Lesson · 4 min Steady
Eight Rungs of Giving
In one line Maimonides ranked ways of giving, and put at the top the help that lets someone stop needing help.
In his legal code, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides set out eight levels of giving to the poor. At the bottom is giving grudgingly. Above it is giving less than you should, but gladly. Then giving after being asked, and giving before being asked.
Higher still are gifts where the giver does not know the receiver, or the receiver does not know the giver, and above those, gifts where neither knows the other. Such giving protects the dignity of the poor.
The highest level is to strengthen a person before they fall into need: a gift, a loan, a partnership or a job that lets them support themselves. The aim of giving, on this view, is a person who no longer needs to be given to.
Go deeper
Maimonides wrote the Mishneh Torah in clear Hebrew so that people could find the law without searching through the whole Talmud. Critics complained that he left out sources and debates. The ladder of giving reflects his wider view that law aims at character: a good giver is shaped by practice, and the way you give can matter as much as what you give.
The neighbor’s van
A neighbor’s van breaks down, and he cannot get to the jobs that pay his rent. One friend offers to cover a month of rent.
Another friend knows a mechanic and lends him the money for the repair, to be paid back over the summer. He gets back to work and pays his own rent. Both helped. The second kind of help is the higher rung.
Try this today Next time you help someone, ask whether there is a way to help that leaves them less dependent.
Cite or share this lesson
A plain reference you can paste into notes or an essay:
Quest2Reason. “Eight Rungs of Giving.” https://quest2reason.com/learn/lesson/eight-rungs. Accessed 13 November 2026.
Sources
- Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10:7–14 (Sefaria) — The eight levels of giving, from grudging to making a person self-supporting. Paraphrase.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Maimonides” — Background on Maimonides’s life and works.