Zedakah
n.kind, thoughtfulformal
What it means
Charitable giving understood as an act of justice and religious duty in Judaism.
Reach for it when using this less common transliteration in a Jewish context that recognizes its ethical meaning
The youth group collected zedakah for the community pantry.
Choose between these
6- everyday
when plain language is needed for a general audience
not when Charity may frame aid as generosity rather than justice.
- warm
righteous giving
when the link between charity and justice needs explanation
not when The phrase is interpretive and not a replacement for the Jewish term.
- professional
charitable giving
when the transfer of aid is the broad subject
not when Generic giving can be optional and lacks zedakah's religious obligation.
- professional
when organized private giving at scale is meant
not when Philanthropy often centers wealthy donors and is not equivalent to zedakah.
- formal
tzedakah
when the common English transliteration is preferred
not when A community may use zedakah according to its own transliteration practice.
- literary
when older language for material relief is being discussed
not when Alms sounds archaic and narrows the ethical practice to aid for poverty.
Said against
3- miserliness
- withholding
- selfishness
It naturally appears in
3- give zedakah
Families prepared to give zedakah before the festival began.
- zedakah box
The zedakah box stood beside a note explaining where the funds went.
- practice of zedakah
The practice of zedakah joined immediate relief with a demand for justice.
Where this comes from
Zedakah is a variant transliteration of a culturally specific Jewish concept. Charity alone does not capture its emphasis on righteousness and duty.
- Wiktionary, English noun sense: variant spelling of tzedakah, righteous charitable giving opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.