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Jan 19, 2022
This week’s theme
Words borrowed from Hebrew

This week’s words
mitzvah
cherub
tzedakah
shekel
sabbath

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

tzedakah or zedakah

PRONUNCIATION:
(tsuh-DAH-kuh, -dah-KAH)

MEANING:
noun: Charitable giving or charity, especially when seen as a moral obligation.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Hebrew tzedaqah (righteousness). Earliest documented use: 1959. Plural: tzedakahs or tzedakot.

USAGE:
“A homeless man sat with his knees drawn up in front of him. A little girl leaned against him, clutching a scrap of blanket. I steered over to them and dropped a dollar in his cup. Some might see it as extravagant for tzedakah, but Nathaniel and I could have been them.”
Mary Robinette Kowal; The Calculating Stars; Tom Doherty Associates; 2018.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. -Edgar Allan Poe, poet and short-story writer (19 Jan 1809-1849)

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