The+Ladder+of+Charity

The ladder of charity:

1. The lowest level of charity is to give grudgingly 2. The seventh level of charity is to give cheerfully but less one should. 3. The sixth level of charity is when one gives directly to the poor, but only after being asked. 4. The fifth level of charity is when one gives directly to the poor without being asked. 5. The fourth level of charity is to give indirectly, with the giver not knowing the identity of the recipient but the reciient knowing the giver. 6. The third level of charity is to give indirectly with the recipient not knowing the identiy of the giver but the giver knowing the recipient. 7. The second level of charity is to give indirectly with neither recipient nor giver knowing the identity of one another. 8. The highest level of charity is to help a person before they become impoverished, whether by offering a gift in a dignified manner, extending a loan, offering a job, or helping them begin a business of their own.


 * Rabbinic Tradition:** The Orthodox Jews are the ones who follow the Rabbinic Courts. These courts strongly enforce dietary law, the synagogue, and organizing charity and social activity. Both Conservative and reform Jews once followed the rabbinic tradition.


 * Words from the Bible:** Fasting, prayer, and almsgiving were three highly regarded acts of piety within Judaism which Christians quickly adopted as their own, but with modification. Although extolled separately, they were often mentioned in combination; e.g. fasting and Alsmgiving. prayer and fasting. Whenever one act stood alone in a document, scribes were prone to add one or another. This propensity accounts for several variant readings in the ancient MSS. Invitably efforts were made to put one ahead of another. 2 Clement says, "Fasting is better than prayer, but the giving of alms is better than both"(16:4). In the Didache a nondominical saying about fasting precedes the word of Jesus on Prayer (8:lf).


 * Meaning:** As said in the last part said by Clement fasting and prayer are great things but the most important thing of all is the giving of alms or helping the poor. The words from the bible also talk about how the importance of charity in Judaism was adopted by Christianity, which means that along with charity being important to Judaism it is also important to the Christian faith.

Source--((essential Judaism)) pages 237-238 by George Robinson