Ask The Rabbi!!

First, this is a great thread Rabbi! I have been gone for a week; this is the first thread I've caught up on.

I was reading an interview and the interviewee is Jewish. They kept referring to zedeka (sp?). I'm sure that I didn't spell that right, and I think that there was a "T" in there somewhere. From the context, it sounded like the word refers to charity or PIF. Is this correct? Sorry again for the spelling errors.