Sufficient For What They Lack: Customization in Acts of Tzedekah

(7) When there is among you a needy-person from any-one of your brothers, within one of your gates in the land that YHWH your God is giving you, you are not to toughen your heart, you are not to shut your hand to your brother, the needy-one. Rather you are to open, yes, open your hand to him, and are to lend him, yes, lend to him, sufficient for his lack that is lacking for him.

The Sages taught: “Sufficient for what he lacks”; this teaches that you are commanded with respect to the needy person to support him, but you are not commanded with respect to him to make him wealthy, as the obligation encompasses only that which he lacks, as indicated by the word "lacks." However, the verse also states: “Which is lacking for him”; this includes even a horse upon which to ride and a servant to run in front of him for the sake of his stature, if necessary. For someone accustomed to these advantages, their absences constitute a true deficiency, not an extravagant indulgence.

The Gemara relates: They said about Hillel the Elder that he obtained for a poor person of noble descent a horse upon which to ride and a servant to run in front of him. One time he did not find a servant to run in front of him, and Hillel himself ran in front of him for three mil, to fulfill the dictate “which is deficient for him.”... A certain person came before Rabbi Neḥemya to request charity. He said to him: On what do you normally dine? He said to him: I usually dine on fatty meat and aged wine. Rabbi Neḥemya asked him: Is it your wish to belittle yourself and partake together with me in a meal of lentils, which is my regular food? He partook with him of lentils, and he died, since he was not accustomed to this food. Rabbi Neḥemya said: Woe to this one who was killed by Neḥemya. The Gemara wonders: On the contrary, Rabbi Neḥemya should have said: Woe to Neḥemya who killed this one..

When the great calamity befell Job, he pleaded with the Holy One. “Master of the Universe, did I not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, as it is written, “Have I eaten bread alone, and orphans not eaten from it?” ( Job 31:16). And did I not clothe the naked, as it is written, “Was he not warmed by the fleece of my sheep?” ( Job 31:20).

However, the Holy One answered Job, “Job, you have not yet reached half the measure [of hospitality] extended by Abraham. You sat in your house waiting for guests to come to you. To him who was accustomed to eat wheat bread, you gave wheat bread; to him who was accustomed to eat meat, you gave meat; and to him who was accustomed to drink wine, you gave wine.

But Abraham did not act this way. He went out, getting about in the world. When he met prospective guests, he brought them to his home. Even to him who was not accustomed to eat wheat bread, he gave wheat bread; to him who was not accustomed to eat meat, he gave meat; and to him who was not accustomed to drink wine, he gave wine. Not only that, but he got busy and built spacious mansions along the highways, and stocked them with food and drink, so that whoever entered ate, drank, and blessed Heaven. Therefore, unusual satisfaction was given to Abraham, and whatever any person requested was to be found in his house.