There is another reason why tzedakah is singled out to represent the mitzvot that bear witness to a life lived turnged and turning to the One. Repentance as turning involves the two-fold action of praying and doing justice. When we turn from our false ego to the Holy One, we turn with our inner selves and our outer selves. We turn in the deep center of our hearts directly to the One Who Calls Us, communing with the One, and we turn in and with our actions to the image of the One in the other, creating the beloved community of the One in our world.
Prayer without justice is escapism, hypocrisy, worse.
Justice without prayer is possible, but it lacks the sweetness it has when it is the fruit of prayer.
R. Eleazar would first give a copper to a poor man, and then pray, explaining: It is said, "Through charity I shll behold They face" (Psalm 17:15). Bava Batra 10a.
Teshuvah is prayer and tzedakah vitalizing each other, communing with God, communing with the other, for one cannot separate God and the world.
What is this place? —A waystation for nonsaints, fools, and ordinary spiritual pilgrims to inquire and reflect on what it is we talk about when we talk about God. —A refuge for those of us who are confused, unsure, or curious about God, who feel abandoned by or angry at God, or who are lonely for God. —A dwelling beyond the houses of fundamentalism and secularism, our tent flaps open in all directions to welcome the stranger, for we remember what it is to be a stranger in a strange land.
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