In general charity, there are, it is true, certain rules of precedence to be observed; kindred, for example, have, in all cases, the first claim, and a child supporting his parents, or even a parent supporting adult children, to the end that these may be ‘versed in the law, and have good manners,’ is set high among followers of _tzedakah_. Then, ‘_The poor who are neighbours are to be regarded before all others; the poor of one’s own family before the poor of one’s own city, and the poor of one’s own city before the poor of another’s city._’ And this version of ‘charity begins at home’ is worked out in another place into quite a detailed table, so to speak, of professional precedence in the ranks of recognised recipients. And, curiously enough, first among all the distinctions to be observed comes this: ‘_If a man and woman solicit relief, the woman shall be first attended to and then the man._’ An explanation, perhaps a justification, of this mild forestalment of women’s rights, is given in the further dictum that ‘Man is accustomed to wander, and that woman is not,’ and ‘Her feelings of modesty being more acute,’ it is fit that she should be ‘always fed and clothed before the man.’ And if, in this ancient system, there be a recognised scale of rights for receiving, so, equally, is there a graduated order of merit in giving. Eight in number are these so-called ‘Degrees in Alms Deeds,’ the curious list gravely setting forth as ‘highest,’ and this, it would seem, rather on the lines of ‘considering the poor’ than of mere giving, that _tzedakah_ which ‘helpeth ... who is cast down,’ by means of gift or loan, or timely procuring of employment, and ranging through ‘next’ and ‘next,’ till it announces, as eighth and least, the ‘any one who giveth after much molestation.’ High in the list, too, are placed those ‘silent givers’ who ‘let not poor children of upright parents know from whom they receive support,’ and even the man who ‘giveth less than his means allow’ is lifted one degree above the lowest if he ‘give with a kind countenance.’