• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• 7. Priorities and Obligations in Charity (Horeb §573)

Chapter 1

The foundation of communal Jewish identity rests on Torah itself. A Jew is not defined only by personal belief but by belonging to a people bound by covenant. In this sense, every Jew shares responsibility for the spiritual and material well-being of the nation. The Torah Jew is a communal being first.

Chapter 2

At the same time, each person stands before God as an individual. Beyond the communal duties, there is the individual Torah Jew who must study, pray, and act with integrity regardless of what the community does. The covenant is collective, but the mitzvot are personal obligations.

Chapter 3

Above both communal and individual levels lies the elevated Jew, who models himself on Avraham Avinu. He gives not only because commanded, but because he seeks to embody God’s will beyond obligation. This is a life of chesed, generosity, and moral courage that extends past the minimum halachic line.

Chapter 4

History shows that Jewish survival has depended not on numbers but on the strength of identity. Nations such as Edom or Moav have disappeared, but Israel remains. The Torah teaches that the Jewish people endure because of their covenantal responsibility to one another and their willingness to sacrifice for Torah and community.

Chapter 5

This three-tiered model of Jewish identity mirrors Rambam’s structure of tzedakah: from minimal giving, to proportional obligation, to the highest level of enabling independence. Likewise, the Jew moves from communal identity, to individual duty, to the elevated calling of Avraham’s path. Each level is necessary, but the goal is always to rise higher.

Chapter 6

We live in a world that often confuses values. Wealth, power, and convenience are mistaken for purpose. Yet Torah insists that responsibility defines a Jew’s life. Whether in the Beit Midrash or in the marketplace, the question is not “what do I gain?” but “what do I owe?” This outlook transforms even ordinary acts into service of God and community.

7. Priorities and Obligations in Charity (Horeb §573)

1. Who has a claim:
   Everyone in need has a claim on your charity. Jewish poor—even sinners—must be cared for. A ger toshav (a non-Jew who rejects idolatry and accepts the seven universal laws) has a claim equal to that of a Jew.
2. Adult children count as tzedakah and come first:
   Money spent on sons and daughters after you are no longer legally obligated to maintain them is also tzedakah—including their upkeep, guidance, Torah education for sons, and good-life education for daughters. This support takes precedence over giving to others.
3. Order of precedence among people:
   • Yourself comes first. If you lack enough for your own basic needs, you are not obligated in tzedakah.
   • Next: father and mother.
   • Then: your children.
   • Then: your brothers and sisters.
   • Then: other relatives, neighbors, your fellow-townspeople, and finally strangers.
4. Within relatives and locales:
   • Your father’s siblings precede your mother’s siblings.
   • The poor of your household precede the poor of your town.
   • The poor of your own town precede those of another town—even if the other town is in Eretz Yisrael.
   • All else being equal among non-locals, the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael take precedence over other places.
5. Relatives before the community:
   The well-to-do relatives of a poor person are obligated to support him before the community is asked to do so.
6. How to give in practice:
   • If you can, bring a poor person into your home and employ/serve him.
   • Feeding the hungry outranks clothing the naked.
   • Women have a stronger claim than men.
   • Food is given without investigation when asked; clothing may be investigated—but if you know the person, provide it immediately.
   • Ransoming captives/prisoners takes priority over everything else.