My grandmother always puts money in the "pishka" before anything big happens. What is the history of this?

Question

I'm curious to see if this is a real thing, how you spell it, what the history of it is.. also, she seems to put in specific amounts for certain things - it's all very odd - and I'm thinking, possibly made up! I'm told it has some roots from Judiasm, but I'd love to set the story straight.

Answer 1

It is more commonly spelled "Pushka".

Unlike christian churches, synagogues don't "pass the plate". The synagogue has them, and many have one at home just so they can set aside gifts for charity. It is even part of the prayer services found in the siddur (prayer book) where it says "it is customary at this point to set something aside for charity").

By thinking of others and giving something of yourself you are changing your mazel (fortune). So if you do something charitable, you may get dealt with in a charitable manner as well. So many will make donations prior to doing something big in hopes that it will cause the business deal or whatever to work out well for them.

Answer 2

I suppose that the compressed vigour that was once the singularity was once all potentials and potentials of potentials. I am some of the potentials (chances) of the potentials, as are you. It simply took us a whilst to get there. Before the Big Bang, there was once no time. There was once no area. There was once best awareness (vigour) compressed. At the factor of the Big Bang, subject was once created and time started. If all was once one on the singularity, then all are entangled now. That implies that awareness, being everlasting, is shared amongst us all. When we see ourselves as contributors, we're improper. It's an phantasm rationale via the divide among this size adn the recognized subsequent size in which superposition can arise.

Answer 3

I don't know what a "pishka" is...
nor am I Jewish.
The reason I'm answering this question is that
I know of an old tradition in which one puts
money in a pot and asks it to grow.
I also know of traditions that involve
tieing up bundles of specific amounts of money
(or a specific number of a certain denomination of coin)
to gain blessings of various kinds.

This sounds similar.
I'll be watching to find out more...
the subject more then facinates me.
I'd love to hear about the details of this
"Ritual".

Good Luck!

Answer 4

A "pishka" is simply a 'set-asife for charity'; not necessarily a box or a bottle but a 'pishka-kopf' is someone who is always thinking of ways to help charities.

Answer 5

A pishka (from Yiddish) is a box for charitable donations