---
title: Tzedakah and Maimonides’ ladder
summary: In Jewish tradition, giving is an obligation of justice, and the 12th-century scholar Maimonides ranked eight levels of it. The highest helps a person no longer need charity at all.
tradition: Judaism
origin: The Hebrew Bible and rabbinic law, set out systematically by Maimonides in the 12th century
practice: Regular giving to the poor as a duty of justice, ranked by how much dignity and independence it preserves
lens: Maimonides’ highest level emphasizes helping someone become self-sufficient. Charitology reads this as a connection to preventing future need and preserving agency, not as proof that the wider causes of poverty have ended.
sources:
  - title: Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor 10:7
    publisher: Sefaria
    url: https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Gifts_to_the_Poor.10.7
  - title: 'Maimonides’ Eight Levels: A Contemporary Reading'
    publisher: My Jewish Learning
    url: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/maimonides-eight-levels-a-comtemporary-reading/
---

## What it is

*Tzedakah* is usually translated as “charity,” but the Hebrew root is closer to *justice* or *righteousness*. In Jewish law, giving to people in need is an obligation rather than an optional kindness.

## The ladder

In his code of Jewish law, the *Mishneh Torah*, Maimonides ranked eight levels of giving. The lower levels describe how a gift is given: grudgingly or cheerfully, less than one should or enough, openly or anonymously. Higher levels protect the dignity of the person receiving help, for example when neither side knows the other.

The highest level is different in kind. It is to help a person become self-sufficient through a gift, a loan, a partnership or a job, so that they no longer need to ask for help at all.

## Through the source lens

Charitology’s depth scale runs from relief to source. Maimonides put prevention of need at the top of his ladder eight centuries ago. The tradition doesn’t treat relief as unworthy, since every level on the ladder is still a fulfillment of the obligation. It ranks them, and the ranking points upstream.