Although giving charity and doing deeds of loving-kindness for others is a great mitzvah, you are correct in your assumption that some ways of helping are better than others.
Some rules might be obvious, such as giving “with a smile” rather than giving begrudgingly. Or giving in a way that doesn’t embarrass the needy – such as not giving him money in public where others are watching. But how many “levels” are there and what exactly are they?
The Code of Jewish Law ( Yoreh Deah 249:6-13) lists eight levels of giving charity. They are, in descending order:
1) To invest in another’s business (or set him up in business).
2) To give charity without the recipient knowing who gave it and without the donor knowing to whom it went.
3) Where the donor knows who the charity is going to but the recipient does not know who donated the money.
4) Where the donor is unaware of who the recipient is but the recipient knows who donated the money.
5) To give charity to a poor person before he actually asks for it.
6) To give the amount of charity that the donor is asked for.
7) To give less than is asked in a pleasant way.
8) The last level is to give charity in an unfriendly way.
Doing righteousness and giving charity in any of these forms is a mitzvah that benefits both the giver and the needy. Our Sages refer to it as a mitzvah that a person does and “eats their fruits in this world” while the “principle remains for him in the World-to-Come.”
