The unique importance of tzedakah

Our parasha this week, Re’eh, contains two seemingly contradictory pasukim. Initially we are taught, “However, there will be no needy (evyon) among you, for the L-rd will surely bless you in the land the L-rd, your G-d, is giving you for an inheritance to possess.” (Sefer Devarim 15:4) Seven verses later, however, we encounter, “For there will never cease to be needy (evyon) within the land. Therefore, I command you, saying, you shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor one, and to your needy one in your land.” (15:11)

The question is clear: “How can the first pasuk proclaim that there will be no needy while the second no less explicitly states that “for there will never cease to be needy (evyon) within the land?”

The second century Midrash Sifrei suggests the following answer: “When you (the Jewish people) perform the will of the Omnipresent, the poor will reside [solely] among the other nations; when, however, you fail to fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, then there will be poor among you.” (Section 118)

Unfortunately, to paraphrase the Sifrei, we live at a time in history when there are many poor among us. As such, we are obligated to fulfill Hashem’s decree, as found in the second half of the latter verse: “You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor one, and to your needy one in your land.” This is the mitzvah of tzedakah. The word tzedakah, derived from the root word tzedek connoting justice, is used precisely in this sense in the well-known verse, “Justice (tzedek), justice shall you pursue, that you may live and possess the land the L-rd, your G-d, is giving you.” (Sefer Devarim 16:20) Therefore, tzedakah is an authentic representation of distributive justice, in the Jewish community, since, in essence, it embodies the fair apportionment of resources among various members of a community.”