According to Menachem Posner from Chabad.org:
"The word is actually a contraction of the Hebrew term gemilat chesed, which roughly translates as “act of kindness.” In Yiddish, a gemach is an interest-free loan. With time, it also came to refer to a free-loan society, or an organization that lends things out. (For example, for many years my great-grandfather ran a gemach that would lend money to Jews who were out of jobs due to their refusal to work on Shabbat, making it very hard for them to get a job in the six-day-week sweatshop industry where most of New York’s Jews were employed.) Born out of the desire to help others in any way, people have started gemachs for nearly everything that a person can ever think of borrowing."
———
A
gemach is not simply a community-run fund for the needy. It can be and often is set up by individuals, and it extends far beyond simply loaning money. As Linda Herschel explains (
also courtesy of Chabad.org):
"Gemach is short for
Gemilut Chasadim. I looked it up on Google and could not find an appropriate translation. It offered words like “charity,” “benefaction,” “philanthropy,” “favor” and “benevolence.” But these words just don’t capture the idea of a
gemach or the depth and breadth of
gemachs that exist.
A classic
gemach is a free loan society. People borrow either small amounts or large chunks of money without having to pay interest. In addition to complying with the Biblical prohibition on charging (or paying) interest from (or to) fellow Jews, these
gemachs are a lifeline for people in need.
My husband and I contributed monthly to a
gemach when our children were very young; that was considered charity, or in our case,
maaser, or “tithes,” on our income. Years later, we borrowed from that same
gemach to help pay for our children’s weddings. Now we are paying it back, and, of course, it is interest-free.
But then there are the non-monetary gemachs, those that share all kinds of items or services.
These gemachs either don’t take money or else take a deposit or a token amount of money, so I suppose that would make them a sort of charity as well. And, of course, the giving is certainly benevolent, especially when it could mean answering the door at all hours of night or day. There are a few that entail an investment of money, so that might be called philanthropy. Perhaps the best translation for gemach is “acts of lovingkindness.” I opened the phone book in my hometown of Beit Shemesh and counted 151 categories of gemachs! And under each category there could be an average of five or more addresses where you call or just show up to borrow or receive, free of charge, whatever service you might need.
… Here are just a few gemachs that I have come across, started by people who had original ideas in how to be of service to others:
•
Aveilut [Mourning] (They will bring low chairs and sometimes a
Sefer Torah for mourners who are sitting
shiva).
• Battery recycling
• Car-bike rack
•
Chuppah (to borrow a marriage canopy).
• Copy documents
• Computers
• Elevator rescue (to help people stuck in elevators)
• Freezer space (to offer extra food storage; this is especially useful near the holidays when people bake ahead of time but don’t have room in their freezer)
• Measuring spoons for baby formula (you really don’t know how much formula to put in a baby’s bottle if you lose that spoon)
• Mouse traps
• Ovulation kits
• Pin for gas burners (the holes in gas stove burners often become stuck with gunk; calling an appliance repairman may be costly. The pin does the job!)
• Snake catching
One of the words our sages use to describe the Jewish people is
Gomlei Chassadim, those who do acts of lovingkindness. We are a nation who puts into practice good deeds and kindness. From small to big, in pregnancy and in death—and everything in between—there is someone who is ready to help you out in your time of need."