The Attitude of Giving in Rambam’s Obligations to the Poor

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Rambam’s “Obligations to the Poor” from the Mishneh Torah help us understand how we should interact with the people who are less fortunate than us. As Professor Isador Twersky has said, “Maimonides’ [treatment of tzedakah] illustrates the need for sensitivity, tact, and graciousness in the act of charity. The formal, objective act of giving charity is deficient and defective if it is not characterized by kindness and sympathy.” This directly relates to the chapter in the Mishnah that we have been studying in Rabbinic Literature.
The quote said by Professor Twersky is highlighting not only the physical aspects of giving tzedakah, but also more the idea that we emotionally need to feel a certain way when giving tzedakah. We cannot just throw money at the person, but we have to be willing to help them with their exact needs, not just what we think that they need. If we decide to give to charity but not be kind about it, the giving is ineffective and it is like we have not done the mitzvah at all. We will further discuss how this relates to Rambam’s Obligations of giving to the poor below.
To begin with, halachah aleph (א) states that it is a positive commandment to give tzedakah to the poor and we should open our hands to them. We should let them live with us as if they were our brothers. In this part, Rambam is discussing that if someone is in need, we have the obligation to help them. This is a general claim; we need to be generous and help someone who is in need. This halachah relates to what was said by Professor Twersky when he discusses that we must help the poor, even though it doesn’t directly state how. Twersky is telling us that we must give to the poor; only he is being more specific in how we must feel while giving...

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...I feel bad not giving to the poor, however, I do not always know what they will do with what I give to them. In today’s society, some money that we give to them might go towards buying drugs, alcohol, or something else that they may not need. For this reason, I prefer to give through an organization that I trust so that I know the poor will be receiving the kind of help that they need and not just hoping that they will buy the right thing. This way I am also in less of a risky situation, since I do not know the person, I do not know what they are capable of doing. Rambam addresses all these concerns and explains what we should do in each situation. Next time I see a poor person, I will keep in mind what Rambam has said, as well as what Professor Twersky has described about keeping in mind how we are performing the action and how it is perceived by the poor person.

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