The highest degree of charity
Maimonides' Mishne Torah: Gifts to the Poor 10:7)
There are eight degrees of almsgiving, each one superior to the other. The highest degree, than which there is none higher, is one who upholds the hand of an Israelite reduced to poverty by handing him a gift or a loan, or entering into a partnership with him, or finding work for him in order to strengthen his hand, so that he would have no need to beg from other people. Concerning such a one Scripture says "You shall uphold him; as a stranger and a settler shall he live with you" (Leviticus 25:35) meaning uphold him so that he does not lapse into want.
שמנה שמות נקראו לעני: עני, אביון, מסכן, רש, דל, דך, מך, הלך.
- עני, כמשמעו.
- אביון, שמתאב לכל,
- מסכן שהוא בזוי לכל, שנאמר (קהלת ט): וחכמת המסכן בזויה.
- רש, מן הנכסים.
- דל, מדולדל מן הנכסים.
- דך, מדוכדך רואה דבר ואינו אוכל, רואה דבר ואינו טועם ואינו שותה.
- מך, שהוא מך לפני כל עשוי, כמין סקופה התחתונה.
לפיכך משה מזהיר לישראל: וכי ימוך אחיך:
There are eight names for a poor person: ani, evyon, misken, rash, dal, each, mach, helech.
- Ani [afflicted] means literally “poor”
- Evyon [one who longs] because he longs (mita’ev) for everything
- Misken [despised] because he is despised by all as it says “The poor man’s (misken) wisdom is despised.” (Eccl 9:16)
- Rash [impoverished] because he is dispossessed (mitroshesh) of property
- Dal [detached] because he is detached (meduldal) from property
- Dach [oppressed] because he is crushed (meduchdach); he sees a thing but cannot eat it, he sees a thing and cannot taste it, and cannot drink it
- Mach [trampled upon] because he is lowly before everyone, like a kind of lowest threshold.
- Helech [vagrant] or Chelech [weak]
Therefore Moses warns Israel: "if your brother becomes poor…"
- What are the different ways people are or become disenfranchised?
- Which terms relate to the subjective experience of poverty and which are how other people perceive the poor?
- Think about English terms and euphemisms we use (or no longer use) for “the poor” (e.g. paupers, indigent, impoverished, needy, destitute, mendicant, dispossessed, underprivileged). What inflections of meaning does each term have?
- What does it take for such a person to re-enter society?
(לה) וְכִֽי־יָמ֣וּךְ אָחִ֔יךָ וּמָ֥טָה יָד֖וֹ עִמָּ֑ךְ וְהֶֽחֱזַ֣קְתָּ בּ֔וֹ גֵּ֧ר וְתוֹשָׁ֛ב וָחַ֖י עִמָּֽךְ׃
(35) And if your brother becomes impoverished, and his hand [means?] fails with you; then you should uphold him as a resident alien and a settler and he shall live with you.
(כד) אִם־כֶּ֣סֶף ׀ תַּלְוֶ֣ה אֶת־עַמִּ֗י אֶת־הֶֽעָנִי֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹא־תִהְיֶ֥ה ל֖וֹ כְּנֹשֶׁ֑ה לֹֽא־תְשִׂימ֥וּן עָלָ֖יו נֶֽשֶׁךְ׃
(24) If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act towards him as a creditor; exact no interest from him.
(ו) לֹ֥א תַטֶּ֛ה מִשְׁפַּ֥ט אֶבְיֹנְךָ֖ בְּרִיבֽוֹ׃
(6) You shall not subvert the rights of your needy in their disputes.
(יג) ט֛וֹב יֶ֥לֶד מִסְכֵּ֖ן וְחָכָ֑ם מִמֶּ֤לֶךְ זָקֵן֙ וּכְסִ֔יל אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־יָדַ֥ע לְהִזָּהֵ֖ר עֽוֹד׃
(13) Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who no longer has the has the sense to heed warnings.
(כג) וַֽיְדַבְּר֞וּ עַבְדֵ֤י שָׁאוּל֙ בְּאָזְנֵ֣י דָוִ֔ד אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּוִ֗ד הַֽנְקַלָּ֤ה בְעֵֽינֵיכֶם֙ הִתְחַתֵּ֣ן בַּמֶּ֔לֶךְ וְאָנֹכִ֖י אִֽישׁ־רָ֥שׁ וְנִקְלֶֽה׃
(23) And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said: ‘Do you think that becoming the son-in-law of a king is a small matter, when I am but a poor man of no consequence?’
(ג) וְדָ֕ל לֹ֥א תֶהְדַּ֖ר בְּרִיבֽוֹ׃ (ס)
(3) nor shall you show deference to a poor man in his dispute.
