Here is an outline of the points that Rabbi Sacks makes on tzedakah.
Tzedakah is a fascinating idea. What is the English word for tzedakah?
There isn’t an English word for tzedakah.
If you ask 100 Jews what is the English word for tzedakah, 50 will say charity and 50 will say justice.
In English something can’t be charity or justice at the same time.
What if I owe money? Then to pay it is justice.
What if you need money, then to give it to you it is charity.
In English it can’t be both.
In Judaism these concepts are “bonded with superglue”.
In Judaism what we posses we ultimately don’t own.
Everything ultimately belongs to God and is lent to us in trust.
We are to share. That is why charity is justice, and justice is charity.
Tzadakah— one word that has the power to change the world.