The concept of tzedakah arose from mitzvot commanding Jews to shelter, clothe, and feed those in need. The mitzvah of tzedakah enriches our own lives. In modern practice tzedakah is analogous to philanthropy. Rabbi Moses Maimonides wrote that the most preferable type of giving is that which enables another to become self-reliant. Endowing support for agencies and institutions allows them to achieve self-reliance. The permanence of these funds assures that resources will be available for important programs to enrich our lives and the lives of our children. That is why endowment funds are such an important way to give tzedakah.

"I did not find the world desolate when I entered it, and as my fathers planted for me before I was born, so do I plant for those who will come after me." --The Talmud

"This is mankind's age-old dilemma in the face of death: what man really fears is not so much extinction, but extinction with insignificance. Man wants to know that his life has somehow counted, that it has left a trace, a trace that has meaning. And in order for anything once alive to have meaning, its effects must remain alive in eternity in some way." --Ernest Becker