“Hebrew word for "charity" tzedakah, simply means "justice" and as this suggests, for Jews, giving to the poor is no optional extra but an essential part of living a just life.”
“Tzedakah is different than charity. Charity comes from the word charitus, which means heart. Tzedakah comes from the word tzedek, which means justice, so when you are giving tzedakah, you are not just making the world a better place by contributing to hospitals, synagogues, churches, or your favorite cause. You are in a position of bringing justice to the world, becoming as God-like as possible.”
“Charity, if you have the means, is a personal choice, but charity which is expected or compelled is simply a polite word for slavery.”
“I felt that the Church was the Church of the poor,... but at the same time, I felt that it did not set its face against a social order which made so much charity in the present sense of the word necessary. I felt that charity was a word to choke over. Who wanted charity? And it was not just human pride but a strong sense of man's dignity and worth, and what was due to him in justice, that made me resent, rather than feel pround of so mighty a sum total of Catholic institutions.”
“The essential quality of life is living' the essential quality of living is change; change is evolution; and we are part of it.”
“We Jews created the concept of good luck. Luck in Hebrew is mazel, which is not actually a word. It is an acronym for three words: 1. makom = place2. zman = time3. lamud = work”