by will reisman
correspondent
The concept of giving takes on a more urgent feel this time of year, so it made sense that charity was the main topic of discussion for an interfaith panel of speakers Dec. 2 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.
Representatives from the three Abrahamic religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism — spoke about the inherent importance of charity and the role it plays in their faith.
Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council; the Rev. Glenda Hope, executive director of San Francisco Network Ministries; and Munir Jiwa, director of the Center for Islamic Studies defined their respective religions’ concepts of charity to a crowd of about 70. The three spoke for 10 minutes each on the subject before opening the floor to questions from the mixed group of Muslims, Jews and Christians.
Kahn addressed the audience first, touching on Judaism’s historical concept of tzedakah, the righteous act of giving. Although the meaning of the word tzedakah has its root in the Hebrew word for justice, the term is most often associated with charitable acts, Kahn said. Because it is imposed by the will of God, it is seen as an obligation and not open to question.
“Why is charity a mandatory act instead of voluntary?” Kahn asked. “Ultimately, all possessions are God’s, and all human beings are created in the image of God.”
Kahn went on to say that there is “no motivation needed” for charity. “You’re supposed to do it, and afterward you’ll feel that connection and understand why it is necessary.”
Kahn also mentioned the eight steps of Jewish charity as outlined by Maimonides, the Middle Ages rabbi and philosopher. According to Maimonides, the lowest form of charity is to give reluctantly; the highest form is to give in a way that the recipient no longer has to depend on others.
Jiwa spoke in didactic, historical terms on Islam’s views on charity. For Muslims, “zakat,” like tzedakah, is a mandatory obligation of religious charity. It represents the third pillar of Islam and is intended strictly to help other Muslims.
Complementing zakat is the concept of “sadaqah,” the voluntary act of charity offered to people of all religions. According to Jiwa, sadaqah can be as simple as smiling to people passing by on the street.
Hope’s speech focused not on the religious aspects of charity, but about the idea of love — in the form of action — as a key aspect to charitable decisions. “Love is a very powerful concept,” she said. “It’s important to view it as always relational and always mutual.”
One theme was present in all of the speakers’ discussions: commending charitable interactions with others of different faiths.
Jiwa and Kahn both made an example of how people of various faiths helped rebuild Bosnia in the tumultuous years following the unrest of the mid-1990s.
Despite the highly publicized religious tensions afflicting the Middle East and elsewhere, the three speakers displayed amicable feelings toward each other.
“I think we learned just how much we have in common, and we have to keep learning,” Hope said. “We need to embrace our points of connection instead of our points of division.”
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California