(י) וִ֘יהִ֤י יְהוָ֣ה מִשְׂגָּ֣ב לַדָּ֑ךְ מִ֝שְׂגָּ֗ב לְעִתּ֥וֹת בַּצָּרָֽה׃
(10) The LORD will be a high tower for the oppressed, a high tower in times of trouble.
(ח) וְאִם־מָ֥ךְ הוּא֙ מֵֽעֶרְכֶּ֔ךָ וְהֶֽעֱמִידוֹ֙ לִפְנֵ֣י הַכֹּהֵ֔ן וְהֶעֱרִ֥יךְ אֹת֖וֹ הַכֹּהֵ֑ן עַל־פִּ֗י אֲשֶׁ֤ר תַּשִּׂיג֙ יַ֣ד הַנֹּדֵ֔ר יַעֲרִיכֶ֖נּוּ הַכֹּהֵֽן׃ (ס)
(8) But if he cannot afford the equivalent, he shall be presented before the priest, and the priest shall assess him; the priest shall assess him according to what the vower can afford.
(ד) וַיָּ֣בֹא הֵלֶךְ֮ לְאִ֣ישׁ הֶֽעָשִׁיר֒ וַיַּחְמֹ֗ל לָקַ֤חַת מִצֹּאנוֹ֙ וּמִבְּקָר֔וֹ לַעֲשׂ֕וֹת לָאֹרֵ֖חַ הַבָּא־ל֑וֹ וַיִּקַּ֗ח אֶת־כִּבְשַׂת֙ הָאִ֣ישׁ הָרָ֔אשׁ וַֽיַּעֲשֶׂ֔הָ לָאִ֖ישׁ הַבָּ֥א אֵלָֽיו׃
(4) One day a traveller came to the rich man, but he was loath to take anything from his own flocks or herds to prepare a meal for the guest who had come to him; so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.’
(ח) יֵשֵׁ֤ב ׀ בְּמַאְרַ֬ב חֲצֵרִ֗ים בַּֽ֭מִּסְתָּרִים יַהֲרֹ֣ג נָקִ֑י עֵ֝ינָ֗יו לְֽחֵלְכָ֥ה יִצְפֹּֽנוּ׃... (יד) רָאִ֡תָה כִּֽי־אַתָּ֤ה ׀ עָ֘מָ֤ל וָכַ֨עַס ׀ תַּבִּיט֮ לָתֵ֪ת בְּיָ֫דֶ֥ךָ עָ֭לֶיךָ יַעֲזֹ֣ב חֵלֶ֑כָה יָ֝ת֗וֹם אַתָּ֤ה ׀ הָיִ֬יתָ עוֹזֵֽר׃
(8) He lurks in outlying places; from a covert he slay the innocent; His eyes are on the watch for the helpless…. (14) You do look! You take note of mischief and vexation. To requite is in your power. To you the helpless can entrust himself; You have ever been the orphan’s help.
from"Respect: the formation of character in the age of inequality"
by Richard Sennett (pp53-58)
Status usually refers to where a person stands in a social hierarchy….
Prestige refers to the emotions which status arouses in others, but the relation between status and prestige is complicated….
What’s missing in these terms is something which conveys mutuality, which is what the word “recognition” does. The philosopher Fichte first cast recognition into legal language, exploring how laws can be framed so that the needs of strangers, foreigners and migrants are acknowledged in a constitution….
But the word “recognition” in these positive usages, is still not broad enough to encompass the awareness of mutual need. There is a further, and darker element which consists of social honour. The word “honour” has an old-fashioned and rather Victorian ring, but in two ways is a much more fundamental category of social life.
Honour proposes first, codes of conduct: a Bedouin tribesman obliged by custom to serve as guardian to his dead brother’s children follows a code of honour. Second, honour signals a kind of erasure of social boundaries and distance. In the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s worlds, honour supposes “an individual who sees himself through the eyes of others, who has need of others for his existence, because the image he has of himself is indistinguishable from the presented to him by other people.” Both the strength and the perversity of social honour is to be found in mutuality of this sort.
There is one word left and it is the most obscure….
The Kabyle of North Africa have a saying: “Man is man through men; God alone is God through himself.” The saying is meant in part to define a dignified human being: dignity comes through faith in God, no matter what the codes of honour, the communications among men, or the arts of expression.
Modern society has tried to find two secular equivalents of equal gravity…. the integrity of the body…. [and] the dignity of labour….
Both are universal values: the dignity of a body is a value all people can share; the dignity of work only a few can achieve. While society may respect the equal dignity of all human bodies, the dignity of labour leads in quite a different direction: a universal value with highly unequal consequences. Invoking dignity as a "universal value”, moreover, provides in itself no clue about how to practice an inclusive mutual respect.