While religious teachings are replete with obligations of charity – stemming mainly from the
biblical obligation of maaser, or tithing – charity has become so ingrained in Judaism that
it is both a cultural and a religious act. One reason for this is that charity, or sharing
with the needy, is considered the most basic kind of mitzvah a person can do. There is no
second-guessing an act of caring; regardless of your intentions or the size of your charity,
if you share with a person in need, you have performed a mitzvah. Additionally, tzedakah,
unlike most other mitzvot, is not time-sensitive; it can be done at any time.
There is a popular Jewish teaching, “Mitzvah goreret mitzvah,” which originates in
Masechet Avot and means “one mitzvah leads to another.” Culturally, Jews have always
sought a starter mitzvah to begin a chain of good deeds, and because tzedakah was so
flexible and achievable, it became the go-to starter mitzvah. Since time immemorial,
women bringing in Shabbos began by giving charity, and men started their day by giving
tzedakah before they prayed.
Hundreds of years before the internet or money wires, the concept of the “pushka”
was born. The pushka, a locked canister traditionally mounted in Jewish homes
and synagogues, was designed as an instant charity mechanism. People could put
money in it at any time, and it was periodically collected by a designated
neighborhood collector to give to the poor. With the pushkas, Jews of all means,
even the poor, became accustomed to giving charity daily, if not more than once
a day. This resulted in a culture of daily giving and attention to tzedakah.
Today, this tradition continues even in pre-school classes, where children start
the day by putting coins in their classroom tzedakah box.
When Jews moved out of the shtetl and into the cities, largely due to the
Holocaust, the pushka became an item issued by charity organizations, and
households began having multiple pushkas in their homes
This has been made easier with modern technology, such as online donation pages
where you can simply click “DONATE.” It’s instant, virtual, automatic, and
doesn’t take up room in your house. Now, more than ever, we can perform an
instant mitzvah.
Donations to Masbia, a non-profit charity organization, are
immediate in a profoundly meaningful way. Every donation to Masbia is converted into
food, and because Masbia is a grassroots organization, that food finds its way into a
hungry person’s stomach in less than two weeks. So your mitzvah has even more immediacy.
Traditionally, a Jewish community throughout the diaspora could not be formed without a
dedicated charity division. In most places, this meant a collection and distribution
service of ready-to-eat food, i.e., a food pantry and/or a soup kitchen. Masbia strives
to be the current-day version of that, serving daily hot meals and weekly emergency food
packages to people in need from multiple locations in various Jewish communities.
Jewish teaching specifies that charity should be done in a high-end manner,
meaning that one should choose to give the best quality to those in need, be it
food, clothing, or materials for a house of worship. Masbia’s mission is to live
up to this by providing the hungry men, women, and children we serve with the
best quality, nutritious, and kosher meals in a beautiful setting.
Jewish teaching also emphasizes the importance of the table in doing charity. The
Talmud explains that the act of hosting guests is rewarded with longevity
because it is the equivalent of bringing a sacrifice on the altar in the times
of the Holy Temple. The Talmud specifies that it is a “person’s table that
brings them atonement,” establishing the table itself as a vessel of
forgiveness. When one sponsors food at Masbia, the tables the food is served on
become your table from which you are sharing food, earning the full blessing of
the Talmud.
The Talmud also makes it clear that providing ready-to-eat food is the highest
form of charity because the satisfaction to the hungry person is immediate
(mekarve ahaneise). At Masbia, our hot dinner program does exactly that – it
feeds hungry men, women, and children hot, nutritious, ready-to-eat meals.
Masbia has gained a reputation for the incredible dignity we provide in our hot dinner
service, dubbed by People Magazine as “a restaurant without a cash register.” Since
opening in 2005, Masbia has been featured in many prominent American media outlets,
including People Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, New
York Daily News, CBS News, ABC News, Pix11, NY1, and News12.
