Chapter 27
God said: A certain man built a dam across a river, using only stones, but no cement. And the water ran through the crevices, rendering the dam worthless.
Then some neighbors came to him, saying: You should apply cement to the crevices.
So, the man went to the lower side, and applied cement; but, lo and behold, the result was only temporary, for the water washed the cement away.
Again his neighbors said to him: Apply the cement at the upper side, and the water will carry it into the crevices, where it will remain with good effect.
And the man did so, and, behold, the dam was a complete structure.
Using the same principle, O man, consider all charities. You may apply your riches and your estates, for charity’s sake, but be of no benefit under the sun.
When the man applied the cement, where it was not self-sustaining, the waters washed it away.
Wherever you apply charity, and it is not self-sustaining, judgment is rendered against you.
When the man applied the cement toward the fountain, it became self-sustaining.
Wherever you apply charity, and it is self-sustaining, judgment is rendered in your favor.
When you meet your neighbor on the road, and he has fallen down and broken his legs, and cannot stand, consider how foolish it would be to lift him up, and then, let him fall again. Do not flatter yourself, that such actions would be charity.
And yet, how much of the so-called charity of the world is of that kind.
You may feed three drunkards’ families, and flatter yourself you have done charity worthily; but, if you have not done that which will make them no longer in need of charity, you have done little.
Another man may not feed them, but he may reform them, and put them in the way to be self- sustaining. Such a man will have done a hundred-fold greater charity.
To open the way for employment and industry, this is the greatest of all charity. For, by these avenues, charity will not be needed, even for the aged, or for orphans.
Consider, then, how little any people have to boast of for charity’s sake. Even their asylums, poorhouses, and homes for the aged and helpless, are as so many witnesses of condemnation against the people who built them; because some great wrongs and evils existing within the state were also built by the same people in the first place.
They (the charities) are like paint and plaster for the sins of a wicked people, hiding and redeeming the sins, in some measure.
And when such a city says: Behold us! What a charitable people we are! || I say to you, that this city does not understand the kingdom of your God.
Yet, you shall avoid going to the other extreme, doing nothing, which is worst of all. But you shall go to the root of the matter; your charity shall be directed to prevent the causes of such ill- fortunes.