Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The highest degree of charity is to strengthen a person until he no longer needs to depend on others.”
Maimonides · Jewish philosophy · Medieval · c. 1170–1180
What does it mean?
Aid that preserves dependence ranks, on his ladder, below aid that removes it, and the highest degree is a gift, loan, partnership, or piece of work by which a person becomes self-supporting. A rival reading hears a modern hostility to any ongoing support, as if relief itself were a failure, but the ladder ranks forms of giving inside a duty and does not abolish the duty. The English paraphrases the highest of eight degrees of tzedakah in the Mishneh Torah. It is not the full legal wording of that degree.
Did Maimonides really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Maimonides lists eight degrees of tzedakah in the Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor. The highest is a gift, a loan, a partnership, or work so that the person no longer depends on others. This English paraphrases that degree. It is not the full legal wording.
Where it comes from
Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10.7, paraphrased
Approximate date: c. 1170–1180.
How to use it
A food-bank collection in Coventry meets this week's gap, while a conversation about a reference, a shift, or a debt plan aims at a different rung, and he ranks those differently. The collection is not condemned by the higher rung. It is placed, and the question the ladder actually puts is whether the help builds capacity or keeps someone needing the helper.
A mindset reading
Charity in this legal tradition is a justice owed, not a mood of niceness, and the ladder is a ranking of duties rather than a contest of feelings. Using the highest degree to sneer at people who can only manage a lower gift this month ignores a structure that still counts the lower gift as charity. Only the rank changes, not the fact of the duty.
Understand the philosophy
The eight degrees run from reluctant public giving at the bottom to this enabling gift at the top. The key term is tzedakah, often translated charity, though it sits with justice rather than with optional kindness. The passage is in the Mishneh Torah's laws on gifts to the poor. The English here paraphrases the highest degree instead of translating the full legal sentence.
- justice
- ethics
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
Aid that preserves dependence ranks, on his ladder, below aid that removes it, and the highest degree is a gift, loan, partnership, or piece of work by which a person becomes self-supporting. A rival reading hears a modern hostility to any ongoing support, as if relief itself were a failure, but the ladder ranks forms of giving inside a duty and does not abolish the duty. The English paraphrases the highest of eight degrees of tzedakah in the Mishneh Torah. It is not the full legal wording of that degree.
Did Maimonides really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Maimonides lists eight degrees of tzedakah in the Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor. The highest is a gift, a loan, a partnership, or work so that the person no longer depends on others. This English paraphrases that degree. It is not the full legal wording.
Which work is it in?
Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10.7, paraphrased Approximate date: c. 1170–1180.