3,211. The Eight Levels of Tzedakah

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 10:7

There are eight levels of charity, each higher than the next. The highest level of all is one who supports a Jew who has become needy, giving him a gift or a loan, entering into business with him, or finding him a job so that will become self-sufficient and not have to ask for charity. Regarding this Leviticus 25:35 teaches: “You shall support him – the convert and the native born – and he will live alongside you.” The meaning is that it’s better to support a person before he falls and becomes needy.

Hilchos Matnos Aniyim 10:8

The level below this is giving charity to the needy without knowing who the recipient is, and the recipient not knowing who the donor is. This is a case of fulfilling the mitzvah strictly for its own sake. This was the situation with the chamber in the Temple where righteous people would donate in secret and needy people from proud backgrounds would be supported from it secretly. A level close to this is donating to a charitable fund, though one shouldn’t give to such a fund unless he knows that the one managing it is faithful, intelligent and able to run it properly, as Rabbi Chananiah ben Tradyon was.