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Ever hear of Heifer International? No? Until last Sunday, I'd never heard of it either. I was talking to my little grandsons, ages 7 and 3, via the WebCam perched on top of my computer screen.

The boys were telling me about their Shabbat observances. They wear kippahs, they have a special dinner with challah and wine, mommy lights candles, and daddy says brachot. Then they put money into the tzedakah boxes (pushkes) they made at Hebrew school. They held the boxes up to the screen so I could see them.

"What do you do with the money when the boxes are filled?" I asked.

"We give it to people who don't have as much food or money as we have," the older boy said.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"We send it to this place called Heifer International."

Intrigued, I looked into it. To my surprise, it's actually a well-known charity started by a Midwestern farmer named Dan West who was ladling out rations of milk to hungry kids during the Spanish Civil War. He realized that simply doling out food does not solve the problem of hunger.

"These children don't need a cup; they need a cow," he said.

He formed Heifers for Relief, dedicated to ending hunger by providing livestock and training as well. The first shipment of 17 heifers left Pennsylvania for Puerto Rico in 1944. Why were heifers sent? Because they are cows that have not yet given birth. These young cows would supply milk and would also be a continuous source of more cows. Families receiving a heifer agreed to donate female offspring to another family, thus continuing the process.

Today, donors to this organization get to choose which animal they are giving -- a cow, a goat, chickens, rabbits, geese. In concept, this way of using what my grandmother would have called pushke money is far beyond the pushke concept of her time. The visual association makes the process more real and less abstract for the kids.

The globalization of this 21st century influences our thinking in many ways, including the choices we can make for charitable contributions. We can think not only of local charities or Israel, but also of the victims of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, and wars around the world. We are aware of the needs of children, refugees, the hungry, and the sick in every country. This is as it should be.

However, charity is more than just giving a donation to a faceless organization. It really involves the feelings of the recipients, too. Many years ago, I wrote a children's story, which was published in Young Judean magazine.

Two boys, Jason and Marty, liked to go together for ice cream every Sunday until Jason stopped going for lack of money. For a while, Marty treated him, but Jason felt uncomfortable with this on a permanent basis. He stopped coming. The grandfather referred Marty to Maimonides Ladder of Charity in an effort to get Marty to solve the problem himself. Marty did. He got Jason a job walking a dog so that Jason could buy ice cream with his own money, thus allowing him to maintain his dignity.

Here is the Ladder of Charity conceived by Maimonides. All ways are not equally desirable. The levels are ranked in order of preference, from the lowest to the highest.

Giving sadly and begrudgingly.

Giving less than is fitting but with good cheer.

Giving only after having been asked.

Giving before being asked.

Giving to a recipient whose identity the giver does not know.

Giving so that the recipient of the tzedakah does not know who the giver is.

Giving so that neither the giver nor the recipient knows the identity of the other.

In place of just giving money, taking the sort of action that will help people no longer be poor.

An example of level eight would be helping a poor person find a job, or lending money to finance a poor person's education. Friends of mine wanted to help a married child who was in financial trouble. They gave the couple a car instead of cash, thus enabling them to have access to jobs in their rural area with no public transportation.

There's a Chinese proverb that says, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." It's interesting to note how close in concept this proverb is to Maimonides' level eight, even though they originated in totally different cultures.

You can see that the highest level of charity helps a person become independent and self-reliant. Human dignity is also taken into account.

We might all do well to rethink what we do with out pushke money and other donations. My little grandsons are already learning that there are those less fortunate than themselves. I am proud of my son and daughter-in-law for teaching them this at so young an age.

Toby Rosenstrauch, an award-winning columnist, lives in Boynton Beach, Fla.