LEV1046 Giving intelligently involves, above all, observing how best to benefit the recipient, giving so as to extricate him from his poverty by granting a gift or loan, or by finding him employment, or any other means that will make him self-supporting. The donor fulfills the mitzvah of [this verse]. It is similarly stated in the Sefer Chassidim: "There is a form of giving which does not appear to be charity. Yet it has always appeared eminently so in the eyes of God. Suppose a poor man was selling some product or a book which no one wanted to buy, and this person bought it from him. Or else the poor man looked for a position; no one wanted to hire him--but this man gave him employment. There is no higher form of tzedakah." I have known rich and respected people of this type. They have undertaken certain business activities for the specific purpose of providing employment for poor Jews to earn a living. All of this, and the like, is tzedakah, if not higher. Happy is their lot.