote: “No one ever becomes poor by giving charity, and no harm or loss ever comes from it. As it is said: ‘The work of righteousness shall bring peace.’” (Yeshayahu 32:17)

7. The Highest Form of Charity

The goal of charity is to help our fellow Jew live with dignity. Therefore, the highest level of charity is to enable a person to become self-sufficient, as it says: “If your brother becomes poor and his hand falters with you, you shall strengthen him.” (Vayikra 25:35)

For example:

• Helping someone find employment,

• Funding vocational training,

• Supporting them in starting a business 

These are considered the most perfect form of tzedakah, for they lift a person out of dependency and restore their independence.

8. Preserving Dignity

When it is not possible to help a poor person achieve independence — for instance, if they are ill or elderly, we must still support them. The more respectfully and privately we give, the greater the mitzvah. The more the giving embarrasses or exposes the recipient, the lower its level. (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 249:6–13)

9. Charity as a Source of Sustenance

Charity is not only moral — it is also a spiritual key to prosperity. Through the prophet Malachi, God Himself promises that giving charity and tithes will open the “windows of heaven” for blessing:

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and test Me now with this, says the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out upon you blessing until there is no more need.” (Malachi 3:10–12)

10. The Deeper Secret of Charity: Give Without Calculation

A wealthy Jew once regularly supported Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli in secret. His business thrived, and he prospered greatly. One day, he learned that Rabbi Zusha himself had a teacher — Rabbi Dov Ber of Mezeritch, and reasoned: “If Rabbi Zusha’s blessing brings me success, how much more blessing will come from his own master!”

He stopped supporting Rabbi Zusha and began sending donations directly to Rabbi Dov Ber. Soon after, his fortunes began to decline.

Distressed, he returned to Rabbi Zusha and confessed, “I stopped supporting you, thinking I would merit even greater success by giving to your teacher. But my business collapsed. What did I do wrong?”

Rabbi Zusha replied gently: “Your reasoning was logical, but your approach changed. Until now, you gave charity without calculation, purely for the sake of Heaven — and so God blessed you without calculation. But once you began calculating your giving, Heaven calculated too — and according to that accounting, you were not owed such wealth.”

This is the inner meaning of tzedakah: We hope that God will deal with us generously, without measuring or judging, and we must therefore give to others without measuring or judging.

In doing so, we open ourselves to divine abundance, merit a good and sweet year, and hasten the greatest gift of all — the complete and final redemption.