Wise giving TY Shekalim 15

With today’s daf TY Shekalim 15 we conclude the fifth chapter of our massekhet and begin the sixth chapter. The last Mishna of chapter 5 describes two chambers in the Temple used for collections. One was for tzedakah and the other was for donated utensils.

There were two chambers for collections in the Temple; one was called “the Chamber of the Discrete,” and the other one was called “the Chamber of the Utensils.” The Mishna explains how they were used: What purpose did the Chamber of the Discrete serve? Sin fearing people would deposit donations into it discreetly, and paupers who came from good families (my translation-gg) would sustain themselves from it discreetly…(Art Scroll translation)

We learn several important lessons from this Mishna how we should give tzedakah. Moses Maimonides teaches the eight levels of tzedakah in his Mishnah Torah, Hilkhot Gifts to the Poor, chapter 10, halakha 8. The highest level is teaching a person a trade so he’s no longer dependent upon tzedakah. Our Mishna describes the penultimate level, the giver gives an anonymously and the recipient remains an anonymous.

The second important lesson we learn flows from the first. We learned back in TB Berakhot 19b “גדול כבוד הבריות-gedol kavod habriyot, great is the dignity to God’s creatures. Since each human being is created in God’s own image, he or she has inherent dignity which must be maintained. Embarrassing a person goes against everything that Judaism stands for. The Chamber of the Discrete gave the opportunity to donate to the needy in such a way that the poor were not embarrassed.

The Gemara provides us with many stories that concretize this lesson. Rabbi Yonahh said: It is not written here in Psalms: “Praise be he who gives to the needy.” Rather it is written: “Praise be he who contemplates the needy.” (Psalms 41:2) This refers to one who looks at a commandment to see how best to perform it, that should entail no demeaning of the poor person. How would Rabbi Yonah himself act in fulfillment of his own teaching? When he would see a poor person from an aristocratic family “My son, since I have heard that an inheritance has fallen to you from someplace else, and you will soon be out of your financial difficulties, therefore, take this money now, and when you receive your inheritance, you will repay me.” Once (the poor person) took the money Rabbi Yonah would tell him, “Do not worry about paying me back, and giving it to you as a gift!” (Art Scroll translation)

“Tiklin Chadtin explains that Rabbi Yonah had a deeper meaning in mind in his approach to the pauper, according to which Rabbi Yonah was not saying an untruth: when Rabbi Yonah said that an inheritance have fallen to the pauper from someplace else, he was thinking of the verse (Proverbs 19:14): ‘A house and wealth are an inheritance from fathers.’ In the case of this unfortunate fellow who became poor, his ‘inheritance’ will have to come from someplace else, who will then be considered a surrogate father. When Rabbi Yonah said, ‘Take now and later you will repay,’ he meant that one day the pauper will repay the favor by helping out another pauper.” (Art Scroll commentary, note 26)