EXOD710 Maimonides lists seven biblical Commandments enjoining the giving of charity (Sefer HaMitzvot 120-124, 130, 197). These multiple laws attest to the great importance attached to charity in Judaism and also to the need for overcoming a well-entrenched natural reluctance to part with one's hard-earned money. Of the seven commandments, six are obligatory levies raised from the produce of the soil. Interestingly, the single voluntary charity specified in the Bible is not an outright gift of money but a loan [this verse]. Judaism regards help extended to the poor with a view toward enabling them to become self-supporting as the most laudable form of charity (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 10:7). The Book of Psalms brackets making an interest-free loan with giving alms as an act whose merit shall endure forever (112:5, 9). (Continued at [[LEV1031]] Leviticus 25:35 kinsman BLOCH 51-2)