226. Receiving Charity

34:15 One should try to avoid needing to accept charity, preferring to go without things than being dependent on others. The Talmud in Shabbos (118a) says that it’s better for a person that his Shabbos meals should be like his weekday meals than to have to seek aid. Even a great Torah scholar should accept any work available, even menial labor, before he agrees to accept charity.

34:16 If someone does not really need charity but he deceitfully solicits it, he will not die before becoming truly needy. However, if one needs charity to survive and refuses it out of pride, it’s like committing suicide and he is held responsible for taking for his own life. However, one who could legitimately use charity but chooses to go without things rather than becoming a burden on the community, such a person will ultimately be given the means to support others. Regarding such a person, the prophet Jeremiah said, “Blessed is the man who places his trust in God…” (Jeremiah 17:7).