Torah Study > Chapter 4: Tzedek, Tzedakah, & Chesed > Text 1
What pattern or order do you see in the categories that Maimonides
sets forth? What principles lead him to organize his hierarchy of giving
in this order?
Which of these eight levels would you categorize as tzedek, and
which as tzedakah?
Maimonides teaches us that tzedakah is about assisting those in immediate
need. But tzedakah is not just about the transfer of money from donor
to beneficiary. It is also about the attitude of the donor and the dignity of
the recipient. Maimonides’ levels help us understand that the donor is not
superior, nor the recipient inferior, and that tzedakah should not contribute
to the aggrandizement of the former nor the denegration of the latter.
Judaism teaches that poverty is not a stigma and it should not define the
social status or worth of an individual. It is a condition, somewhat like hunger,
that with proper social structures and individual determination can be
overcome. It is also a condition that, but for the grace of God, might occur
to any one of us.
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Why does our attitude make a difference in the way we give?
What are the various purposes in giving tzedakah? How might they
be best achieved?
Do you think that the level of humility which Maimonides sets as an
ideal is realistic?
Jacob Neusner explains giving to the poor this way:
“When we give to the poor, we must do so in a such a way that the
equality of the giver and the receiver is acknowledged. This is not an act of grace or an expression of affection. It is an act of respect, an expression of duty. We give not because we feel like it, but because it is our obligation. We do so in a way that will not make us feel superior, and in a way that will not make the poor person feel inferior.”
Jacob Neusner Tzedakah: Can Jewish Philanthropy Buy Jewish Survival?
(Rossel Books. 1982, p. 13)
This is a difficult attitude to maintain, on both sides. Participants will likely
consider it very difficult to achieve this attitude of humility, but that is one
of the characteristics which distinguishes charity from tzedakah.
There is one other important way to distinguish an act of tzedek from an
act of tzedakah. One seeks to be preventive and the other reactive. Both
are necessary. As the Sages explain: It takes one person to support something
before it falls, but after it falls, even five people may not be able to lift
it (see Rashi’s commentary on Leviticus 25:35). It is often more efficient,
certainly more just, and always kinder, to prevent a person or family from falling into a circumstance of poverty than to support them when they are
needy. The latter must be done once they are already needy, but the world
would be a better place if the inequities were addressed before people
became impoverished.
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