What is Tzedaka?

The percentages

The classical halacha (Yoreh Deah 249:1) sets a baseline of ma'aser kesafim — a tenth of net income — as the minimum tzedaka obligation. The upper bound is chomesh (a fifth); giving more than 20% of income is discouraged because the giver may themselves become dependent. Ten percent is the floor, not the ceiling. A person of average means in a community of need is expected to find ways to give more.

The percentage is on net, not gross. It applies to wages, business profit, gifts received, and (in modern responsa) capital gains. It does not apply to amounts already taxed when those taxes themselves fund welfare and public benefit — a subject of considerable debate.

The eight levels of giving

The Rambam (*Hilchot Matanot Aniyim* 10:7–14) ranks tzedaka in eight ascending levels. From lowest to highest:

8. Giving begrudgingly. 7. Giving cheerfully but less than appropriate. 6. Giving after being asked. 5. Giving before being asked. 4. The receiver knows the giver, but the giver does not know the receiver. 3. The giver knows the receiver, but the receiver does not know the giver. 2. Neither knows the other (e.g., anonymous fund). 1. Helping the person become self-sufficient — a partnership, a job, a loan, a business — so they no longer need tzedaka at all.

The hierarchy is the most quoted text in Jewish economic ethics. The top rung makes the lower seven temporary measures: the goal of tzedaka is its own elimination.

Order of priorities

Halacha specifies who gets first call on your tzedaka:

1. Your own dependents (food, clothing, shelter for spouse, children, parents — these come before anything called "tzedaka"). 2. Your own family beyond the household. 3. The poor of your city. 4. The poor of Israel. 5. The poor of the wider Jewish world. 6. The poor of the wider world.

This is not parochialism — it is the principle that responsibility radiates outward from immediate obligation. A Jew in New York who gives generously to international NGOs but ignores hungry families two blocks away has reversed the order halacha sets.

How to give

The classical practice is to keep a *pushke* — a tzedaka box — on the kitchen counter and drop coins in regularly, especially before lighting Shabbat candles. Modern equivalents: a recurring monthly donation set up once and forgotten; a percentage automatically routed from each paycheck; a *ma'aser* spreadsheet that tracks giving against income.

The danger of automation is that giving becomes invisible. The Rambam's higher levels are partly answered by automation (anonymity, regularity), but the spiritual point of tzedaka — *interrupting your own consumption* — wants at least some giving to remain conscious. A practical middle path: 80% recurring, 20% spontaneous when need crosses your path.

Madreiga's role

Madreiga's tzedaka tracker lets users set a monthly target as a percentage of declared income, log gifts as they happen, and see the cumulative annual total. It does not send your money anywhere — it just makes the obligation visible.