The highest level of charity is when one gives charity and does not know to whom one is giving and the recipient does not know from who he is receiving. This achieves both that the poor person will be less embarrassed and that the donor performs the act of charity for its own sake without any expectation that he will receive any appreciation in return. Included in this is one who gives to a public charity fund. However it would appear that if he is worried that they will suspect him and say about him that he does not give enough to charity according to his means, then when he gives charity to a friend, he should inform him so that he will increase love, brotherhood, peace and friendship, as well as the idea that “You should be clean from Hashem and Klal Yisrael” and “this is all of the man” that all of his actions should be for the sake of heaven. Included in this type of hidden charity is one who buys from a poor person and pays a high price and then sells to him at a low price, and one who hires this poor person to work for him and pays him fittingly in order to perform acts of charity.
In truth, the evil inclination about money is as hard as iron. It follows that a person should be strong and perform acts of charity according to his level. It all depends on the level of his love for Hashem, as “If a man would give all of the wealth of his house for love” any obstacles would be as nothing in his eyes, and how much more so when he knows and believes in the words of the holy Torah and Chazal that Hashem will repay him many times over and that a person never becomes poor because of performing acts of charity, nor can any bad thing or damage be caused by charity, as it says “And the deed of charity will be peace”.
