GEN462 In a section devoted to the laws of Tsedakah [refers mainly to a money-offering given primarily to the poor], Maimonides categorizes three of the noblest types of gemilat hasadim [includes all deed of kindness other than monetary]. The first is to lend money to the poor without the taking of any interest; the second is to cheer them with word and deed as well as with the giving of money; and the third is just to evince sympathy with the misfortune of another without wedding it to acts of a practical nature.  The Jew should give readily and joyfully; not “till it hurts to give” [A popular expression which is alien to the spirit of social ethics, in which charity is regarded as a joyous privilege] but till one feels the pleasure of having given generously. The very phrase is a contradiction of the Jewish ethics of giving. Why should a Mitzvah hurt? The Mishnah Bikkurim 3 which glowingly records the joyous procession of those bringing the first-fruits between Shavuot and Sukkot into the Temple where they recited the prayer of gratitude Deuteronomy 26:1-11, stipulates that if the first-fruits were tardily brought after the termination of Sukkot, no such recitation was allowed. Why? One should not wait for the last moment before discharging dues. Man must give according to his means, not according to his meanness.  The classic Biblical example of such meanness in giving is to be found in the story of Cain and Abel. Genesis 4:1-15  There we are told that Cain brought some “fruit of the ground as an offering unto the Lord”, but Abel “brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof” Genesis 4:3-4  We are not surprised that “The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering, He had not respect” [this verse] Had mankind learnt the moral of this story from the beginning, it would have been spared much suffering. It would seem, however, that though man is gradually making the earth yield its secret weapons of destruction, such as the atomic and the hydroGenesis bomb [published 1976 – AJL], he has not yet learnt the elementary truths of the sanctity of life and the need for kindliness. Mankind has climbed the mountains of scientific discoveries but its soul it has left in the valley below. For it spends most of its energies in acquiring goods but not the good. When will mankind learn that there are no pockets in the shrouds in which we are clothed when our eyes are closed? LEHRMAN 210-11