The Steps of Charity’s Golden Ladder
Moses Maimonides, who died in Spain in the year 1204 described the levels pf charity thus:
The first and lowest degree is to give — but with reluctance or regret. This is a gift of the hand but not of the heart.
The second is to give cheerfully, but not proportionately to the distress of the suffering.
The third is to give cheerfully and proportionately but not until we are solicited.
The fourth is to give cheerfully, proportionately, and even unsolicited; but to put it in the poor man’s hand, thereby exciting in him the painful emotion of shame.
The fifth is to give charity in such a way that the distressed may receive the bounty and know their benefactor, without their being known to him…
The sixth, which still rises higher, is to know the objects of our bounty, but remain unknown to them…
The seventh is still more meritorious, namely, to bestow charity in such a way that the benefactor may not know the relieved persons, nor they the name of their benefactor…
The eight and most meritorious of all is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty; namely, to assist the reduced brother either by a considerable gift, or a loan of money, or by teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way of business, so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding up his hand for charity… This is the highest step and summit of charity’s golden ladder.
The above is as recounted by Sam Levenson in his book, In One Era, Out The Other.
