Tzedakah Guidelines

Rambam's Ladder

Maimonides encapsulated tzedakah principles in an eight-rung ladder rich with pedagogical opportunities. The ladder creates a heirarchy ranking tzedakah actions from least honorable to most honorable.

1. The person who gives reluctantly
   and with regret.
2. The person who gives graciously,
   but less than one should.
3. The person who gives what one should,
   but only after being asked.
4. The person who gives before being asked.
5. The person who gives without knowing
   to whom one gives, although the recipient
   knows the identity of the donor.
6. The person who gives without making
   his/her identity known.
7. The person who gives without knowing
   to whom he/she gives. The recipient does not
   know from whom he/she receives.
8. The person who helps another to support
   himself/herself by a gift or a loan or by finding
   employment for that person, thus helping
   that person to become self-sufficient.

Ordering

Put all eight of the rungs on separate notecards and have students work in small groups to put them in order. Be sure groups can explain their rationale for the order they've chosen. After groups present, lay out the correct order and ask students to reflect on Rambam's choices. (One interesting discussion topic is that there seems to be great value placed on anonymity in Rambam's giving equation. How does that gel with the value of personal connection between giver and recipient that adds so much to the dignity of tzedakah?)

Build a Ladder

This is a bit more labor intensive, but it also produces a permanent sculpture that can serve as a focal point for the foundation's activities – you can bring the ladder into the room in which the Board will be meeting in order to symbolically transform the space into a place where tzedakah work is done. The easiest way to build the ladder is to divide into eight small groups and give each a piece of wood (whitewashed 1x4) and the text of one of Rambam's steps and have them paint or decorate their "rung" to represent that step. Then attach the rungs to two longer boards to create a ladder.

Donor Ranking

In this exercise, students get to use what they've learned about Rambam's ladder to evaluate different kinds of giving. Give each student (or small group) a copy of the Donor List and the Donor Scorecard. Ask them to read through the profiles and come to consensus on where each donor falls on Rambam's ladder.

Role Play

Divide students into small groups and assign each group a rung from Rambam's ladder. Have each group prepare a short skit that encapsulates the theme of each rung and have the rest of the class try to identify which rung is being portrayed.

Judaism and Beggars

Arthur Kurzweil wrote an outstanding essay on this subject (you can find it in Danny Siegel's book, Gym Shoes and Irises). Kurzweil felt extremely uncomfortable about his reactions to people on the street who ask him for money. He identified fifteen questions that he struggles to answer (e.g. "What if they are fakes or frauds?" and "What if I have no money on me, or no spare change?").

Looking for guidance, he searched through the Talmud to determine how Jewish law would answer these questions. In the broadest sense, his journey is a remarkable application of Jewish law to a contemporary social policy problem. For the specific purpose of Tzedakah in Action, it presents a great source for discussion about panhandling and tzedakah. (It's an especially nice match for the Chinese Food Take-Out Tzedakah Box art project.) In addition to simply reading and discussing the essay, older students might want to use it to craft a "recommended policy" or brochure for the community on Jewish responses to beggars.

You could also design a survey based on the questions Kurzweil raises and have students consider them individually before exploring the Talmudic perspectives.

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