3,183. Determining a Person's Needs

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 7:3

We are obligated to give to a needy person based on what he needs. If he needs clothes, we must dress him. If he needs furniture, we should buy it for him. If he or she is single, we must help him or her to get married. If, prior to losing his money, this needy person used to ride on a horse and have a servant run before him, he should be provided with a horse to ride and a servant to run before him, as per Deuteronomy 15:8: “sufficient for what he lacks.” We are obligated to provide what he lacks, but not to make him wealthy.

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 7:4

When it comes to an orphan for whom people are looking to find a wife, first we rent him a house and provide him with a bed and all his furnishings, and then we look for a woman for him to marry.