With Thanksgiving a week away and Christmas just a month following, we are now squarely in the season of thanks and giving. As such, my thoughts remain fixed on the giving aspect of both holidays. Perhaps it’s an age thing, but over the past several years I’ve found myself often pondering how I might give back blessings in some measure even remotely close to those which I have received. I am somewhat comforted by Mother Teresa’s point that it’s not how much we give but how much love we put into our giving. But then I think of what she actually gave and gave up in dedicating her entire adult life to caring for the desperately poor and rejected masses in India and, once again, I feel inconsequential in how little I really do give.
Several years ago, in this weekly message, I wrote about a remarkable man of the Middle Ages who taught about what he called “The Golden Ladder of Charity.” In contemplating how to give, I feel it appropriate to revisit his philosophies on this subject.
Moses ben Maimon, who is more commonly known as Maimonides (1135-1204), was a Jewish philosopher-physician-astronomer-rabbi who greatly influenced the thinking and doctrine of not only his own religion but of Christian and Islamic thinking as well. In his writings on the ladder of charity, Maimonides describes eight ways to give, like eight rungs on a ladder, from bottom to top, from the least generous way to the most generous way. Maimonides’ ladder invites us to ponder on the kind of gifts that we give, the manner in which we give them, and of the motivation behind our giving.
THE FIRST and lowest rung on the Golden Ladder of Charity is to give – but with reluctance or regret. This is the gift of the hand but not of the heart.
THE SECOND is to give cheerfully, but not proportionately to the distress of the suffering.
THE THIRD is to give cheerfully and proportionately, but not until we are solicited.
THE FOURTH is to give cheerfully, proportionately, and even unsolicited; but to put it directly in the poor man’s hand, thereby exciting in him the painful emotion of shame.
THE FIFTH is to give charity in such a way that the distressed may receive the bounty and know their benefactor, without their being known to him. Such was the conduct of our ancestors, who used to tie up money in the hind-corners of their cloaks, so that the poor might take it unperceived.
THE SIXTH, which rises still higher, is to know the objects of our bounty, but remain unknown to them. Such was the conduct of those of our ancestors who used to convey their charitable gifts into people’s dwellings, taking care that their own person’s should remain unknown.
THE SEVENTH is still more meritorious; namely, to bestow charity in such a way that the benefactor may not know the relieved persons, nor they the name of their benefactor.
THE EIGHTH and most meritorious of all is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty; namely, to assist the reduced brother either by a considerable gift, or a loan of money, or by teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way of business, so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding out his hand for charity. This is the highest step and the summit of charity’s Golden Ladder.
How many of the eight ladders of giving have you been able to climb? If you’re like me, you most likely find it more difficult to recount your own giving experience as you get to the higher rungs of the ladder.
So, here’s a Seasonal challenge for myself coupled with an offering for each of you to join me. In addition to our usual giving plans, or in place of them, let’s make an effort to climb the ladder all the way to the top, paying special attention to rungs six, seven and eight. To succeed, our effort may have to extend past Christmas, but gracious giving requires no special season just as it does not demand special talent or large sums of money. True giving simply requires the joining of our head and heart into a conjoined search for and melding with the sacredness that lies within us all. When we give, we should endeavor to give in the best way but we should give regardless. For it is in giving that we truly open the door for our receiving.
You often say; I would give, but only to the deserving. The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life–while you, who deem yourself a giver, is but a witness. –Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque