Tzedakah (which is generally translated as charity, but this is an incomplete translation) is a major concept in Judaism.  But is it just something we do, or is it supposed to be something we do in order to reorient how we walk through and participate in life?  Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offers great insight into the concept of tzedek, righteousness which is the root for the word tzedakah.

“One way of understanding tzedek is to contrast it with two other political theories: capitalism and socialism.  Capitalism aims at equality of opportunity, socialism at equality of outcome. The Judaic vision aims at a society in which there is equal access to dignity and hope.  Unlike socialism it believes in the free market, private property and minimum government intervention. Unlike capitalism it believes that the free market, without periodic redistributions, creates inequalities that are ultimately unsustainable because they deprive some individuals of independence and hope.  Tzedek is built on the idea that there is a distinction between possession and ownership. Judaism… affirms the concept of private property, possession, for the reason that John Locke did in the seventeenth century. It is the best defense of the individual against the state…A society without private property leaves citizens at the mercy of rulers.  Capitalism leads to democracy. Large-scale communism leaves inadequate space for individual rights.  

So Jewish law protects possession but distinguishes it from ownership.  All things, ultimately belong to God and therefore what I have I hold in trust… There is no ultimate ownership in Judaism.  What I possess belongs to God, and I am merely its legal guardian. Hence Judaism’s environmental legislation: We may not needlessly destroy even the things that are ours.  Like Adam in Eden, we are placed in the world, “to serve and protect” it, handing it on intact or enhanced to the next generation. Hence also tzedek legislation: what I give to others in need is not charity but justice, not giving away what is rightfully mine, but rather honoring the condition under which I hold it in trust.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, A Letter in the Scroll, pg.128