Why This Rabbi Gave Charity Twice: Maimonides' Golden Mean

Have you ever struggled with knowing when to be firm and when to be flexible? When to follow the rules and when to go beyond them? In this profound teaching, we explore Maimonides’ brilliant framework for navigating life’s moral complexities: the Golden Mean.

🕰️ Detailed Navigation:

📚 Deeper Understanding:On the Golden Mean: Aristotle taught virtue as the middle between vices. Maimonides adopts this but adds Jewish depth: the chassid (pious person) sometimes tilts away from center, “lifnim mishurat hadin” (beyond the letter of the law). This isn’t extremism—it’s evidence of penetrating beneath surface rules to grasp their spirit.

On Emulating God: When Torah says “walk in His ways,” how do we understand God’s behavior? We look at His attributes: gracious (chanun), merciful (rachum), holy (kadosh). But here’s the deeper point: God isn’t limited to one approach. He combines attributes with perfect discernment. That discernment is what we’re commanded to develop.

On Internal vs. External Ethics: Most of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah follows a pattern: state the commandment first, then elaborate. Here he reverses it—five paragraphs of explanation, THEN the biblical source. Why? Because character traits must develop internally before we recognize their transcendent dimension. You can’t outsource your moral development to commandments alone.

On the Power of Da’at (Knowledge/Discernment): The three intellectual faculties in Jewish thought:

• Chochmah: Wisdom—conceiving an idea
• Binah: Understanding—developing and analyzing
• Da’at: Knowledge—discerning when to apply what

Da’at is what separates humans from animals. It’s our “divine endowment” that allows us to know when to be merciful and when to be stern, when to give anonymously and when publicly. This is walking in God’s ways.

❓ FAQ Section: Q: Isn’t the golden mean just Greek philosophy, not Jewish? A: Maimonides brilliantly synthesizes Aristotelian ethics with Torah. The Jewish addition: knowing when to go beyond the mean, and recognizing this all connects to emulating God.

Q: How do I know when to stay in the middle vs. when to tilt toward an extreme? A: That’s precisely the power of da’at (discernment) that Maimonides teaches about. It develops through study, experience, and recognizing you’re made in God’s image.

Q: Isn’t going to extremes dangerous? A: Maimonides isn’t advocating extremism. The chassid tilts toward (not all the way to) an extreme when the situation calls for it—like giving extra charity when someone is truly desperate.

📖 Primary Sources & References:

• Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot (Laws of Character Traits), Chapter 1
• Deuteronomy: “You shall walk in His ways”
• Talmudic principles on “lifnim mishurat hadin” (going beyond the letter of the law)
• The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s commentary on divine emulation
• Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (for philosophical comparison)