tzedakah box

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Pronunciations

tzedakah box (tsuh-DUH-kuh bahks) listen

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Definitions

  • n. A container with a slot in the top to insert money to be given to charity (tzedakah).

Example Sentences

  • "So I own a little tzedakah box where I put every Friday before lightning the candle a note." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • English

Etymology

  • TH צְדָקָה 'charity' + E box

      • Who Uses This

      • Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

      Alternative Spellings

      tzedaka box, tsedakah box, tsedaka box, tzedukkah box, tzedukah box, tzedukka box, tzeduka box

Notes

  • See also pushke.

    "Sometimes [a tzedakah box] is an elaborate, handcrafted work of Judaica, often with the Hebrew word tzedakah inscribed somewhere on it. Others are made by children, for example, out of decorated paper milk cartons, cardboard boxes, or coffee cans. Tzedakah box is the term most often used today for the Yiddish term 'pushke.'" (JPS)

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