Posted on December 13, 2024 by Rabbi David Katz
There are at least two times during the year when charity is on the minds of American Jews. The first is during the high holiday season when “charity, prayer and repentance temper God’s severe decree.” The second is tax season, at the end of the year, when organizations vie for the attention of donors. Whether our giving is prompted by high holiday prayers or by the IRS, traditional Jewish sources offer us guidance on how to give. From Maimonides we learn how much to offer, what our attitude should be when we donate and how much credit we should take for our generosity. Listen to his eight-step ladder of tzedakah.
On an ascending level, from worst to best, here is how giving is done:
8. When one gives grudgingly.
7. When one gives less than one should, but does so cheerfully.
6. When one gives directly to the poor upon being asked.
5. When one gives directly to the poor without being asked.
4. When the recipient is aware of the donor’s identity, but the donor still doesn’t know the specific identity of the recipient.
3. When the donor is aware to whom the charity is being given, but the recipient is unaware of the source.
2. When the giver and recipient are unknown to each other. (Communal funds, administered by responsible people, are also in this category.)
1. When one’s charity helps sustain the receiver before the receiver becomes impoverished so as to make it unnecessary to be dependent on others.
In a nutshell this is what we are taught:
Give before being asked. Give cheerfully; not grudgingly. Increase anonymity when giving. (Don’t look for glory; protect human dignity. Give because it is right, not the basis of your feelings.) And help the recipient become independent, free from having to receive charity in the future.
When giving to charities during these next two weeks, let’s do so according to Maimonides’ eight steps of Tzedakah.
There is a Jewish way to give!
L’shalom,
Rabbi Katz
*See Mishneh Torah, Yad, Matanot Ani’im (Laws of Gifts to the Poor,) 10:7-14
