In these times...the principal service of G-d is the service of charity, as our sages, of blessed memory, said: "Israel will be redeemed only through charity...However, [in these times....], there is no way of truly cleaving unto it [G-d's presence] and to convert the darkness into its light, except through a corresponding category of action, namely the act of charity."
(Tanya, Igeret Hakodesh, Epistle 9 [1796])
...The above is an astounding merit for this generation, because all of the Jewish people in all their countries of residence excel in the mitzvah of Tzedakah, in a greater way than previous generations ...
(Maamar Halelu es Hashem 5731 [1970])
